The trend of relative U.S. global retreat pre-dated the Trump administration, but it accelerated in the past four years. The Biden administration has made as one of its top priorities the reinvigoration of common cause alongside global partners and allies.

While the contours of global politics are in flux, the fundamental dividing line is clear. Is the 21st century to be marked by a new Age of Impunity, with the rule of law in retreat at home and abroad, or are the enlightened forces of accountability and humanity strong enough to ward off the abuse of power? Without America engaged, the battle cannot be won.

Unfortunately, even Mr. Biden’s advisers — who are multilateralists by American standards — have trouble imagining cooperation without dominance… The point isn’t that American participation in common global efforts is unnecessary. To the contrary — it’s vital. But most of the time, America best serves these efforts less by dictating the rules than by agreeing to them.

If we get more immunity bang for each vaccine dose by targeting those with the highest number of interactions, then we’d want to see health-care workers at the front of the queue, but perhaps next in line should be younger workers and those in the hospitality sector. Perhaps children should be high up on the list too. Even though they seem to be the least impacted by the disease, they can have many daily interactions, especially with schools open.

That will almost certainly be 21 million frontline health care workers, support staff and 3 million residents of long-term care facilities who have been hardest hit by the pandemic… It will be easiest to vaccinate these groups — they’re already in institutional settings…

Many disputes over prioritization will play out in the fine print of government plans. Is a hospital janitor more at risk than a suburban pediatrician? Is a truck driver’s super-spreading danger a greater priority than the risk faced by a 50-year old with diabetes?

There is a perennial danger that rights denied or abridged during one emergency for one class of people will ultimately be denied during another emergency for another class. The reverse is also true. The victory for conservatives in last week’s ruling will be a victory for liberals somewhere down the road.

The whole idea of a constitutional right, however, is that it protects against all government measures, liberal or conservative, that would interfere with its exercise. And the whole idea of judicial review is that judges will protect that right regardless of how unpopular its assertion may be.

The implications of this doctrinal revolution are profound. Among other things, the Court is currently weighing whether religious objectors have a right to defy laws barring discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Subsequent cases could potentially give religious conservatives a right to engage in gender discrimination, or to violate a bevy of other laws.

And, as Roman Catholic Diocese involves a challenge to state rules seeking to prevent the spread of a deadly disease, religious objectors may even prevail when their claims could endanger human life.

We all are standing against all forms of hate + bigotry. When it comes to standing up for Palestinian rights & human dignity, our intentions are questioned even though we probably are some of the biggest fighters against antisemitism. This is an attempt to police and silence us.

@RashidaTlaib this isn’t an attempt to silence you. It is an attempt to allow Jews to define antisem from our own experience. Title of panel is “dismantling antisemitism,” not “standing up for Palestinian rights & human dignity.” You are qualified to speak on latter. Not former.

Having a panel of people who have engaged in antisemitism as experts ON dismantling antisemitism is not only cruel to Jews but it serves the sole purpose of gaslighting and minimizing the reality of hatred.

Shame on any one who supports this clown show.

His telling of Israel’s story (at the beginning of Chapter 25) not only exhibits a flawed understanding of the region—which clearly impacted his policies as president—but misleads readers in a way that will forever shape their negative perspective of the Jewish state.

…he sanitizes the Palestinian turn from negotiation toward terrorism in 2000 by describing a mutual “lure of violence,” while underplaying how the terrorism Palestinians initiated betrayed and traumatized Israelis. Instead, he decides ”Israeli attitudes toward peace talks had hardened, in part because peace no longer seemed so crucial to ensuring the country’s safety and prosperity.”

The consequences for crossing AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations could be dire for any U.S. politician. Obama noted candidly, “Those who criticized Israeli policy too loudly risked being tagged as ‘anti-Israel’ (and possibly anti-Semitic) and confronted with a well-funded opponent in the next election.”

The 14th annual Other Israel Film Festival, presented by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, goes virtual with a lineup of more than two dozen Israeli features, documentaries and shorts that will stream online from Dec. 3-10. Each day’s lineup includes moderated Q&A sessions with actors and filmmakers.

Maya Batash was grappling with personal issues when she first ventured to Uman, the renowned burial place of the 18th century mystic and kabbalist, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. The experience was so transformative that Batash, a filmmaker and actor who moonlights as a neurologist, decided to return. Her second visit inspired her to begin making a documentary, which eventually morphed into a feature film. Eight years later, the result is Talking to God, (www.talkingtoGodmovie.com) an award-winning comedy Batash wrote and directed.

While visiting museums is not an option during the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural and historical institutions like the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has made it possible to virtually explore many of the items and volumes in its vast archives. Its latest initiative is the YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum and its inaugural interactive exhibition, “Beba Epstein: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Girl.”