Advanced Search

Since my relatively sheltered youth I have formed many friendships with Muslim men and women, and I have seen the beautiful role that Islam plays in their lives. I have learned that Jews and Muslims share a commitment to the welfare of our own peoples—”‘Am” in Hebrew and “Umma” in Arabic.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) applauded Morocco for its decision to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. The North African country, a close ally of the United States and home to a Jewish community for more than 2,000 years, becomes the sixth Arab state to normalize relations with Israel – and the fourth since August.

Tal Schneider, political correspondent at the Times of Israel, joins us to unpack the latest in Israeli politics as Israel hurtles toward its fourth election in two years. Then, Rabbi David Levy, regional director of AJC New Jersey, reflects on the one-year anniversary of the attack at the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City.

In this week’s Shabbat Table, we consider how the coincidental juxtaposition of Hanukkah and the Biblical story of Joseph forces us to think in a nuanced fashion about the Jewish relationship with the external cultures in which we live. We invite readers to discuss the troubling column in The New York Times titled “Saying Goodbye to Hanukkah,” and flood social media with more positive messages about the holiday. We also mark two moments in history when Jewish vigilance and self-advocacy paid off: the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann and the reversal of Ulysses S. Grant's injustice against the Jews during the Civil War, which ended up strengthening Jewish standing in America.

The Arab country with the oldest and largest Jewish community – as well as the largest Jewish diaspora – has opted for political and economic ties with the Jewish state, itself home to some 1 million Jews of Moroccan descent.