Saluting Ray Kelly

Posted on: November 13th, 2013

Ray Kelly will soon be stepping down as New York’s police commissioner. While he gets near universal kudos for presiding over law enforcement in a city with crime at record lows, he also has his share of critics who fault him for the way he managed the NYPD's crime fighting effort, particularly its stop and frisk program.

Electoral Hakarat Hatov

Posted on: November 13th, 2013

When The Jewish Press endorsed Charles Hynes for reelection as Brooklyn district attorney in both the Democratic Party primary in September and the general election in November, we cited as one reason the general notion of hakarat hatov.

Court Ruling On Stop And Frisk Offers An Important Opportunity

Posted on: November 6th, 2013

In an unusual ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan removed the trial judge from the celebrated stop and frisk case and stayed implementation of the restrictions she imposed on the NYPD in its use of the crime-fighting tool.

Paul (Moshe) Reichmann, A”H

Posted on: October 30th, 2013

The Jewish Press joins Klal Yisrael in mourning the passing of Paul (Moshe) Reichmann, who emerged in the 1980s as the era’s foremost patron of yeshivas and Orthodox organizations in Israel, Canada and the United States.

Jewish Press Endorsements

Posted on: October 30th, 2013

We urge every eligible voter to go to the polls on November 5. Elected officials tend to pay attention to those who take the time to vote.

Who’s Calling The Shots With Iran?

Posted on: October 23rd, 2013

The Obama administration is so pleased with the way the first round of talks with Iran have gone in Geneva, it may actually offer the Iranians access to billions of dollars of frozen assets if they promise to roll back part of their nuclear program and take incremental steps to do so.

What Are They Thinking?

Posted on: October 23rd, 2013

This past April, with the U.S. voting “yea,” the United Nations General Assembly approved the first UN treaty regulating the international arms trade. The ostensible goal is to curb transfers of weapons that would violate embargoes or abet acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. More recently, Secretary of State Kerry signed the treaty on behalf of the U.S.

New Organ Donation Law Goes Into Effect

Posted on: October 16th, 2013

Lauren’s Law, named for a young girl desperate for a heart transplant whose plight four years ago dramatized the shortage of available organs, is designed to increase that availability. The law went into effect on October 3. A new line on driver’s license applications asks applicants whether they want to be added to New York State’s organ donation registry. Applicants can choose to check either a “No” box or a “Skip this Question” box.

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Claims Conference Controversy: The Jerusalem Post Apologizes – Almost

Posted on: October 16th, 2013

This past June we noted here that the “stunning news that the Claims Conference secured a four-year $1 billion infusion of funds from the German government to aid Holocaust survivors has been largely overshadowed by criticism that those leading the conference mishandled an internal investigation into the embezzlement of $57 million by some employees over a fifteen-year period.”

The Plaza, The Bikes, And The Imperial City

Posted on: October 16th, 2013

We were struck by the news that the plush Plaza Hotel is suing New York City over the Bloomberg administration’s placing a block-long bicycle rack across from its main entrance facing Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan.

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Rav Ovadia Yosef, ZT”L

Posted on: October 9th, 2013

The Jewish Press joins Klal Yisrael in mourning the death this week of the towering Torah personality, Talmudic scholar and halachic decisor Rav Ovadia Yosef.

Saluting The Presidents Conference

Posted on: October 9th, 2013

We note that the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will be holding a dinner next week marking 50 years of peerless service to the Jewish community. The dinner will honor recent chairmen of the Presidents Conference as well as its indefatigable vice chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein, who has served in that capacity for more than 25 years and has become the public face of the organization.

Those Williamsburg ‘Modesty’ Signs

Posted on: October 9th, 2013

Last year, the New York City Commission on Human Rights decided to pursue a discrimination claim against a half dozen chassidic store owners in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section over their posting of signs that stated, “No Shorts, no barefoot, no sleeveless, no low-cut neckline allowed in this store.”

Iran, Obama And Netanyahu

Posted on: October 2nd, 2013

Most analysts seem to be in agreement that Iran has mounted its current charm offensive aimed at President Obama and the West generally because the broad effects of sanctions have been taking hold and causing economic misery across Iran, fanning growing unrest.

A Disheartening Survey Of American Jewry

Posted on: October 2nd, 2013

As indicated in our front-page news story, the first major Jewish population survey in ten years has turned up troubling statistics. While there has hardly been time to fully digest and debate the just-released report by the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, and though some serious definitional and methodological issues will have to be clarified – the Pew Center applied a very broad definition of Jewishness for the purposes of the survey – the results are sobering.

When A President Blinks

Posted on: September 24th, 2013

It seems clear that President Obama has decided to delay any military action against Syria, at least in the short term, in order to pursue the utility of Russia’s offer to persuade the Syrians to get rid of their chemical weapons.

Principles Under Attack

Posted on: September 24th, 2013

Two recent developments would seem to indicate that pivotal fundamentals to the growth of America as the world’s paradigmatic democracy are under assault by overeager governmental officials.

Those New Over-The-Green-Line EU Rules

Posted on: September 17th, 2013

The issue of European Union restrictions on participation in activities over Israel’s Green Line continues to roil. By any reasonable measure, the rules made no sense when promulgated and even less now. Yet the EU is resisting American efforts to push back their effective date. And though Secretary of State Kerry’s urging them to do so is welcome, his peculiarly-worded statement raises a concern of its own.

Does Putin’s Help Come With A Price?

Posted on: September 11th, 2013

The offer by Russian President Putin to broker a deal that would have Syria turn over its chemical weapons stockpile to the United Nations has given President Obama hope of extricating himself from a mess he himself created.

On Not Learning From The Past

Posted on: September 11th, 2013

The high-stakes controversy swirling around Mr. Obama’s seeming confusion over how to address the issue of Syria’s use of chemical weapons appears to be a byproduct of this president’s inability to learn from the experiences of his predecessors.