Editor-in-chief: David Suissa
March 29, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated a willingness to concede Ukrainian “neutrality” in exchange for an end of Russia’s military aggression. This would mean refraining from seeking to join NATO.
Neutrality for Ukraine would also seem to be the ideal political instrument: a former Soviet Republic that could become a buffer between Russia and the rest of Europe, managing ties with both. That’s why the idea of neutral Ukraine wasn’t born out of this war. But agreeing to that status now, amid one, is even more complicated.
Neutralization along lines tolerable to Ukraine would be — so far — abhorrent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while a neutrality settlement along lines tolerable to Putin would be a death sentence for independent Ukraine.
Ultimately, a careful look at Central and Eastern European history should remind us that neutrality is not as simple as impartiality or nonalignment. It is a fraught political reality affecting domestic politics, foreign policy, and the boundaries of a country’s future possibilities.
Israel’s summit with leaders from four Arab nations signals a new and promising era of diplomacy and cooperation between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors, but what about the Palestinians? More at Reuters.
Although Blinken traveled to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and paid lip service to the two-state solution, to a certain extent, the summit is another sign of the “dehyphenation” between Israel and the diplomatic process with the Palestinians. There are more pressing concerns in the region than the Palestinian issue.
…the discourse about Israel in corrupt international institutions and in some aspersive Western campuses and capitals couldn’t be more different than the discourse in Arab capitals and other calm and considered decision-making centers. It’s confrontation versus cooperation, demonization versus solidarity.
It’s a peace that includes a taboo known and understood by both Israelis and the leaders of the Arab Gulf states – an unwritten agreement saying that amid the commercial ties and other forms of cooperation, the Palestinians are not to be discussed.
Hebrew Union College will soon vote on whether or not to close its Cincinnati campus after 147 years of operation. Does this signal an end of the Reform Movement’s centrality in American Jewish life?
The challenges facing seminaries, particularly those affiliated with the Reform and Conservative movements, tracks with American Jews’ shift away from formal institutions and denominations. Forty-one percent of Jews under 29 said they do not affiliate with any particular branch of Judaism…
This cultural tsunami has affected not only Reform Judaism. It has affected all non-Orthodox Jews. It has not only affected Judaism. It has affected all American religion.
Religiously speaking, America is becoming Europe. Secularism has won.
Many rabbis — including some ordained in Cincinnati — expressed support for the proposal. They spoke of the city’s shrinking prominence as a center of Jewish communal life compared to other Midwestern cities such as Chicago; the difficulty of convincing potential rabbinical students to live in Cincinnati for four years…
During Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, Senator Marsha Blackburn asked Jackson to define the word “woman.” Judge Jackson declined to answer on the basis that she is not a biologist.
The category of woman has long been politically contested. Black women, she said, were not always welcomed in the category. For example, while the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, for decades many Black women were excluded from exercising it.
You know intuitively, certainly. And, depending on how much time you want to spend on it, you can come up with a broadly bounded answer. But then uncertainty creeps in. When does womanhood begin? 13? 18? Is it dependent on the presence of body parts like a uterus?
Democrats won’t even answer “What is a woman?” For the party that sees itself as the champion of women’s rights, it’s quite the turnaround, opening them up to political attacks that will leave them vulnerable in 2022 and, if they don’t change course, in 2024 as well.
After “the slap,” the biggest surprise of the night at the Oscars may have been “CODA” winning “Best Picture” over “The Power of the Dog.”
But the truth is that Oscar voters, when they actually vote, are weighing a set of concerns, grudges, and opinions so far removed from the sweep of Hollywood history—so far removed, it sometimes seems, from reality—that to view each year’s Best Picture award as a mandate on anything can be a mistake.
Plus, it’s just … really nice to watch. It’s got a loving and imperfect family, a teenager with big dreams, and some tearjerking moments. Never discount the power of a movie that makes people feel a little verklempt by the end and feel as though they’re contributing to an overlooked issue…
They might highlight still other factors from this season: a movie industry desperate for a feel-good winner in feel-bad times. A contest that somehow boiled down to the lesser of two evils, or streaming services, in which voters ultimately opted for the Apple+ release rather than allowing Netflix’s “Dog” to have its day.
Fox News’ Lara Logan suggested that Charles Darwin was paid to make up his theory of evolution by the Rothschilds. Here’s what Jews of Twitter have to say:
I really looked up to Lara Logan when I was an aspiring journalist, and now she’s an antisemitic crank. Depressing.
We used to call these people crazy and pay no attention to their ranting. How is what we do now better?
Antisemites sure seem to think we have a lot of time on our hands.