Opinion

In The Spirit of the Season

by Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief | Sep 1, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

The High Holidays live up to their billing. They are truly Days of Awe. They remind us of how intertwined the past and the present are, whether we like it or not. They instruct us that remembering the past can be simultaneously joyful and painful, but doing so is...

Both Sides of the Fence on Immigration

by Charlie Levine | Aug 29, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

Immigration — I’m on both sides of the fence. How about you? Yes, both sides. We should allow all law-abiding undocumented immigrants to stay in America and not worry about being extradited. And we need the wall to be built. Immigration is a major issue facing our...

A Modest Proposal

by Dan Stevens | Aug 23, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

Confederate statues are a hot topic following the recent tragic events in Charlottesville, Va., wherein the movement to preserve the legacy of the Confederacy claimed another life in Heather Heyer. While these events have caused many to question their place in modern...

Planting Seeds in the City

by Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief | Jul 31, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

Years ago, when I was a card-carrying, true-blue city dweller, if you’d told me there eventually would be a downtown JCC or a shul preschool in Federal Hill, I might’ve laughed in your face. At that time, the Jewish community’s reclamation of the city had begun to...

Creating the Ultimate Political Party

by Charlie Levine | Jul 24, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

Dear National Politicians, Hope all’s well with you. As I recently listened to patriotic music on the Fourth of July and watched fireworks illuminate the night sky, it occurred to me what our patriots and Founding Fathers were fighting for — self-rule, independence...

Doing It on Their Own Terms

by Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief | Jul 3, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

I have an old friend — literally — who’s now well into his 90s. During World War II, he served in the Pacific Theater of Operations. A few years ago, when Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced the miniseries “The Pacific” and HBO brought veterans of the Pacific...

New Talent and Limited Terms

by Charlie Levine | Jun 16, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

“Idleness is the holiday of fools.” — Chinese Proverb Believe it or not, I found the above proverb in a fortune cookie and it’s been sitting on my desk for many years. If you give it a few seconds of thought, idleness really describes our nation’s capital at this...

Why Climate Change is a Major Jewish Issue

by David Kraemer | Jun 14, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

The Trump administration’s recent decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement has demanded that we all ask ourselves where we stand on questions of climate change, global warming and our collective responsibility for the planet we call home. That the earth...

Powerful Stuff, Indeed

by Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief | Jun 1, 2017 | Blogs, Opinion

As a kid, my mother used to tell me stories about my grandparents, Morris and Sarah Hoffzimmer. My maternal grandfather died suddenly when I was only 2 (“He was so wild about you,” my mom would say. “You got cheated when he died”), and I suspect she wanted me to have...

Why Did James Comey Really Get Fired?

by Michael Olesker | May 10, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker, Opinion

From the moment Washington went into convulsions this week over President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, the comparisons came fast and furious to Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” of more than four decades ago. But there’s an...