About the Author


Jeff Jacoby

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe. To see a month's worth of his recent columns, please visit Boston Globe


Navalny’s “Virus of Freedom” is Spreading

Prisoners of conscience risk their lives for the freedom we take for granted. They deserve to know that we have not forgotten them.

Fighting Antisemitism at Columbia Just Got Harder

At Columbia Law School, only one student club was rejected this year — the one formed to oppose antisemitism.

Nazis Or Communists: Who Is Responsible for More Murder?

The swastika stands for evil and mass murder. So does the hammer and sickle.

The Wonderful Life of “It's a Wonderful Life”

The transformative power of second chances.

A Generation of Antisemites

Antisemitism has proliferated so readily among young people because they have been indoctrinated to think that way.

What Hamas Can Learn from Hanukkah

The promise of Hanukkah and of Jewish history is that Hamas will ultimately fail and fade into oblivion.

Why They Rip Down the 'Kidnapped from Israel' Fliers

Antisemitism has the power to override every norm and decent impulse.

The Dubious Link Between Education and Antisemitism

Education is no prophylactic against the hatred of Jews.

Who Started World War II?

For the first two years of World War II, Stalin and Hitler were allies.

What Frederick Douglass Really Said in his Great Independence Day Speech

Douglass excoriated America's hypocrisy. But he exulted in America's democratic promise.

Is This How a New Great Awakening Begins?

A new survey suggests that religion and other traditional American values are weaker than they have ever been. Are things about to change?

Listen to Gaza's Quiet Dissenters

Amid the bitter oppression of life under Hamas, there are many Palestinians who dream of something better, freer, more hopeful.

Christmas Music in a Kosher Bakery

Thomas Jefferson argued that when it comes to religion, “Divided we stand, united we fall.”

And Baby Makes 8 Billion

People are the ultimate resource.

The US and the Holocaust: “We Did Nothing to Prevent It”

In a powerful film, Ken Burns chronicles America's abandonment of the Jews during the Holocaust.

When Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State Went to Jerusalem

The bond between Judaism and Jerusalem is ancient and unbreakable, on the saddest day of the year and every other day.

Carl Sagan and the Freedom to Doubt

At the intersection of science and public policy, nothing is more hazardous than dogmatism enforced through the squelching of dissenting attitudes.

Placing a Target on American Jews

The Mapping Project is animated by one of the most durable and deadly conspiracy theories in human history.

I'm Right, and You're an Evil Monster

Toxic polarization is turning disagreements into a binary war of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, enlightened vs. barbaric.

It's a Mistake to Ban Holocaust Denial

A government that can criminalize Holocaust denial this week can criminalize other opinions next week.

The Passover Story is an American Story

The Exodus story is, of course, first and foremost a Jewish narrative. But it has over time become an American narrative as well.

The Meaning of Dr. Seuss’s Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose

A cautionary tale about being complicit in our own oppression.

How Jew-Hatred is Different from Other Forms of Prejudice

Antisemitism speaks the language of extermination.

Richard Dawkins and Eugenics

Dawkins advocates for reducing “undesirable” populations by preventing them from being born in the first place.

Antisemitism in America

When Jews are attacked in America's streets, who speaks out?

Cancelling 'Anti-Semitism'

Why dropping the hyphen in 'anti-Semitism' is actually a big deal.

Religion in America is Fading

But true believers are everywhere.

The Problem with Holocaust Education

A generation of Holocaust classes has apparently done nothing to stem the rise of anti-Jewish hatred.

Matzah: Bread of Affliction, Bread of Liberation

Symbol of slavery or freedom? Exploring the seeming contradictory meanings of this ancient bread.

One of the Most Significant Defenses of Free Speech in American History

An 1860 speech by Frederick Douglass, a leader of the abolitionist movement, takes on cancel culture.

My Father, My Hero

My father didn’t hate God for what he had lost and didn’t abandon the Judaism in which he had been reared. On the contrary, he deepened it.

The Foundation Stone of American Democracy: The 1620 Mayflower Compact

Why John Quincy Adams regarded what the Mayflower passengers accomplished with something approaching awe.

El Al's Historic Flight Over Saudi Arabia

It's encouraging to see prominent Arab thinkers – and the first Arab government in more than 25 years – rejecting the old rancor, and enumerating the gains peace can make possible.

Fear of Speech is Replacing Freedom of Speech

Culturally, the freedom to express unpopular views has never been more endangered.

Increasingly Cruel Cancel Culture

Don't let a legitimate goal – overcoming racial bigotry – turn into a frenzy of character assassination and public humiliation.

Will We be Remembered Only for What We Did Wrong?

It has become tempting to reduce historical figures to a single, defining, negative characteristic. It's also false.

Indecent Cops, Indecent Rioters

The killing of George Floyd was intolerable. So is the mayhem.

Sir Isaac Newton's Self-Quarantine

While the bubonic plague raged elsewhere, Newton, in seclusion, embarked on what he'd later describe as the most intellectually productive period of his life.

 

Never Again, Again and Again

Have decent people learned not to shrug at genocide?

Jew-Haters, Right and Left

If the long, bitter history of antisemitism teaches anything, it is that "the oldest hatred" can take any shape and adapt to any ideology.

What Was So Great about the 2010s?

Amid all the bad news, we are living in the best era our species has ever known.

The Oldest Love Affair in History

Amid rising anti-Semitism, the People of the Book rejoice with the Torah.

Blessed are the Retractors

Remember that study showing religious children are more selfish than non-religious kids? Turns out it was wrong.

Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Should Have More Than Two Children

Our world has serious problems. Having more babies can help solve them.

Proclaim Liberty: How the Hebrew Bible Molded America

The Hebrew Bible indelibly molded the American founding, and its influence remains a part of its national story.

Baby India: There Are No Unwanted Babies

Why should any child be abandoned, or any baby deprived of life, when so many potential mothers and fathers yearn with all their hearts for the chance to adopt?

The Day Fox News was On in My Gym

Harshness of our public dialogue is being driven by hardline ideologues who see the world through lenses so thick that they can’t understand each other's views.

A Less Religious America will be a Less Generous America

Religious faith and institutions are the strongest drivers of philanthropic works in US society.

The Kosher-Industrial Complex

America has undergone a kosher revolution.

Jew-Hatred in America

In the America I grew up in, Jews assumed that peace and harmony would go on indefinitely. No more.

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