‘Obama skips church, heads to the gym’

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on November 24, 2008

Phone call sparks memory of young AIDS victim

By Gloria Baran
Published on September 14, 2006

Ariel Jacobs had been jaundiced at birth, because of a blood-type incompatibility with her mother, and required a transfusion. As a result of contaminated blood, she contracted HIV, which later developed into AIDS.

Circuit

By Kelly Hartog
Published on March 3, 2005

Circuit.

Tuning In

By Nancy Sokoler Steiner
Published on April 12, 2001

As founder and chair of Westwood One, the biggest radio network in the country, Norman J. Pattiz has an impact on what's carried over the airwaves in the United States and beyond. Now that he is a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, he has an even greater voice in international broadcasting.

Whom Pardons Are “Made For”

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 8, 2001

The list of pardons granted by President Clinton on his last day in office included fugitive financier Marc Rich and convicted drug dealer Carlos Vignali -- and then there was Al Schwimmer.

Opportunities Ahead—Maybe

By James D. Besser
Published on February 8, 2001

Talk to Jewish Republicans these days and you hear a palpable sense of coming out of the wilderness.

The Price of Freedom

By Rabbi Dov Fischer
Published on February 1, 2001

To facilitate pidyon shvuyim (redeeming captive Jews from secular prisons) we are commanded to go so far as to sell a community's Torah scroll. Yet it is hard to rejoice that Bill Clinton pardoned four chassidim from the village of New Square, N.Y., along with an alleged tax evader who donated megabucks to Israel. In contrast to the complex moral and ethical questions that grated pro-and-con during discussions over the possible pardons of Michael Milken and Jonathan Jay Pollard, there is something unequivocally outrageous in Clinton's decisions to pardon the four Squarer chassidim and the international oil merchant whose dealings prompted the Justice Department to allege, among other things, tax evasion and trading illegally with Iran.

Grand Denial

By Jonathan Kellerman
Published on January 25, 2001

During the lamest duck days of his presidency, Bill Clinton hustled to cobble together a series of under-the-wire executive orders and pardons, but he was unable to secure The Grand Prize: a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Open Letter to President Bill

By Ari Hier
Published on January 18, 2001

This is the first time I have written a letter of this kind, but I felt it was time to express my feelings on paper.

The Clinton Years

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on January 18, 2001

Nostalgia for Bill Clinton? Don't say I didn't warn you. Even as George W. Bush takes office, the Jewish community is weeping sentimental tears for the almost lethally charismatic president who, in the words of The Forward, "had come to embody the hopes of Jewish liberals in America and Israel during the 1990s." Clinton, who is no stranger to schmaltz, had policy wonks and foreign affairs careerists alike publicly weeping when he chose the Israel Policy Institute as the site of his last address last week, hinting that yet one more attempt at an Arab-Israeli solution was still in the works.

Salvaging Peace

By Naomi Segal
Published on January 4, 2001

President Clinton's 11th-hour efforts to salvage the peace process may be too little, too late for many Israelis.

What a Week

By Tom Tugend
Published on August 17, 2000

The official agenda of the Democratic Party may be to nominate Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman, but the real business all week seemed to be to party from morn til morn, raise zillions of dollars and tell the Jews what wonderful folks they are.

With Power Comes Responsibility

By Gene Lichtenstein
Published on August 17, 2000

From a Jewish perspective, this past week in Los Angeles was a tremendous success. Among other things, it tended to confirm the influential role of the Jewish community in L.A. From the parties that President Clinton attended to the panelists at the Shadow Convention who derided and dogged the very proceedings at Staples Center, Jewish organizations and activists were dominant figures.

Barak at Camp David

By Gene Lichtenstein
Published on July 20, 2000

There is a sense at this moment that "time has stopped." That all political voices have become silent, in Israel no less than in the United States, while Messrs. Arafat, Barak and Clinton struggle over language, issues and principles in an effort to reach a peace agreement.

Barak’s Gamble

By Eric Silver
Published on July 13, 2000

The Camp David summit looks like the boldest gamble by an Israeli leader since the founding father, David Ben-Gurion, declared the Jewish state in May 1948, to the rumble of invading Arab guns and the chattering teeth of his own querulous associates. Ehud Barak flew to the United States this week determined to make peace with the Palestinians, but with his coalition government and parliamentary support in tatters.

Barak at Camp David

By Gene Lichtenstein
Published on July 13, 2000

There is a sense at this moment that "time has stopped." That all political voices have become silent, in Israel no less than in the United States, while Messrs. Arafat, Barak and Clinton struggle over language, issues and principles in an effort to reach a peace agreement.

Selling AWACS to China

By Eric Silver
Published on April 27, 2000

Chinese President Jiang Zemin donned his black kippah and followed in Pope John Paul II's footsteps to the Western Wall last week, confident that the world's biggest atheistic state would soon receive a $250 million airborne surveillance system from Israel Aircraft Industries on schedule. Despite intense American pressure to cancel the deal, the signs are that he will receive the other three or four AWACS he also wants to buy.

