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
Why Palin and Huckabee Dig Settlements
The Republican field for 2012 is beginning to stretch its legs. Not surprisingly, presidential hopefuls have started to define themselves by what they are not: Barack Obama. There are predictable swipes at Obama’s health care reform plan, his deficit spending, his climate-related regulations and his obsequious displays before foreign potentates. If you are looking to…
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Opinion NGO Monitor Needs a Monitor
A few years ago, Bar-Ilan University professor Gerald Steinberg set up NGO Monitor to, in the words of its mission statement, “end the practice used by certain self-declared ‘humanitarian NGOs’ of exploiting the label ‘universal human rights values’ to promote politically and ideologically motivated anti-Israel agendas.” Steinberg was on to something. NGO Monitor has since…
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Opinion Undermining an Israel-Diaspora Partnership
Last month the school I run came alive with energy as 40 sixth-graders got to know 25 of their Israeli peers. They came together and discussed a Holocaust novel they had all read, did drama activities and an art project that grappled with what it means to be a leader, and participated in a workshop…
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Opinion Four Myths About the Mideast and Real Estate
‘Take not heed unto all words that are spoken,” the wise old preacher Ecclesiastes wrote. You might find to your grief that people don’t always say what they mean — or worse, that they do. In that spirit, here’s a quick primer to some common sayings in circulation these days and what they really mean….
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Opinion Real Family Values
It is not yet the law of the land, but legislation to extend Israel’s national maternity-leave policy is well on its way to approval. Earlier this month, the Knesset voted overwhelmingly to grant new mothers six months unpaid leave — the first 14 weeks of which are paid. Even supporters of this legislation concede that…
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Opinion Charitable Lessons
The story in this week’s Forward about the $12.25 million gift from a group of donors to a Jewish day school near Boston arrives at the end of this trying, tumultuous year with several important messages. The first is that high-quality, pluralistic day school education is worth supporting. As Rabbi Irving Greenberg wrote on these…
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Letters December 25, 2009
Lieberman’s Health Stance Isn’t Apostasy One can legitimately disagree with the position of Senator Joseph Lieberman, who opposes President Obama’s health care plan as it currently is presented. However, for Rabbi Ron Fish to question Senator Lieberman’s conscience and commitment to religious values is insulting — and takes away from any serious argument that he…
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Opinion Lessons in Democracy from a Senator and a Rabbi
If you’re like me, you’ve probably been laboring for too long under the misapprehension that democracy means government by majority. We probably also assumed, foolishly, that a consensus is a prevailing view shared by most of those present. Today (Monday 12/14), however, by remarkable coincidence, two important voices arose — one in America, the other…
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Opinion England, Labor Zionism and the Future of Social Democracy
For anyone interested in issues of social and economic justice in the current economy: There’s a brilliant, must-read essay in the current issue of the New York Review of Books on the past and future of social democracy. It’s written by a former general secretary of British Dror Labor Zionist youth whom you might have…
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Opinion The Great (and Imperfect) Hope That Is Chabad
Back when I was serving as a Chabad emissary at Oxford University, the great British philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who had befriended me, once told me that while he admired my work bringing Jewish students closer to their tradition, he was utterly opposed to the large menorah I erected in the city center each year. “My…
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Opinion Coming Up Short on the Tzedakah Yardstick
This month, Americans will sift through the countless solicitations in our mail and e-mail in order to decide where to give donations before the end-of-year tax-deduction deadline. Americans are often said to be the most generous people in the world, based on the percentage of the national gross domestic product that goes toward charitable causes….
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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Fast Forward In Britain, a Jewish Culture Month aims to move the conversation beyond Oct. 7
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News This Jewish activist was arrested and deported for her book ‘Lesbian Love.’ 100 years later, will NYC apologize?
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Culture Ever the restless spirit, Tel Aviv-born architect and designer Ron Arad is still reinventing himself and his art
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News New Jewish-Arab political party debuts in Israel, aiming to topple Netanyahu