Jane Eisner
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Writer, editor, educator, consultant. Formerly @columbiajourn @jdforward @ConstitutionCtr @PhillyInquirer Find me at jane@jeisner.com
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Articles by Jane Eisner
Carole King on Abuse and Empowerment
Carole King, curly-headed Jewish songstress from Brooklyn, is known for creating one of the most stone-cold brilliant songwriting catalogs of the last century. And she’s also a memorable performer: Her silhouette at a piano has become an instantly recognizable image, synonymous with emotional, earthy, confessional art. But King’s songs and her life are as complex and layered as her work.
Recent additions to the Kripke-Veret Collection
Children: Just Say Welcome by Emily Raij Tilly loves having company. One day, Tilly's mom tells her a family that has just arrived from Iraq will be staying with them for a while, until they get settled in the community. "Just say 'welcome!'" her mom says. "Sometimes that's all it takes for strangers to become friends." A man from synagogue brings over clothes for the children and a neighbor brings a pot of stew that smells "just like home" to the new arrivals.
An ‘unlikely rabbi’ tells her story in the inspiring ‘Heart of a Stranger’
An ‘unlikely rabbi’ tells her story in the inspiring ‘Heart of a Stranger’ (washingtonpost.com) An ‘unlikely rabbi’ tells her story in the inspiring ‘Heart of a Stranger’ By Jane Eisner 2025101814303200 In New York Jewish circles and beyond, she is simply known as Angela. No last name necessary. She's the rock star rabbi, the Beyoncé of the clergy set.
A Friend At the Piano
Try GOLD - Free The Wall Street Journal | October 17, 2025 Carole King Carole King was working on the 1971 album that would win her four Grammy Awards when a song came to her through what felt like almost pure inspiration. “The song wrote itself,” she said later. “It was written by something outside of myself through This story is from the October 17, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
Carole King: She Made the Earth Move
Jane Eisner’s biography of Carole King for the Yale Jewish Lives series offers an illuminating portrait of the groundbreaking artist. Eisner follows King’s early career as a teenaged composer of chart-topping pop songs in the early 1960s, and later, as a brilliant singer-songwriter.
The Musical Innertube - Volume 2, Number 187 - Jane Eisner Writes About Carole King
The player is loading ... The Musical Innertube - Volume 2, Number 187 - Jane Eisner Writes About Carole King Your browser does not support the audio tag. Carole King is a music superstar. She's also suffered from spousal abuse, raised two kids in a primitive cabin in rural Idaho, and wrestled with her Jewish identity.
Carole King’s Musical Stardust
Email Print I was 15 years old in the summer of 1971. I remember it as a dispiriting time. American efforts in the Vietnam War were failing while public demonstrations grew bolder and more consequential. The Pentagon Papers exposed the government’s lies to the public. Inflation was rising. After the tumultuous 1960s, the nation was anxious and exhausted. For many of us stuck in crowded, troubled high schools in chaotic cities or listless suburbs, music offered a powerful release.
An Online Oklahoma Charter School Might Upend Public Education in America
The Catholic school at the heart of what may become the most consequential court decision regarding American public education in decades is named for the patron saint of the internet, and takes that mission seriously. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School does not have a building, or classrooms, or a cafeteria, or any of the expected physical trappings of a school. It’s all online. It’s unabashedly religious.
‘A Sand County Almanac’ remains an environmental classic at 75
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) is often described as the father of environmental ethics. His seminal book, “A Sand County Almanac,” was first published 75 years ago and remains a foundational text in nature writing. Still in print, it’s a classic in the classroom and, as Barbara Kingsolver has written, “the manifesto of a movement.” It is full of memorable, finely observed writing and is a landmark in American philosophical thought. Among his many followers, Leopold is a legend.
El libro medioambiental que sigue siendo un clásico a sus 75 años
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) a menudo es descrito como el padre de la ética ambiental. Su libro seminal, Un año en Sand County, fue publicado por primera vez hace 75 años y sigue siendo un texto fundamental en la escritura sobre la naturaleza. Todavía impreso, es un clásico en el aula y, como ha escrito Barbara Kingsolver, “el manifiesto de un movimiento”. Está lleno de una escritura memorable y finamente observada y es un hito en el pensamiento filosófico estadounidense.
Commentary: Are the campus protesters angry enough with Biden to vote for Trump?
The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate. After all, McGovern was a Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War when college campuses were seething with protest, the military draft was still in effect and youthful rebellion was having a moment.
Opinion: Are the campus protesters angry enough with Biden to vote for Trump?
The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate. After all, McGovern was a Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War when college campuses were seething with protest, the military draft was still in effect and youthful rebellion was having a moment.
Opinion: Are the campus protesters angry enough with Biden to vote for Trump?
