Columns

Ready for Our Close-Up

'Exponent' tackles economy, as it institutes new changes

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It's a whole different story when the story hits home. Bank bailouts, stimulus packages, automobile-industry restructurings may be necessary evils, but they're very difficult to wrap your head around. For countless local Jews -- as our cover story this week illustrates -- the economic ills plaguing our country play much closer to home. The widowed mother who can't find work,...

Columns

Recent Murders Point to the Need for Stricter Gun Laws

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Burt Siegel

Eric Birnbaum and John Pawlowski probably never met; they didn't have all that much in common. One was a divorced, Jewish personal-injury lawyer with two daughters in college, gunned down in a suburban parking lot. The other was young enough to be his son; he was Catholic, with a pregnant wife. As a police officer in North Philadelphia, he knew...

Columns

A Brief History of Jews and Money

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Derek Penslar

The winter of 2009 might appear to be an indelicate time to discuss the relationship between Jews and money. The world is in economic crisis, and Jews have figured in a number of discredited enterprises in the United States. Their alleged involvement in recent criminal financial activities (i.e., Bernie Madoff, Herbert and Marion Sandler) is particularly sensitive to the Jewish...

Columns

As Usual, the Conflict Dominates the Elections

By:

Yossi Alpher

Once again, Israel's elections reflected the dominant role played by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in determining the direction of Israeli politics. Now, it appears likely that the conflict will also dictate the creation of a centrist coalition that may not resolve it, but at least will do it no harm. It was pessimism toward prospects for a viable Israeli-Palestinian peace process,...

Columns

A Principal Who Rightly Stood Up for School-Based Wrongs

By:

Rafael Medoff

The recent wave of anti-Semitic outbursts in various nations raises important questions about how to respond effectively to such assaults. A little-known episode that took place 65 years ago this month, involving a German-American high school principal, provides some guidance. The latest outrages have included the attempted bombing of a synagogue in Kiev; the mob attack on a synagogue in...