Opinion

• Opinion

  Survival Is the Sweetest Revenge

  When I was 10, my father recommended a movie called “Where Eagles Dare,” the story of a few Allied soldiers who go behind enemy lines during World War II and wreak incredible havoc. When I asked if it was any good, my father just gave me a look. “Four guys kill like a thousand Nazis,”…

  By Rich Cohen

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Back to School: Raise the Bar for Jewish Campus Life

  Anyone traveling recently by car (or clunker) on I-95, Route 66, the Pacific Coast Highway, or any other major thoroughfare, may already be aware of the commencement of a great Jewish pilgrimage festival. Don’t worry, you haven’t slept through the High Holy Days; there is plenty of time still to construct a sukkah. I’m talking…

  By Wayne L. Firestone Sep 9, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Back to Shul: Innovate To Beat the Synagogue Slump

  In the coming weeks, Jews will be frequenting places to which they rarely go — their synagogues. One rabbi I know did an anonymous survey of his congregation on the reason they came to synagogue on the High Holy Days. The most common response was: “to see my friends.” It is enough to get clergy…

  By Sid Schwarz Sep 9, 2009 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman A billionaire Gen Z influencer is reinventing philanthropy — with this South African rabbi’s help

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s strike in Qatar: An audacious bid for victory, or just another foolhardy provocation?

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Making a Turn Onto J Street

  I was born in Israel, on Kibbutz Nachshon. Driving from Nachshon on the road up to Jerusalem, you pass Latrun, where Joshua defeated the Amorites, Judah Maccabee won his first battle and Ariel Sharon fought to break the 1948 blockade of the holy city. History is everywhere in Israel, and it’s very much alive. In…

  By Hadar Susskind Sep 9, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Other People’s Sins

  This is the season of repentance. This is the time of year that we pause to look around, inside and out, and reset our compasses. Tradition teaches that in the month of Elul, which began August 21, each of us is called to reflect on our actions in the past year and seek to make…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 9, 2009 | 4 min read
• Letters

  September 18, 2009

  Where Are the Reform Outreach Centers? In your September 4 article “Largest Outreach Effort for Alums of Birthright Raises Concerns,” Reform rabbis Eric Yoffie and Andrew Bachman express concern over what is being taught at the Jewish Enrichment Center, which is staffed by Orthodox rabbis, and call for greater pluralism in Jewish outreach efforts. What…

  Sep 9, 2009 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Family Values

  Be fruitful and multiply. But if you work for a Jewish communal organization in America, you probably won’t be able to count on help from your employer. That’s the message from a massive study conducted by the organization Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, which found that only 35% of Jewish communal organizations have…

  Sep 9, 2009 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Despairing Words

  Archbishop emeritus and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu is one loquacious fellow. There have been times when the talkative South African human rights activist has been pilloried for saying things that, in fact, he never uttered. But there are also instances when Tutu deserves to be criticized for things he says, and sometimes says again. In…

  Sep 9, 2009 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  ‘Lost’ In Plain Sight: An Israeli Plan To Rescue American Jews

  One of the most spectacularly knuckle-headed advertising campaigns in modern Jewish history was unveiled in Israel September 2 by an international organization devoted to strengthening Diaspora Jews’ attachment to Israel. The organization, Masa (“Journey”), promotes long-term gap-year and junior-year study programs in Israel for Diaspora young adults. Its latest recruitment strategy involves a new Hebrew-language…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 6, 2009 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Celebrating Shabbat With the Frozen Chosen

  Services start at 7:30 p.m. I usually don’t open the door until 7:15 p.m. Until that time on Friday the synagogue is still my home, and I am showering, getting ready and mentally preparing for leading services. At 7 p.m. I get a knock on the door. Alaskan Jews are not prompt, so I know…

  By Elyssa Joy Auster Sep 2, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Health Care Solution, but Dare We Speak Its Name?

  Take away the loonies, the ones shouting comparisons of President Obama to Hitler, the ones talking about “death panels” and all the other stuff. Imagine a reasoned discussion of the pros and cons of the health care reforms now before us. The health care reforms now before us? Excuse me, but what are they? We…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 2, 2009 | 4 min read