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
Let Them Serve
This is a tale of two militaries. The year is 1993. A new American president, untested by military service of his own, stumbles into a messy public spat with military brass over treatment of gay and lesbian service members. Candidate Bill Clinton had promised to allow citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual…
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Opinion He Took Our Measure, and Dreamed Bigger
American Judaism lost one of its keenest, most unblinking observers with the death on July 6 of Gary A. Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco. Tobin died at the age of 59 after a long battle with cancer, and is survived by his wife, six children and a…
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Opinion Lessons Learned?
Now that Bernard Madoff has been sent to jail for the rest of his life, and then some, it is tempting to put his sordid story behind us, to leave the follow-up for the business pages and those tracking who else will be caught in his web of deceit. Tempting, but unwise, because this scandal…
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Letters July 17, 2009
The Real Revelations Of the AIPAC Case How truly sad the circumstances to which Larry Franklin has now been reduced (“Once Labeled An AIPAC Spy, Larry Franklin Tells His Story,” July 10). He, and especially AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, have been victims of completely unwarranted, and unprecedented, prosecution. Antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments…
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Opinion In Iran Elections, Hezbollah Loses — Will Israel Too?
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad aren’t the only people who have staked their reputations on Iran’s disputed presidential election results. In a TV interview, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah described the Iranian elections as a mass endorsement by the Iranian people of their country’s system of Velayat-e Faqih — or “guardianship by Islamic jurist”…
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Opinion Gilad Shalit’s Plight, and Israel’s Dilemma
There are many beautiful theories about how to bring Gilad Shalit home, but it’s an ugly fact that he now has been a captive for three years. And it’s an ugly fact that a series of Israeli governments have been unable to free him. Both diplomatic and military means have failed so far. Shalit’s family…
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Opinion A Fourth of Jew-ly Celebration
As a young child, I always loved the Fourth of July — the fireworks, the meat on the grill, the picnics and everyone seeming so grateful to be American. As I got a little older and learned about the Founding Fathers, who cherished their principles and beliefs so much that they were willing to risk…
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Opinion Sharansky Inherits a House Divided
One of the stranger and nastier episodes of modern Israel-Diaspora mud wrestling was laid to rest in late June in Jerusalem when Natan Sharansky, the onetime Soviet political prisoner and human rights icon, was elected chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. The episode was unusual because it broke new ground in the growth field…
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Letters July 10, 2009
Blaming the Victims Of the Mullahs’ Hate Leonard Fein’s attempts to rationalize the hatred of the Islamic Republic of Iran toward Israel in “After the Uprising, Whither Iran?” is perplexing (July 3). Fein mocks Prime Minister Netanyahu’s assertion that “there is no conflict between the Iranian people and the people of Israel.” But the prime…
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Opinion First, Do No Harm
Yoram Blachar is president of the Israel Medical Association, a pediatric nephrologist with a quiet manner who practices at the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot. In 2007, he beat out two other candidates to become president of the World Medical Association, an umbrella organization representing 9 million physicians in 84 countries with a mandate to define…
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Opinion Prizes and Partners
Forgive us for smiling. The past few weeks have brought exciting awards and new purpose to the Forward, confirming the quality of our work and helping to craft the future. At a time when the economy is struggling and journalism is stumbling through a complete rewrite, our good news is very welcome. First, in Chicago…
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