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Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi

Aug 13, 2026, 3:12 PM

What Our Community Asked For — And What We’re Building Together

Community survey shows fighting antisemitism and Jewish cultural experience are top of mind for Jews in the Annapolis & Chesapeake region. Image courtesy of JfedA-C.org

What should a Jewish Federation do when it is building — or rebuilding — a Jewish community organization from the ground up? Listen. Not assume. Not decide behind closed doors. Not simply reproduce programs that worked somewhere else. Listen to the people...

Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Aug 10, 2026, 3:38 PM

Israel inherited an extraordinary archive of names it did not produce. Marx, Freud, Benjamin, Arendt, Rosenzweig, Buber and Levinas emerged elsewhere, often before Israel itself, within European and American constellations of Jewish life. Yet after 1948 something peculiar became...

Aug 6, 2026, 5:54 AM

בְּתוֹךְ עַמִּי אָנֹכִי יֹשָׁבֶת “I dwell among my own people”

Over the past three years, I have found myself increasingly puzzled by a phenomenon that I hadn't given much thought to. Some of the strongest public criticism of Israel and of Jewish organizations comes not only from Israel's opponents...

Eric M. Leiderman

Jul 31, 2026, 1:11 AM

America’s Jewish Innovation

As America celebrated its 250th anniversary this month, American Jews rightly reflected on what this country has given us. Religious liberty. Economic opportunity. The freedom to build one of the most vibrant Diaspora communities in Jewish history. Those blessings...

Jul 30, 2026, 12:25 PM

Judaism is Not a Religion Part 2

What I am about to write may be uncomfortable for some to read. It is surely very uncomfortable for me to write. However, in order for us to understand our current and future situation, I have to put this...

Kenneth Jacobson

Jul 28, 2026, 4:09 AM

Antisemitism in America and How We Got Here

For years, experts talked about the success of Jewish life in America, particularly in comparison to the long, sorry history of Jews in the diaspora. At the same time, there were some who noted that things weren't all that great and linked...

Amanda Goldstein

Jul 18, 2026, 12:04 PM

A Judaism worth inheriting

The greatest response to Jewish catastrophe is not endless remembrance, but building a vibrant Jewish life that future generations will want to inherit

Barry Mellinger

Jul 11, 2026, 12:32 AM

The Acceptable Jew

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association and one of Europe’s most prominent Jewish leaders, was right to be outraged. When CNN’s Elex Michaelson said Jon Ossoff “may not read as Jewish” as Josh Shapiro, he wasn’t...

Eric M. Leiderman

Jul 6, 2026, 3:02 AM

America, the Other Jewish Homeland

Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, America's oldest synagogue. Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). President George Washington's 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport. Image courtesy of the U.S. National Archives (public domain).

As Americans celebrate Independence Day this weekend, millions of people will gather for barbecues, parades, fireworks, and backyard parties. In Chicago, where I live, many of those celebrations will include a local tradition: the Chicago-style hot dog. It is...

Jul 1, 2026, 11:01 PM

The Edited Jew and the Price of Permission

On pragmatism, necessary concealment and spiritual capitulation I have often wondered at what precise point prudence begins to darken into self-erasure. It never shows itself as cowardice. It comes colored as wisdom, as maturity, as the necessary language of survival....

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