Opinion

• Opinion

  Now This Here, Mr. Obama, Is…

  By the time Barack Obama wraps up this week’s whirlwind tour of Israel, he will undoubtedly have heard all sorts of wise things from all sorts of wise men (and women). As is well known, we have no shortage of them here. But try as he may, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the…

  By Uri Dromi

  3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Choices My Father Made

  A couple weeks ago, my father passed away. As I prepared to speak at his funeral in Vienna, I wondered whether the life story of this very private man carried any larger message that would be of interest beyond his immediate family and friends. I soon realized that it did. My father left Europe after…

  By Eric Frey Jul 17, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Olmert’s Corruption, In a Word

  A number of emotions vie for top billing in the wake of the tragic exchange that took place this week between Israel and Hezbollah. Sadness and sympathy for the Goldwasser and Regev families, of course; shock and disbelief at the inhumane callousness of Hezbollah, naturally; but outrage and disgust for the Israeli government should be…

  By Buzzy Gordon Jul 17, 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 Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• 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  The Value of Settlement Is Obsolete

  It was one of the most important and largely forgotten milestones in the history of the state: 41 years ago, on July 16, 1967, a young kibbutznik got out of his jeep at Aalleiqa, an abandoned Syrian army base on the Golan Heights, and became the first settler in the occupied territories. Only five weeks…

  By Gershom Gorenberg Jul 17, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Speaking for God

  Right now, in scholarly circles, there is a search for the true author of what has come to be known as the “Serenity Prayer.” The prayer reads, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” The authorship has…

  By Gus Tyler Jul 17, 2008 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  A Drum Major for Righteous Indignation

  The occasion: The Senate vote on a bill to bar a 10.6% cut in payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients. Just before the July recess, the bill drew 59 “yea” votes — one shy of what was needed to cut off debate, eight shy of what would be needed to override the president’s promised…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 17, 2008 | 4 min read
• Letters

  July 25, 2008

  Belke, Rivke and Gitl Philologos writes of children who took their mothers’ names (“How Did Jews Choose Their Last Names?”, July 18. I know of no other culture where there are surnames based on women’s first names. A remarkable number of names are based on Yiddish women’s names or diminutives of these names, which often…

  Jul 17, 2008 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  The Boys Come Home

  Israel’s lopsided prisoner exchange with Hezbollah last week brings to a close, in the saddest possible way, the final chapter of the Second Lebanon War. Two years and four days after that war began, the soldiers whose abduction lit the spark have finally come home, but not in victory. For two Israeli families, the return…

  Jul 17, 2008 | 3 min read
• Letters

  July 18, 2008

  Lithuania’s Obligations I find it both sickening and frustrating that the Lithuanian government still tolerates antisemitism (“Europe’s Shameful Honoring of Vilnius,” July 4). I was in Vilna the day the neo-Nazis mentioned by opinion writer Rabbi Andrew Baker made their march down Gedimino Prospekt. I did not know about the march until the next day,…

  Jul 10, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Matter of Faith

  Barack Obama probably did his cause more harm than he realized earlier this month when he vowed, in a pair of well-orchestrated speeches, to make religion — specifically a “partnership” between government and churches — into a “moral centerpiece” of his administration. Obama detailed his plan to audiences in Zanesville, Ohio, and St. Louis, just…

  Jul 10, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Neutrals, Caught in the Crossfire

  Gannit Ankori chairs the art history department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her specialties include gender studies, Diaspora Jewish art and Palestinian art. Two years ago she published a book, “Palestinian Art,” described on the cover as the first comprehensive book on the topic in English. Joseph Massad is an associate professor of modern…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 10, 2008 | 4 min read