Opinion

• Opinion

  Time for Tzedakah, Now More Than Ever

  Charity (or tzedakah, if you prefer) is as December a phenomenon as Hanukkah, Christmas and (since 1966) Kwanzaa. The reason is not the jollity of the season so much as it is the imminent end of the calendar year and the tax-deductibility of charitable contributions. And perhaps, as well, our heightened awareness, in the dead…

  By Leonard Fein

  4 min read
• Letters

  December 12, 2008

  A Community Liaison, Not a Special Pleader I read with interest your article about candidates vying for the Jewish liaison position in the Obama White House, a position I held under President Gerald Ford (“The Race Is on for Hot Job as Obama’s Liaison to Nation’s Jews,” December 5). With all due respect to those…

  Dec 4, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Mumbai the Game-Changer

  Until now, most of us thought of Mumbai, if at all, as just a name on a map. Now we have a clearer image. On November 26 a band of terrorists swept through the Indian port city, shooting and bombing, taking over buildings and combing them for people to kill. For three days the world…

  Dec 4, 2008 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman Charlie Kirk and Alan Berg: 2 murders, 41 years apart, show the painful perils of polarization

  

• Nora Berman ‘A long record of failure’: Is it time to put the two-state solution to rest?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s strike in Qatar: An audacious bid for victory, or just another foolhardy provocation?

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  The Change We Need

  It’s a requirement of electoral politics that candidates must present themselves as all things to all people. What looks like hypocrisy is actually just common sense: The more precisely you define yourself, the more potential voters you drive away. The smart politician campaigns by promising people what they want but then governs by giving them…

  Dec 4, 2008 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  In Afghanistan, Don’t Count on Europe

  On January 20, European leaders will get the American president they always wished for. Barack Obama is a committed multilateralist whose view of the world is quite similar to their own. The president-elect is even more popular among Europeans than he is in his own country. Obama, however, will probably not see his wish fulfilled,…

  By Eric Frey Nov 26, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  In Iraq, Mind a Pullout’s Consequences

  All American troops are scheduled to depart Iraq within three years. The results for the region could be catastrophic. The Bush administration and the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have agreed on a Status of Forces Agreement that mandates total American withdrawal by January 2012 and the removal of coalition forces from Iraqi cities…

  By Yossi Alpher Nov 26, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Teaming Up for Equality in Israel

  Immediately following United Jewish Communities’ General Assembly in Jerusalem, I took an American colleague to visit a Jewish school in Ramle, in the center of Israel. We went to visit Iman, one of the very few Arab citizens of Israel teaching in a Jewish school. Iman joined the school last year as part of a…

  By Mike Prashker Nov 26, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  From Pearl Harbor to Partition

  There are five Big Dates I remember from my childhood — the kind of memories that include where I was at the time, memories that remain vivid after all these years. The first of these was December 7, 1941 — Pearl Harbor Day. I had no idea at all what it meant that the Japanese…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 26, 2008 | 4 min read
• Letters

  December 5, 2008

  When Nonprofits Fold For the Wrong Reasons I am troubled by remarks made by Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, in your November 21 article “Not-for-Profits Brace for Trouble.” He said, “I think you’ll see some small nonprofits fold, or at least go into a holding pattern. Given the tens…

  Nov 26, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Freedom From Speech

  The United Nations saw another shred of its tattered dignity stripped away November 24, when a committee of the General Assembly approved what amounts to a direct assault on Western liberal democracy. In an 85-50 vote, with 42 abstaining, the so-called Third Committee adopted a resolution, submitted by a caucus of Islamic nations, to criminalize…

  Nov 26, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Gorging on Misery

  It’s been a busy time for the New York State attorney general, Andrew Cuomo. As the chief law officer in the home state of the financial industry, he is the first responder when there’s trouble on Wall Street. His office has a lengthy record of policing the bankers and brokers when the federal government can’t…

  Nov 20, 2008 | 3 min read