Author: David Rutman

At gatherings of university leaders, my fellow college presidents and I would regularly review data on how Americans felt about higher education, and shake our collective heads. Each year the percentage of U.S. adults who said that they had either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in this country’s colleges and universities […]

What will it take? What needs to happen before Jews finally take full measure of the meteoric rise in antisemitism around the world—and start taking it personally? How close to home must it hit? Since October 7, 2023, when violence and incitement against Jews became casually accepted as a social justice prerogative, far too many, […]

I don’t care if he’s a mayor, an activist or a CEO. I do care that his video singling out and attacking the world’s only Jewish state got 90 million views; and that a few days later, a man yelling “Allahu Akbar” stabbed a Jew wearing a yarmulke on the Upper West Side. I do […]

Rabbi Laura Geller, who has been breaking down barriers for Jewish women since becoming the Reform movement’s third woman rabbi 50 years ago, told The Journal a story only a woman could tell. “Picture this” she began. “I am 23 years old, in a class [at Hebrew Union College] where the other 29 students are […]

Rabbi Brad Artson, American Jewish University’s Goldstine Distinguished Scholar, received the Mathilde Schechter Award from the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ) during the organization’s international convention, which was held this month in Alexandria, Va. “I am grateful beyond words to my friends in Women’s League for Conservative Judaism for the honor of receiving their […]

“Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund” by Molly Crabapple. Random House, NY (2026) Rummaging through her great-grandfather’s obscure past, Molly Crabapple transports herself back to the tumultuous world of Eastern European Jewry: a world of national awakenings, pogroms, emerging modernity, democratic ferment and revolutionary struggle. It was a […]

“Many people today believe,” Guy Rogers observes in his “For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66–74 CE,” “that the fate of humanity itself will be decided at the site of the destroyed Temple. Visitors to the Western Wall today are immediately aware that they are visiting not just another […]

Israel Bonds recently hosted two Young Investors events in Los Angeles. According to Israel Bonds leadership, “these gatherings reflected a new generation of Jewish professionals in Los Angeles supporting Israel” and were part of the organization’s effort to foster the next generation’s advocacy for Israel. On June 9, Israel Bonds Prime Minister’s Club and Platinum Society […]

Trendsetting Rabbi Laura Geller – the first rabbi to give birth and the first to lead a major metropolitan synagogue – retired from Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills a decade ago, but she has been busy ever since, teaching, speaking and writing books. Raised in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Mass., she grew up in […]