The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate. After all, McGovern was a Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War when college campuses were seething with protest, the military draft was still in effect and youthful rebellion was having a moment.
Jane Eisner: Will young Gaza protesters sit out the election - and help elect Donald Trump?
ACCOUNT SECTIONS OTHER CLASSIFIEDS CONTACT US / FAQ
Will campus pro-Palestine protesters vote Trump due to rage over Biden?
In 2020, Jerusha Conner, a professor of education at Villanova University, points out, “many activists were not enthused about Biden, but they held their nose and voted for him as a strategic choice. The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate.
Are the campus protesters angry enough with Biden to vote for Trump?
The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate. After all, McGovern was a Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War when college campuses were seething with protest, the military draft was still in effect and youthful rebellion was having a moment.
Are the campus protesters angry enough with Biden to vote for Trump?
The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate. kAmp7E6C 2==[ |4v@G6C? H2D 2 s6>@4C2E H9@ @AA@D65 E96 ':6E?2> (2C H96? 4@==686 42>AFD6D H6C6 D66E9:?8 H:E9 AC@E6DE[ E96 >:=:E2CJ 5C27E H2D DE:== :? 67764E 2?5 J@FE97F= C636==:@? H2D 92G:?8 2 >@>6?E]k^Am kAmp?5 J6E @? 6=64E:@? 52J[ }:I@?
Opinion: Are the campus protesters angry enough with Biden to vote for Trump?
Jane Eisner June 14, 2024 at 3:02 AM·5 min read The first time Americans younger than 21 years old could vote in a presidential election was when George McGovern challenged President Nixon in 1972, and conventional wisdom gave McGovern the edge with this new segment of the electorate. After all, McGovern was a Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War when college campuses were seething with protest, the military draft was still in effect and youthful rebellion was having a moment.
Will young Americans finally rock the vote?
A powerful solar storm -- which could continue into Sunday -- has triggered spectacular celestial shows usually confined to the far northern reaches of the planet, hence their nickname of the "northern lights." "I have the sensation of living through a historic night in France... It was really charged, with solar particles and emotions," Eric Lagadec, an astrophysicist at the Observatoire de Cote d'Azur, wrote on social media after the first night.
Opinion: In the November Election, Will Young Americans Finally Rock the Vote?
Twenty years ago, I published Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy. The book grew out of a personal passion: Once my oldest child was able to cast a ballot, I became fascinated with the potential and obstacles facing our youngest voters. I delved into the lengthy and messy midcentury struggle to pass the 26th Amendment, extending the franchise to 18-year-olds.
3 thinkers trace the intellectual heritage and communal beliefs of Judaism
The murder, brutality and destruction unleashed by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel drew a line through history for many Jews, demarcating a before and after, and introducing a wave of collective trauma that has yet to subside. Then, for many of us, came a wave of repulsion and shame as we witnessed the Israeli government’s ongoing assault on Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has caused.
Will Young Americans Finally Rock the Vote? | Essay
by Jane Eisner | Twenty years ago, I published Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy. The book grew out of a personal passion: Once my oldest child was able to cast a ballot, I became fascinated with the potential and obstacles facing our youngest voters. I delved into the lengthy and messy midcentury struggle to pass the 26th Amendment, extending the franchise to 18-year-olds.
Review | 3 thinkers trace the intellectual heritage and communal beliefs of Judaism
The murder, brutality and destruction unleashed by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel drew a line through history for many Jews, demarcating a before and after, and introducing a wave of collective trauma that has yet to subside. Then, for many of us, came a wave of repulsion and shame as we witnessed the Israeli government’s ongoing assault on Gaza, and the humanitarian crisis it has caused.
How should we read the texts of Purim and Passover this year?
In a few days, Jews will gather for the holiday of Purim and read aloud the Book of Esther. A month later, another gathering, another book - the Passover Haggadah. These ancient texts speak to us across the centuries, a conversation at once enlightening and fitful, bringing the past into the present in ways that are soothing but also discomforting. This year, I feel the discomfort acutely. Since Hamas launched its horrific massacre and hostage-taking on Oct.
Commentary: How Should We Read The Texts Of Purim And Passover This Year? - Los Angeles Times
In a few days, Jews will gather for the holiday of Purim and read aloud the Book of Esther. A month later, another gathering, another book — the Passover Haggadah. These ancient texts speak to us across the centuries, a conversation at once enlightening and fitful, bringing the past into the present in ways that are soothing but also discomforting. This year, I feel the discomfort acutely. Since Hamas launched its horrific massacre and hostage-taking on Oct.
Opinion: How should we read the texts of Purim and Passover this year?
