Wednesday, May 8, 2013

A mitzvah called shmooze

By David Suissa

In a crummy economy, people are always looking for good investments — a promising stock, a real estate opportunity, a star mutual fund. It’s. . .

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Monty Hall’s best deal

By David Suissa

For over 30 years, starting in the early 1960s, Monty Hall hosted “Let’s Make a Deal,” one of the most popular game shows in television. . .

Monday, April 22, 2013

Criticism is not Islamophobia

By David Suissa

Criticism is the oxygen of journalism. Here at the Jewish Journal, we will criticize anything that we believe deserves criticism, including religion.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

‘I’m a Jew’

By David Suissa

“My father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish.” Those are the words uttered by American journalist Daniel Pearl in the moment before. . .

Monday, April 8, 2013

Suckers at the Casbah

By David Suissa

Apparently, there are smart people out there who still believe it’s up to Israel to revive the dead Middle East peace process.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Shoah: Breadcrumbs of life

By David Suissa

The Holocaust is really too big and too dark to fathom. It’s larger than life, larger than death, even larger than evil. The human mind can’t. . .

Friday, March 22, 2013

Leader of the free word

By David Suissa

Words matter, especially when spoken by people of power. I once read a book that dissected the 271 words of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.. . .

Thursday, March 21, 2013

On slavery and memory

By David Suissa

Judaism is a religion that likes symbols. The Passover Seder table is full of them: There’s the salt that can represent tears or bitterness, the. . .

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Are critics of Israeli occupation getting nervous?

By David Suissa

It’s a sure sign of nervousness when people start using the vocabulary of absolute certainty — when they refuse to allow for even the possibility. . .

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Settlements are not illegal

By David Suissa

If you think the West Bank settlements have been an albatross around Israel’s neck up until now, brace yourself. With the new governing coalition. . .

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Life of AEPi

By David Suissa

The traditional approach to Jewish outreach — especially on college campuses — is to make it as easy as possible for Jews to get involved: free. . .

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Comedy is good for the Jews

By David Suissa

Are you one of those Jews who got offended by Seth MacFarlane's "Jews control Hollywood" shtick at the Academy Awards last Sunday night? And do you. . .

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The seder of Jewish pride

By David Suissa

Is it possible to build Jewish pride in a very short period of time, like, say, at one dinner party? Seriously, how can you instill a love of Judaism. . .

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Buy Israel — Forever

By David Suissa

Pick a Jewish holiday, any holiday. Let’s take one of my favorites: Sukkot. This is a holiday bursting with meaning. Inside a sukkah, we can. . .

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Another peace process: Judaism in Israel vs. Judaism in America

By David Suissa

While the Jewish world has focused for decades on the Arab-Israeli conflict, it has given far less attention to an equally important conflict: the. . .

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Hagel’s other problem

By David Suissa

As any news junkie will tell you, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, didn’t do very well at his. . .

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Gatekeepers or Gate Crashers?

By David Suissa

How can a dubious and unoriginal Israeli movie become the darling of the film world and even get nominated for an Academy Award?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Israelis voted for reality

By David Suissa

Regardless of what kind of coalition a bruised and humbled Prime Minister Netanyahu shapes in the new government, the prospects for peace will depend. . .

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Birthright Shabbat, Part 2

By David Suissa

I don’t often write about the same subject in consecutive weeks, but because my “Birthright Shabbat” column last week elicited an unusual. . .

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Birthright Shabbat

By David Suissa

How do we keep Jews connected to their Judaism and prevent the further erosion of Jewish identity in American Jewry? It’s a simple question, but. . .

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The history in Jewish education

By David Suissa

Money has a way of dominating issues. This is true of politics and presidential elections, and it’s also true of Jewish education. Just say the. . .

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Sandy Hook: Beyond gun control

By David Suissa

When something happens that overwhelms our emotions - as when a shooter murders 20 schoolchildren in cold blood- we get dizzy and out of balance. The. . .

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Balancing Israel of War and Israel of Peace

By David Suissa

There’s been a lot of talk in our community lately about this notion of “balance,” particularly around the question of whether Israel. . .

Monday, December 3, 2012

Israel’s U.N. blunder

By David Suissa

It’s never a good thing to look like a loser. That applies to countries as well as people. Consider Israel, a winning country on so many fronts:. . .