Gal Beckerman was a staff writer and then the Forward’s opinion editor until 2014. He was previously an assistant editor at the Columbia Journalism Review where he wrote essays and media criticism. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Bookforum. His first book, “When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry,” won the 2010 National Jewish Book Award and the 2012 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, as well as being named a best book of the year by The New Yorker and The Washington Post. Follow Gal on Twitter at @galbeckerman
Gal Beckerman
By Gal Beckerman
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Opinion When Israel’s Help for Injured Syrian Children Is More Than Craven Hasbara
If you look at Israel and see only the occupation, any news in which Israelis come off positively is nothing but distraction, spin or — to use that vilified Israeli term — hasbara. This is an understandable sort of cynicism, even for those of us who are not of the BDS left. After all, Israel…
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Opinion Vigorous Debate Over Day Schools
A piece by our columnist, Jordana Horn, elicited a lot of response from readers last week. She argued that Jewish day school was not essential to instilling a sense of Jewish identity in children. Instead, what we need is a kind of Jewish homeschooling, Jordana said, creating a real and vibrant Jewish family life for…
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Opinion What Fury Over Iconic Video of Palestinian Boy Says About Israel
The death of Mohammed al-Dura, the 12-year-old Palestinian boy whose iconic last moments have been captured on postage stamps all over the Middle East, happened almost a year before the September 11 attacks, on September 30, 2000. Thirteen years have passed since a cameraman for France 2 captured the horrifying scene of a father and…
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Opinion Hearing Avital Sharansky Speak Again
There is no shortage of people willing to take a credit for the Soviet Jewry movement. Take it from me. I know this to be true. While on tour with my book, I don’t remember a single reading where someone in the audience didn’t chew me out about why their Uncle Murray wasn’t included in…
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Food Confessions of an Ignorant Eater
I had gotten lazy. I’ll admit it. Since getting married almost five years ago, I had not really set foot in a kitchen (to cook, that is — I wash plenty of dishes). Not that I was any great chef before. But I was a bachelor, living alone, and I had my meager repertoire, including…
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Opinion Researchers Feud Over Jewish Genes
Are Jews genetically homogenous? Though it’s certainly been a loaded question historically, the quandary has been the domain of scientists for a number of years now, all of whom have pretty much come up with the same answer: yes. But that was before Eran Elhaik entered the picture. An Israeli molecular geneticist, Elhaik is interested,…
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Opinion Anti-Semitism and Anonymity on Twitter
“Anonymous” is a pretty apt name for the motley crew of anarchist hackers who like to disable and deface the websites of groups or people “they” don’t like. We can’t interrogate their motives. Only their work offers clues, sometimes quite unambiguous ones. When Anonymous recently tried to take down the website for Yad Vashem —…
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Opinion Why Obama’s Speech Was Historic
Barack Obama stepped down from the podium a couple hours ago after delivering what my gut tells me was a historic speech. I have two reasons for thinking this is true, but take these comments as a quick, first reaction. More than any other American president who has spoken about Israel and the conflict, Obama…
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