Opinion

Meir Kahane and the Jewish Defense League, part II

By Bill Simons

On a bracing Saturday morning in January 2020, I attended Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, an iconic Reform synagogue at One East 65th Street and Fifth Avenue, across from Central Park. An immense and beautiful limestone sanctuary, Temple Emanu-El accommodate…

In My Own Words: U.S.A. in a dystopian Wonderland

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

“Curiouser and curiouser!” – Alice in “Alice in Wonderland” 

Universities are bowing to pressure and rejecting speakers whose views aren’t in complete accord with the politics of their most strident students. School boards and local legislatures are ba…

From the Desk of the Federation Executive Director: With Gratitude 5/18/22

By Shelley Hubal

Here we are again: another mass shooting. This time the perpetrator is from Broome County. He could have very easily carried out his hate-filled mission here in our community, but chose to target the Black community of Buffalo. My heart aches for the citizens of Buffalo, b…

Mother’s Day 2022

By Bill Simons

Mother’s Day 2022: for me, it is unlike the celebratory milestones that preceded it. My mother Elaine, age 95, died on January 9, 2022, making me a 72-year-old orphan. Like Mrs. Patimkin and Mrs. Portnoy, novelist Philip Roth’s iconic Jewish mothers, Elaine differed from …

In My Own Words: All the presidents’ children

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Maybe it’s time for the Justice Department to investigate Hunter Biden’s business practices. Before Democrats start complaining and Republicans start cheering, I also think we need an investigation into Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany Trump’s business activi…