In Israel, there is no civil marriage. All elements of religious life - from the kosher certification of food to conversion to marriages and burials - are controlled by the rabbinate. In Israel, then, the official religion is not just Judaism. It's Orthodoxy.
One area where American Jews have something to teach Israel is religious pluralism, something that living in a democracy with a separation between church and state has helped us fine-tune.
The Jewish state has so much to teach diaspora Jews about resilience, innovation, energy, and optimism.
Israel's highest aspiration may be to be a light among the nations, but it is also a normal nation, where regular people want to go about their business without a religious authority having a say.
If the standard for art is the decency of its creators, we're going to have a lot of empty museums.
I believe that the 'believe all women' vision of feminism unintentionally fetishizes women. Women are no longer human and flawed. They are Truth personified. They are above reproach.
I believe that facts serve feminists far better than faith. That due process is better than mob rule.
The best movie theater in the world is in a dingy basement on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The worn seats are painful. There are probably bigger screens in half the apartments in the complex above the theater. And forget Fandango; the theater barely has a website. You want to buy a ticket? Get in line.
In the Trump era, the Left has smartly and justifiably seized a moral high ground that the Right has abandoned by its embrace of the president.
We live in a world in which politically fascistic behavior, if not the actual philosophy, is unquestionably on the rise.
Organized religion may be anathema on the political Left, but the need for the things religion provides - moral fervor, meaning, a sense of community - are not.
It's no rare thing for the Israeli prime minister to enrage the Jews of the diaspora.
Anti-Semitism is the hatred that never dies. Violence that begins with the Jews never ends with them. All of this is true. What's also true is that anti-Semitism is the oldest hatred in the world because individual people have sustained it in every generation. It cannot be defeated until we look these people and their ideologies in the face.
Only the likes of Piers Morgan would be opposed to a Miss America contest that promises to be more 'empowering' and 'inclusive.'
Our culture hasn't stopped objectifying women. We - men and women both - are just getting better at pretending it's not happening.
While men pretend not to judge women for the way they look, we go to great lengths to pretend we don't care, either.
Donald Trump is well known for liking people he thinks are tough.
I am a serial denier. I try not to be. I tell myself, 'You are going to die.' I repeat it. I grasp it for a second or two, but then it escapes me, and I'm back to before.
The Right has been damaged beyond belief by its embrace of Mr. Trump.
A lawsuit can be a weapon.
