Religiously ROTC: the pros and cons of being Jewish in the US military

Rising tuition has long been a favorite gripe of college students, as those of us not blessed with the resources to get through education attempt to reconcile the harsh reality of paying many thousands of dollars per year and possibly…

Losing Their Religion: American Jewry

In his 1997 work “American Pastoral,” novelist Philip Roth depicts the tragic decline of an assimilated Jew, Seymour “Swede” Levov, and his family in a New Jersey suburb. In doing so, Roth underlines a recurring theme throughout American Jewish literature…

True colors: Nazi flag hoisted over Palestinian area

On the morning of Monday, May 20, the hundreds of residents of the Israeli town of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, woke up to see “an oversized Nazi flag flying next to a mosque in the neighboring Arab town of…

Prospects for a post-Ahmadinejad Iran: new president, fewer distractions

The 11th Iranian presidential elections, scheduled for June 14, are fast approaching, and as election day draws near, many prospective presidential candidates (they must be approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei before they can run) are publicly distancing themselves from…

Genocide of the soul: the new Jewish face of anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism is still the greatest threat to the Jewish people, but the threat comes from within the Jewish state.   I was dismayed to read the news last week about the new Egyptian government’s cancellation of a screening of a…

Morsi, Obama and Bibi: which of these is not like the others?

Please Note: The individual opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Ha’Am Newsmagazine as a whole. An exciting trifecta of recent events: the American presidential inauguration was a few weeks ago, Israeli elections just…

Is new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel anti-Israel?

By now, thousands of articles have been written about newly-nominated Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Many of them thrust one of two extremes at the reader: either that Chuck Hagel is a rabid anti-Semite and Israel-hater, or that Chuck Hagel is…

A short-term scare: Hungarian lawmaker calls for a list of Jews

Unless your name is Oskar Schindler, making a list of Jews has never led to anything positive. Last week, in a shocking and disgraceful turn of events, Hungarian Parliament member Marton Gyongyosi offered a vile tidbit of advice in response…

Jewish Ideals Stand Strong Amidst Occupy Wall Street Anti-Semitism

What began on September 17th, 2011 at Zuccotti Park in New York City as a protest against purportedly greedy Wall Street executives has become a global mutiny of epic proportions. As of October 20th, demonstrators in nearly one thousand cities…