Articles by Lawrence Grossman

The 2020 American Jewish Committee (AJC) Survey of American Jewish Opinion, conducted by the independent research firm SSRS, found among Jewish voters, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden holds a 75% to 22% lead—more than three to one—over President Donald J. Trump as Election Day approaches.

While AJC has charted the shifting opinions of U.S. Jews for decades, and last year also polled Israeli Jews, the 2019 surveys convey a uniquely trifocal view of what Jews think in its first-ever concurrent surveys of Jewish opinion in three countries, on three continents - the U.S., Israel, and France.

Turkey, Iran and Russia share three things in common: all are hostile to the United States, all are ruled by fiercely authoritarian leaders, and all are eager to expand their political, military, and economic influence in the Middle East. When they praise American policy, we should be concerned.

The message of the AJC survey is clear. If the concept of a global Jewish community – am ehad – is to retain any meaning, each of its two major components must develop a greater appreciation for the priorities and needs of the other. If not, the next AJC survey will find even more American and Israeli Jews writing off those in the other country as “not part of my family.”

The recent furor over the relationship between the Women’s March leadership and Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan is beginning to subside — but its full import has yet to be appreciated.

The 2013 Pew survey “A Portrait of Jewish Americans” shows that Orthodox Judaism, while currently attracting the allegiance of only about 10 percent of all American Jews, is the fastest growing sector of the community. The high birthrate and retention rate confirmed by the survey have led some observers to predict that within a generation, American Jewry will be predominantly Orthodox, culturally if not demographically.

What happened at the “Unite the Right” rally on August 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia, was both a battle in the longstanding war over Confederate memorials and, more broadly, the latest episode in the blood-soaked, centuries-old history of racism in America.

If there is to be an enduring resolution between Israelis and Palestinians, it must include the acknowledgement by both sides of two states for two peoples.

For years, much of the world has turned a blind eye to the funding that has fueled Palestinian terrorism against Israelis. Recently, however, welcome signs have appeared that this may be changing.

June 5 marks the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Six-Day War.

President Trump faces the monumental opportunity to right a historical wrong by advancing international recognition of Jerusalem, the biblical capital of the Jewish people, as the capital of the State of Israel.

This year, on the first UN-designated international Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Trump issued a statement that deliberately omitted any mention of Jews. In doing so he joined a number of other world leaders who already have made such denial a pattern.

Foreign ministers of some 70 nations are expected to meet in Paris on Jan. 15, five days before the American presidential inauguration, for an international conference on the Middle East that disproportionately zeroes in on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Controversy over the role Judaism should play in the State of Israel, a staple of political life since Israel achieved independence, continues to roil the country.

On Friday evening, Jews around the world will gather in their homes for the seder, the ritual meal marking the beginning of the weeklong celebration of Passover, the holiday that commemorates the emancipation of Israelite slaves from Egyptian bondage more than 3,000 years ago.

Achieving peace with the Palestinians is important to Israel for its own sake. But overselling it as the panacea for Middle East instability is a recipe for failure.