In a few days, Jews will gather for the holiday of Purim and read aloud the Book of Esther. A month later, another gathering, another book — the Passover Haggadah. These ancient texts speak to us across the centuries, a conversation at once enlightening and fitful, bringing the past into the present in ways that are soothing but also discomforting. This year, I feel the discomfort acutely. Since Hamas launched its horrific massacre and hostage-taking on Oct.
Alice Shalvi, Hailed as a Mother of Feminism in Israel, Dies at 96
She was an often defiant, galvanizing force in pressing for equal treatment for women in marriage, employment, education and more. Alice Shalvi, an innovative educator and social activist revered by many as a founding mother of modern Jewish feminism in Israel, died on Monday at her home in Jerusalem. She was 96. Her daughter Pnina Shalvi-Vega confirmed the death.
She wrote in the Holocaust’s shadow. Can Poland bear to read her?
The Yiddish writer Chava Rosenfarb was born 100 years ago, into a world that no longer exists. In 1923, Lodz was home to the second-largest Jewish community in Poland, about 250,000 Jews, more than a third of the city’s population. Jews were entrepreneurs and unionists, Zionists and socialists, poor and rich and middle class, religious and secular, politicians and artists and writers. All that was obliterated during the Nazi occupation and the ensuing Holocaust.
The Book That Broke Judaism-And Tried to Put It Back Together
In the early 1970s, American Jews were, on the whole, centrist and conventional. Most were married, and most to other Jews. Their largest religious denomination was the Conservative movement, with its bland, spacious suburban synagogues, representing the middle ground between fusty tradition and full-forced reform. This was a community that seemed to have settled into a comfortable status quo, steadily assimilating in the postwar years and ascending into the middle class.
Cómo un bestseller ayudó a moldear el apoyo de Estados Unidos a Israel
La novela Éxodo, relato de Leon Uris sobre la fundación de Israel, se convirtió en un infaltable en los hogares judíos cuando se publicó en 1958. Con su lomo azul oscuro y su sencillo título escrito con una estilizada fuente hebraica, adquirió la importancia de un objeto ritual, como la menorá que se utiliza una vez al año para Hanukkah y las velas conmemorativas que se encienden en botes de cristal en el aniversario de la muerte de un ser querido.
Book World: How American Jews' relationship with Israel went from 'Exodus' to anguish
Basic. 502 pp. $35 - - - The novel "Exodus," Leon Uris's account of the founding of Israel, became a fixture in Jewish homes when it was published in 1958. With its dark blue spine and simple title written in a stylized Hebraic font, it assumed the importance of a ritual object - like the menorah used once a year for Hanukkah and the memorial candles in squat glass jars lighted on the anniversary of a loved one's death.
Book World: In his memoir, Benjamin Netanyahu glides through his life story
- - - By Anshel Pfeffer Basic. 423 pp. $32 - - - When Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted from power in 2021, ending an extraordinary reign as Israel's longest-serving prime minister, he did what so many political leaders do when they leave office, willingly or not. He wrote a memoir. "Bibi: My Story" was written in longhand over nine months and was scheduled to be published in English and Hebrew in November. But when the most recent Israeli elections - the fifth in less than four years - were set for Nov.
'Bad Jews' Exposes Fault Lines in American Judaism
'Bad Jews' Exposes Fault Lines in American Judaism Emily Tamkin seeks to understand her community's varied cultural, religious, and political identities, and why different groups judge one another. Read Full Article »
Book World: 'Bad Jews' exposes the fault lines in American Judaism
Harper. 307 pp. $28.99 - - - As a young girl, I considered my grandmother Minnie, my father's mother, the epitome of a pious Jew. A diminutive woman who fled Poland after World War I and was widowed long before I was born, she held steadfast to Jewish tradition and practice - keeping strictly kosher, observing the Sabbath - as if she transported her Orthodox old world to a modest apartment in the Bronx. We'd visit on Sundays.
Can AIPAC Still Claim the Middle Ground?
Can the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), arguably one of the most influential lobbying groups in the nation, still claim the middle ground it has long cultivated in American politics? After nearly 60 years of insisting on a bipartisan, behind-the-scenes strategy of lobbying for pro-Israel policies without endorsing or funding political candidates, AIPAC has entered the partisan arena, channeling millions of dollars into contested primaries.
Zelensky Is a Jewish Hero. Some Jews Worry the Acclaim Won’t Last.
Essay By Jane Eisner | March 22, 2022 Email Print Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 17, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Most American Jews, like most Americans, view the war in Ukraine as a horrific human catastrophe that demands political support, philanthropic dollars, and fervent prayers.
Evangelical Christians are politicizing the Jewish story of Esther
A plate with hamantaschen, a cookie baked to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim. (iStock) As Jews gather on Wednesday evening to celebrate the holiday of Purim - and with covid-19 restrictions lifting in many areas, in-person gatherings may actually be possible - a carnival atmosphere will return to many synagogues that have been quiet and somber for the last two years.
