In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
No Escaping the News From Israel — Not Even in Israel
I come to Israel in significant part to escape the news from Israel. Back home in Boston, between the Israeli papers and the many other online sources of information and opinion, the news relentlessly caroms between the scandalous and the unbearable: record poverty, educational decline, political ineptitude, national fatigue, only rarely relieved by a feel-good…
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Opinion Welcome to the Jewish Tea Party
Approaching the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the upscale New York Synagogue (yes, that’s its actual name) announced that Sabbath services would feature a distinguished guest: Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, the storied civil rights group. Morial’s appearance isn’t happenstance: The synagogue’s Rabbi Marc Schneier has made a virtual second career…
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Letters January 15, 2010
Mideast Myth-Busting Missed Some Things Some of the myth-busting in J. J. Goldberg’s December 25 column “Four Myths About the Mideast and Real Estate” bears closer examination. Goldberg claims that Israel, in violation of its commitments under the Bush administration’s 2003 road map, has increased settlement expansion, while the Palestinians have, in accord with the…
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Opinion Liberating the Wall
Imagine, if you will, a group of devout Jews who regularly gather to pray at an ancient synagogue. Sometimes they are left alone, but other times they are verbally and physically harassed, spit at, cursed. If this were taking place in a country unfriendly to Jews, we would admire the worshippers’ dedication and perseverance, perhaps…
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Opinion Is Bibi Ready for ’67 Lines? So Says Maariv Report on New U.S. Peace Bid
Maariv published a story (in Hebrew – my translation is below) on Monday, January 4, by its top political correspondent, Ben Caspit outlining what is described as a detailed American initiative to reconvene Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and reach a permanent agreement in two years. What is particularly surprising is the clear implication that Washington has Netanyahu’s…
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Opinion A Year After Cast Lead: On One Hand, on the Other
This past week marked the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli incursion into Gaza last year. Here are two ways of looking at it. One says it marked a turning point in the moral vision of Israeli society. The other says it was successful in reducing terrorism and saving Israeli lives. The first one…
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Opinion Michael Oren’s Incredible Shrinking Tent
Here we go again. This is about two people, a man and a woman, who both live, not incidentally, in Washington, D.C., but who apparently inhabit very different planets. One is named Michael Oren. He is the current ambassador of the State of Israel to the United States. Oren has a fine scholarly reputation and…
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Opinion Human Rights NGOs Need a Monitor
Most people prefer giving, rather than receiving, criticism. Leaders of powerful non-governmental organizations are no exception. Human rights NGOs have long benefited from a “halo effect” that has protected them from scrutiny; reporters quote their research widely, assuming it is accurate. But in recent years, the protective coating has worn thin, and the heads of…
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Opinion Out With Israel’s Old Left, in With the New
No more than several thousand people took part in what was billed as Israel’s “first-ever Human Rights March.” Many of those who attended the December 11 gathering in Tel Aviv were affiliated with the several dozen Israeli NGOs that took part in organizing the event. There were gay rights supporters, protesters against the deportation of…
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Opinion In Uganda, a Hate That We Must Confront
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said that Judaism “takes the mind out of the narrowness of self-interest.” During the past few weeks, I’ve been reminded of the urgent need for American Jews to make this formulation real as I’ve turned my attention to a flagrant threat to human rights in Uganda. Since October, the Ugandan…
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Opinion Between Bernie and Joe: The Senate Democrats’ Rock and Hard Place
Back on December 17, 2009, Americans were glued to their televisions and computer screens, waiting to see whether the Senate Democrats could muster enough votes to block a Republican health care filibuster. David Letterman reported that night on his CBS “Late Show” that they had closed the deal. “They have 60 votes to pass a…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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