Don’t be so hard on evangelicals

We are too dismissive of Sarah Palin's religious convictions

The President leaned back in his swivel chair and stared at the ceiling. He stared so long that the silence became embarrassing for his speechwriters. Then, finally, he leaned forward and, using his trademark phrase for dictating to his secretary, he said: "Dorothy, take a law."

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A Reform chief rabbinate soon?

The real threat of the latest call for unity is that signatories will set up their own United Reformed Synagogue

So much has already been written about the Statement of Community Collaboration jointly authored by the Reform, Liberal and Masorti movements that I hesitate to add to the discussion. I do so only because I don't think that the significance of the Statement can be properly understood without taking a long-term view of its origins and meaning. Blame the historian in me if you like.

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Progressives launch a war

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Unity? How totally unrealistic

The community will never be as one as long as the Orthodox believe they are better Jews than the rest.

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Playing politics at the mikveh

A proposal for a ritual bath in Cambridge is being obstructed, for no good reason

Being an Oxford man, I do not travel to Cambridge very frequently. But there are some remarkable similarities surrounding the Jewish presence in both these ancient seats of learning.

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On Israel, fear Obama, not Palin

American Jews are attacking Sarah Palin's Zionist credentials - while ignoring far larger questions about Obama's

To judge from the screams of horror from certain Jewish quarters, anyone would think that Torquemada was about to open a branch of the Inquisition in Washington DC.

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Why I’m optimistic about peace

The Palestinians may finally be accepting that ‘armed struggle' is futile

For the first time in years, the prospects are looking rosier for a peace - of sorts - in the Middle East.

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A shul scared of its members

So the interim chief executive of the United Synagogue has, temporarily at least, overruled his rabbis, who recently recommended that laymen should be allowed to deliver eulogies at funerals. At stake, he said, was a procedural issue: the Rabbinical Council did not consult the Beth Din and Chief Rabbi about the change.

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Hate material online? Let it stay

There is no point to Andrew Dismore's attack on WH Smith for selling the Protocols on the web - other than publicity

The Hendon parliamentary constituency contains a larger proportion of Jewish voters than any other parliamentary constituency in the UK. So it is only natural that the Hendon MP should cultivate his Jewish clientèle. And Andrew Dismore - the Labour MP in question - does so.

Mr Dismore is not a slave to the Jewish vote. Nor should he be. But on what we might call the "core" issues he is sound.

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Blind US Zionism will kill Israel

Both Joe Biden and McCain's likely running-mate are staunch supporters of Israel. But what it really needs is tough love.

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