Dealing With Syria

By Eric Silver
Published on March 23, 2000

This weekend's Swiss summit between Bill Clinton and Hafez al-Assad is a make-or-break moment in the quest for peace between Syria and Israel. The American president will soon be a lame duck. The septuagenarian Syrian president is sick and eager to hand over the reins to his son, Bashar. And the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, the man in the empty chair in Geneva, is losing control of his coalition and his constituency.
If they don't reach an ag

U.S. at Center Stage in Syria Talks

By James D
Published on January 6, 2000

They were called "Syrian-Israeli" talks, but this week's second round of negotiations between the two countries was very much an American affair -- in a storybook small town chosen by the White House, with President Clinton playing host and mediator.
So it was no surprise that when the talks were snagged over a disagreements over what to talk about, it was Clinton who held the negotiators' hands, cajoled, nudged and pleaded.

Talks to Be Held

By Michael Shapiro
Published on December 9, 1999

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Middle East shuttle mission has paid off with the announcement that Israeli-Syrian negotiations will resume next week.

A Bump in the Road to Jerusalem

By Matthew Dorf
Published on June 24, 1999

Four years after the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed a law that required the United States to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the mission remains firmly rooted outside the Jewish state's capital city.

Why Are We in Kosovo?

Published on April 1, 1999

I always thought that historical perspective helped sharpen the mind by illuminating the choices that loomed ahead. But when I look at the awful state of affairs in Kosovo, I am not so certain that history offers much guidance. Maybe, though, if we try to look at the past freshly and innovatively, we might just find a better solution for Kosovo and its moslem victims than the one President Clinton is offering. More about that later.

Overshadowed Again

By James D
Published on March 25, 1999

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came to town this week, seeking Washington's blessing for Palestinian statehood in return for postponing a unilateral declaration on May 4, when the interim Oslo period expires

Our State of the Union

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on January 21, 1999

Let us not, for the moment, worry about President Clinton, since he obviously can take care of himself.

‘One of the Most Dismal Sessions Ever’

By James D
Published on October 15, 1998

Asked to discuss the accomplishments of the 105th Congress, which erupted last week in a frenzy of last-minute wheeling and dealing as lawmakers tried to avert another politically costly government shutdown, Rep. Ben Cardin's response was succinct.

The Lewinsky/Lieberman Equation

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on October 1, 1998

One day we may look back at the 1998 High Holidays as a bizarre version of "Rosencranz and Gildenstern are Dead"; American history seen through the perspective of minor Jewish characters helping to determine the national fate. Monica Lewinsky! Sen. Joseph Lieberman! As the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal is causing Americans to question matters of private and public morality, Jews are caught up in the tide. Here are two observations from our perilous time:

Monica Lewinsky is Jewish

Published on October 1, 1998

The New York Times devoted 1,500 words last Sunday to a biographical profile of Monica Lewinsky, the 24-year-old woman who allegedly had an 18-month affair with President Clinton and who has been accused of lying about it under oath.

Dress Reversal

Published on September 10, 1998

How a certain cocktail dress could determine the future of Middle East diplomacy.

Opinion

By Joel Kotkin
Published on August 27, 1998

Arthur Hertzberg, arguably one of America's most prominent rabbis and Jewish intellectuals, has been a familiar guest at every White House since Lyndon Johnson. Yet this lifelong Democrat and former president of the liberal American Jewish Congress, has refused to enter the inner sanctum of the White House -- he did attend the lawnside ceremony for the Middle East peace accords -- since Bill Clinton became president.

Commentary

By Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Published on August 27, 1998

One of the most remarkable stories in the Bible is the deathbed scene of King David. The aged monarch, ready to hand over the rule of his kingdom, speaks to his son, the future King Solomon, about what Solomon ought to do after David has died. Trained as we are to expect the Bible to reflect love, forgiveness and compassion, it is shocking to read what David actually tells his son. Rather than instructing Solomon to start with a clean slate, to forgive everybody, to forget the wrongs that have been done to the monarchy, King David recounts a laundry list of those people who have offended the monarchy and harmed the nation. He bids his son to see that they don't escape retribution.

Did you know

Published on January 29, 1998

The New York Times devoted 1,500 words last Sunday to a biographical profile of Monica Lewinsky, the 24-year-old woman who allegedly had an 18-month affair with President Clinton and who has been accused of lying about it under oath.

‘I Am Not an Adulterer’

Published on January 29, 1998

It was Ted Koppel who broke the news to all the world that our president does not consider oral sex to constitute adultery. That being the case, Koppel concluded, it was perfectly correct for Clinton to maintain to probing journalists that he had never had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The president reportedly had once told Arkansas state troopers that oral sex is not, according to the Bible, adultery.

Baby Sitters No More

Published on January 22, 1998

The first thing that struck me as President Clinton unveiled his $21.7 billion child-care proposal last week was that it was hardly noticed in our community at all. With the possible exception of increased child-care tax exemptions, the nation's first preschool package won't touch the Jewish community to any extent.
Let the Christian Coalition insist that women still belong solely at home. Our own community resolved the problem early, and did it well.

Heartbreak Hotel?

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on October 2, 1997

The Miramar Sheraton Hotel is one of the jewels of Santa Monica.It sits astride a full block on Ocean Avenue and looks west, over thePalisades and the blue Pacific. Inside, there are lush gardens, aluxurious swimming pool and tanned guests who look as if they areemblems of Southern California.

The hotel is where President Clinton has often stayed duringvisits to Los Angeles.

And the Miramar Sheraton is the only Santa Monica hotel that isunionized.