Conspiracy! Evangelicals, Fear, and Nationalism in the 21st Century
American Evangelicals are undergoing a profound shift in how they conceive their political, social, and civic action in America. Professor Anthea Butler’s talk will explore evangelicals’ changing beliefs, the embrace among many of conspiracy theories and nationalism, and the implications for the upcoming elections of 2022 and 2024. Anthea Butler is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and Chair of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Book World: Jerusalem's subterranean discoveries and disputes
Doubleday. 426 pp. $32.50 - - - Yehuda Amichai, Israel's most celebrated poet, wrote often about Jerusalem with language and imagery that ricochets off the ancient stone walls and into a reader's heart. Jerusalem was where Amichai lived after escaping Nazi Germany; it is where he died in 2000; it is where his accessible, imaginative, descriptive style transformed him into a sort of poetic prophet. His long, gorgeous poem "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Why Jerusalem?" has a haunting refrain.
Jerusalem's subterranean discoveries and disputes
An ancient Roman road has been excavated beneath a neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Israeli archeologists say it was once an important thoroughfare used by worshipers 2,000 years ago to reach the Second Temple (Photo by Kobi Wolf for The Washington Post) Yehuda Amichai, Israel's most celebrated poet, wrote often about Jerusalem with language and imagery that ricochets off the ancient stone walls and into a reader's heart.
Book review of Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics by Anne-Marie Slaughter
Anne-Marie Slaughter is adept at mining her personal and professional life for broader societal lessons and policy prescriptions. Her 2012 cover story in the Atlantic lamenting “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” went viral because her bracingly honest appraisal of her struggles to balance work and family resonated with so many, myself included.
'Grace & Steel': Women of the Bush dynasty
By Jane Eisner The Washington Post Updated March 29, 2021 5:00 AM GRACE & STEEL: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli (St. Martin's. 546 pp., $29.99) The Bush women hold a unique place in the pantheon of American political spouses. Laura Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President. Barbara Pierce Bush was the mother of the 43rd and wife of the 41st.
Book review of Grace & Steel: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli
The American public asks a lot of its first ladies. We expect them to absorb the celebrity spotlight without being scorched by its unforgiving glare. We require them to somehow embody and represent all women while being their unique, authentic selves. Those first ladies are given a lot, too: the rare opportunity to preside on the world stage, not through dint of their own victories and accomplishments, but because they lie down at night with, arguably, the most powerful actor on the planet.
Critically acclaimed, award-winning YA books for Pride Month
One of the (many!) great things about Pride Month falling in June is getting out of school, kicking back and enjoying a book at the beach, pool or in a lazy hammock strung between trees.
Book review of Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times by Jonathan Sacks
In the Jewish tradition, an ethical will is a statement of values, laden with wisdom and propelled by aspiration. Unlike a legal will, in which one specifies what do with one’s assets, or a living will, concerning one’s body, ethical wills have evolved over the centuries to allow the deceased to impart life lessons in the hope that they will be followed and fulfilled.
Showing the breadth of anti-Semitism
Opinion By Jane Eisner October 27, 2020 In 1985, historian Deborah Lipstadt published Beyond Belief, a detailed account of how the American news media downplayed or ignored the genocide of millions of European Jews by the Nazi regime from 1933 until 1945. The mass shooting of Jews, the decimation of Jewish communities and culture, and the atrocities of the concentration camps were largely considered “beyond belief” even by the most respected news organizations.
Why We Use the 'U-Word' to Describe Very Observant Orthodox
The debate prompted by Rabbi Avi Shafran’s request published last week — “Don’t Call Us ‘Ultra-Orthodox,’” as its online headline read — is not a new one, but this will be the first time in more than five years as editor-in-chief that I publicly provide an answer and an explanation. The Forward will continue to use the term. Here’s why.
Women Continue To Lag Behind In Top Nonprofit Positions and Pay
With reporting by Maia Efrem and Devra Ferst. The Forward’s second annual survey of 74 major Jewish national organizations found that in the past year, women lost ground in leadership, continued to lag behind men in pay and did not experience the same increases in salary that a majority of the men enjoyed despite these recessionary times.
I interviewed Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2018. I cried tonight when she died.
We were in the kitchen, cleaning up after our small, simple Rosh Hashanah dinner, just the immediate family, stripped down to the fundamentals: honey, challah, wine, chicken, joy in being together. I did not look at my phone all evening. Then a daughter walked in. RBG had died. And the tears flowed.
Book review of Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth by Brian Stelter
In March 2019, the New Yorker published a scathing story by Jane Mayer detailing the deepening connections between President Trump and Fox News, the most-watched cable news network. “The White House and Fox interact so seamlessly that it can be hard to determine, during a particular news cycle, which one is following the other’s lead,” she wrote.
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