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.
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.
Given the gravity of her mission, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tour of Africa in early August should have been a rare teaching moment, focusing the world’s attention and its conscience on its poorest continent. Instead, it became an object lesson — mostly unlearned — in the tabloid trivialization of American news media. And, perhaps, in the…
The southeast Asian nation of Burma is one of the poorest, sickest, most oppressive places in the world. The military junta that has ruled ruthlessly for two decades has enriched itself with the country’s abundant natural resources, but left most of the population of about 56 million destitute. Burma’s health system is the second worst…
There was a time not long ago when the “generation gap” in American politics implied that young people didn’t know or care enough about what was best for the country, and as a result, didn’t vote or participate meaningfully in civic life. Now, when it comes to the ongoing struggle for health care reform, the…
Sudan Still Needs the Jewish Community Your August 14 editorial “Save Sudan” explained in great nuance the complexities of the situation in Darfur. The Forward is correct in noting the importance of looking beyond semantics and recognizing the fact that, unless the comprehensive peace agreement between North and South Sudan is effectively implemented, the entire…
It appears that my August 5-14 column about Roger Cohen has upset a few people, which is usually one of the perks of the job. But some of those who are upset with me are people I care about, and with them in mind I’d like to expand on my thoughts a bit, by way…
The tag line above the Anti-Defamation League’s Web site reads, “To stop the defamation of the Jewish people, to secure justice and fair treatment for all.” Its mission statement, unchanged since it was founded in 1913 and prominent on the home page of its Web site, is straightforward: “The immediate object of the League is…
This week marks an important milestone for Kevin Youkilis, a star hitter for the Boston Red Sox of baseball’s American League. I bring this up not primarily because of its significance for baseball, about which I know little, but rather because it is the latest clue in an ever-widening mystery, namely the intense but seldom-discussed…
Al-Fatah, the Palestinians’ nominal ruling party, presented Israel with both a gift and a challenge on August 12 as it wrapped up its international party congress in Bethlehem. It had been 20 years since the last congress. Party leaders were touting this one, in the face of near-universal skepticism, as a transformative moment in Palestinian…
The disgrace that is America’s health care system, with its millions of uninsured, runaway costs and arbitrary, profit-driven decision-making, has finally met its match in the disgrace that is America’s health care debate. Since Congress adjourned for its summer recess, and lawmakers dispersed to hear from voters, Americans have witnessed scene after scene of public…
Those Who Wish To Receive Organs Must Also Give The issues relating to Jews and organ transplants are indeed troublesome (“How Kidneys Are Bought and Sold on Black Market,” August 7). There is a significant halachic issue for some rabbis regarding whether organs can be removed from brain dead patients. Those Jews who feel that…
An hour into Mahmoud Abbas’s address to the 2,000-odd delegates at the Sixth Fatah Congress in Bethlehem, the Palestinian Authority president showed no sign of wrapping things up. The audience, chain-smoking, chatting and occasionally applauding with dubious enthusiasm, seemed to be channeling elements of a Soviet Congress and a Che Guevara fan club reunion. A…
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