Opinion

• Opinion

  Too Many Geniuses and Not Enough Grunt Workers

  Earlier this year a contest was held for the best idea for a book that would transform the way Jews think about themselves and Judaism. Sponsored by a wealthy Jewish philanthropist, the contest was billed as the Jewish equivalent of the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant” program, which bestows no-strings-attached gifts of a half-million dollars to…

  By Noam Neusner

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Is Michelle Obama the Next Hillary?

  As the race for the White House continues, the Forward presents the views of policymakers, opinion-shapers, and even a politician or two in a non-partisan forum offering a balanced range of opinion. The views expressed are not endorsed by the Forward, which does not support or oppose candidates for public office. This series is intended…

  By Barbara Kellerman Jul 10, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Date After Date, But No Wedding Date

  For many young Jewish singles around the country, the quest to find a nice Jewish girl or guy has come to center on New York, specifically Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The neighborhood is increasingly known as the place to be if you’re 20-something and dreaming of being discovered by a potential mate. On any given…

  By Lauren Gottlieb Jul 10, 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

  And So We Sing Our Longings

  It’s become my custom, these last four or five years, to spend the final days of my visits to Israel at Kvutzat Geva. Geva is a kibbutz in the Emek. (Emek means “valley,” and there are many named valleys in Israel — Emek Bet Sh’an, Emek Hefer and so forth, but there is only one…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 10, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Building a New Israel, Activist by Activist

  When it was first performed, all the way back in 1969, there were more than a few raised eyebrows. That performance was by Lehakat Hanachal, an immensely popular military choir. But the lyrics were very far from what one might expect of a group sponsored by the Israel Defense Forces: “S’u einayim b’tikva,/lo derech kavanot;/shiru…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 2, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  ‘Imaginary Coordinates’ or Community Coordinates?

  The decision taken by Chicago’s Spertus Institute to terminate “Imaginary Coordinates,” a controversial exhibition on Israeli-Palestinian issues, has drawn plenty of media attention — and no small amount of criticism. But this is not an open-and-shut case of donor protests stifling a museum’s daring and creativity, as some have suggested. Instead, the core issue here…

  By Ira S. Youdovin Jul 2, 2008 | 4 min read
• Letters

  July 11, 2008

  Lithuania Has Earned Its Place in Europe Regarding Rabbi Andrew Baker’s July 4 opinion article “Europe’s Shameful Honoring of Vilnius,” I am amazed by the persistence of efforts to deny Lithuania its European identity. Through the centuries, my countrymen have struggled to stay in Europe and remain Lithuanians. History was brutal to us. Wars, occupations…

  Jul 2, 2008 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Severe Verdict That Didn’t Go Far Enough

  The conflict now known as the Second Lebanon War began two years ago, on July 12, 2006, and ended 34 days later, on August 14. On September 17, following weeks of intense public anger over the war’s inconclusive ending, the Israeli Cabinet appointed a five-member government commission of inquiry into the war’s conduct, known, after…

  By Yehezkel Dror Jul 2, 2008 | 6 min read
• Opinion

  The Afghan Unraveling

  Of all the strategically critical battle zones dotting our chaotic world, none presents a more depressing picture right now than Afghanistan. Depressing, that is, not because of what is happening there, but because of what is not happening. Afghanistan is not getting better. On the contrary. After more than six-and-a-half years of combat against primitively…

  Jul 2, 2008 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  A Vote for the Hungry

  One of Washington’s nastiest legislative deadlocks came to an end last week when Congress voted convincingly to override a presidential veto and enact the five-year funding package known as the Farm Bill. The bill provides some $300 billion in food stamps, nutrition programs, foreign aid and conservation programs, along with perennially controversial growers’ subsidies. The…

  Jul 2, 2008 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  What Kind of Interviewer Confuses Hamas and Hummus?

  They took us down winding stone stairs and through long corridors, ostensibly to have some make-up dabbed on our noses for the cameras, in fact to meet the interviewer and test his disguise. We confronted a tall, blond-ish man in his thirties, dressed in leather and studs, his face heavily powdered, his arms and chest…

  By Yossi Alpher Jul 1, 2008 | 3 min read