In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
-
Opinion
Rockin’ Hit From an Israeli Pop Legend: ‘Almighty God, Forgive Your People’
This song has been around for two or three years, but I just came across it on the Ynet.co.il Web site and was blown away. The lyric is El Nora Alila, a liturgical piyyut poem written in the early 12th century by the immortal Spanish-Jewish poet and philosopher Moses Ibn Ezra. The singer is Meir…
-
Opinion The Conservative Moment
Is this the Conservative movement’s moment? Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the flagship Jewish Theological Seminary, certainly thinks so, and his optimistic evaluation takes full account of the challenges facing what was once America’s largest Jewish religious denomination as it now struggles to define itself. His analysis echoes, though with far more detail and prescription, the…
-
Letters March 5, 2010
For the Health of Zion For 70 years, American Friends of Magen David Adom and its many thousands of donors have stood in solidarity with the people of Israel and with Magen David Adom (“Magen David Adom and Its U.S. Arm Feud Over Their Future,” February 26). MDA, through its thousands of professional and volunteer…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion Series in Search of a Solution
“For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers — for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel’s founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within…
-
Opinion Playing With Matches in Hebron
There are two ways to explain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of plans to renovate two sacred shrines in the West Bank and add them to his new heritage trail of Israeli historical sites. One explanation is that he wants to buy some credit with settlers and the religious right in order to shore up…
-
Opinion The New Israel Fund Needs To Set Red Lines
The tenor of the recent debate over the New Israel Fund should concern anyone who cares about Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. In responding to campus group Im Tirtzu’s claims that NIF funds most of the Israeli NGOs that were used as sources for the Goldstone Report, NIF and its supporters have…
-
Opinion The Bright Side of Israel’s Dark Oscar Nominees
When I was an adolescent growing up in America in the early 1970s, I knew of only two Israeli films. There was the soldier movie — that was Yosef Milo’s “He Walked Through the Fields.” And there was the one about Jaffa’s underclass — that was Menachem Golan’s “Kazablan.” Four decades later, for three years…
-
Opinion In Scandals, a Wake-Up Call for Orthodoxy
-
Opinion Israel’s Black Ops: Putting the ‘Ass’ Back in ‘Assassins’
As of this writing, Israel hasn’t acknowledged any responsibility for the January 19 assassination in Dubai of Hamas military operative Mahmoud al Mabhouh, but Israelis of every stripe are talking and writing about it as if Israeli provenance were established fact. The questions they’re asking are not who dunnit, but whether its benefits outweigh its…
-
Opinion Rabbinic Abuse Claims: In Israel, the Fallout Continues
The announcement of a police investigation has led to a gag order on the allegations of sexual abuse by Rabbi Motti Elon, a popular, charismatic leader of Israel’s modern Orthodox community. But that hasn’t stilled public discussion of the case and the issues surrounding it. It’s remained on Israel’s front pages and dominated the talk…
-
Opinion Leading Israeli Rabbi Accused of Molestation
Israel’s national-religious/Modern Orthodox community is in an uproar this week following a published report accusing the charismatic, widely respected Rabbi Mordechai “Moti” Elon of sexually molesting teenage boys. The accusation was made public Monday, February 15, by an organization that seeks to fight sexual abuse by rabbinic authority figures. The organization, Takana, said that it…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
- 2
Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
- 3
Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
- 4
Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
In Case You Missed It
-
News This Jewish activist was arrested and deported for her book ‘Lesbian Love.’ 100 years later, will NYC apologize?
-
Culture Ever the restless spirit, Tel Aviv-born architect and designer Ron Arad is still reinventing himself and his art
-
News New Jewish-Arab political party debuts in Israel, aiming to topple Netanyahu
-
Fast Forward Trump says Syria would do a ‘better job’ of fighting Hezbollah than Israel