Free Republic

A J Mast for The New York TimesAlvin H. Rosenfeld is the author of an essay critical of liberal Jews that has generated heated debate. The American Jewish Committee, an ardent defender of Israel, is known for speaking out against anti-Semitism, but this conservative advocacy group has recently stirred up a bitter and emotional debate with a new target: liberal Jews. An essay the committee features on its Web site, ajc.org, titled “ ‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism,” says a number of Jews, through their speaking and writing, are feeding a rise in virulent anti-Semitism by questioning...

HOUSTON — The largest branch of North American Judaism voted on Sunday to oppose Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. More than 2,000 delegates of the Union for Reform Judaism adopted a resolution saying Alito would "shift the ideological balance of the Supreme Court on matters of core concern to the reform movement" on abortion rights, women's rights, civil rights and the scope of federal power. The vote came at the closing session of the group's biennial convention, which was held in Houston Wednesday through Sunday. During a debate before the vote, Jeff Wasserstein, a former law clerk...