Opinion

• Opinion

  The Gift of Freedom

  Most of us seldom give much thought to the Fourth of July. It’s one of the most important holidays on our national calendar, one of the very few that is observed simultaneously by all Americans without regard to faith, origin or regional whim. It is, some say, the only holiday specifically dedicated to celebrating this…

  2 min read
• Letters

  July 4, 2008

  Not All Prisoners Are ‘Underbelly of Society’ Rabbi Lon Moskowitz is quoted in a June 13 article as saying, “We work with the underbelly of society, the spiritually void, the morally empty” (“Demand for Kosher Cuisine Swells Ranks of Jewish Prison Chaplains”). I am a 64-year-old inmate in the federal penal system, and I don’t…

  Jun 26, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  In the End, Only Candor Will Bring Peace

  First, the bad news: As we all learned to say years ago — even before the year 2000 and the outbreak of the second intifada — Israel has no partner for peace. Or so, at least, Israelis believe. For Ariel Sharon, the absence of a credible partner was a strategic assessment, leading directly the calamitous…

  By Leonard Fein Jun 26, 2008 | 4 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

  Europe’s Shameful Honoring of Vilnius

  The European Union has designated Vilnius as the “European Capital of Culture” for 2009. It is a recognition Lithuania does not deserve. Vilnius, with its beautiful old town and venerable history, is without a doubt charming. Workers are busy restoring churches and palaces, and the first-time visitor is likely to be smitten by the postcard-perfect…

  By Andrew Baker Jun 26, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Synagogue Is No Place To Perform Richard Strauss

  In 1933, composer Richard Strauss was appointed by Joseph Göbbels as president of the Reichsmusikkammer, or German State Music Bureau. In 1945, Strauss declared that the Allied bombing of the Hoftheater, his favorite opera house in Munich, was “the greatest catastrophe that has ever disturbed my life.” And now, six decades later, Strauss is being…

  By Melvin Jules Bukiet Jun 26, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Why Obama Is Colorblind and McCain Is Ageless

  Back in March, in the midst of the furor over controversial remarks by Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama called for a national conversation on race. “Race,” said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, “is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” But since that time, Obama has shut down the…

  By Allan Lichtman Jun 26, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  No Justice, No Peace

  Harsh things have been said about the new document on antisemitism issued this month by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “Vigilance Against Anti-Jewish Bias in the Pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian Peace.” The document is a revised version of a church draft completed just a month earlier, following months of discussion with Jewish agencies. But where the first…

  Jun 19, 2008 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  We’re Making Deals

  Suddenly, after years of diplomatic stalemate on every front, Israel is talking deals, deals, deals, all up and down its famously rough neighborhood. Jerusalem is talking — indirectly, through third parties — with three enemies that were off-limits just months ago. It’s talking with Hamas, via Egypt, about a Gaza cease-fire to halt the shelling…

  Jun 19, 2008 | 3 min read
• Letters

  June 27, 2008

  Sobibor Wasn’t Polish A June 13 Shmooze article on Holocaust-themed graphic novels refers to Sobibor as a “Polish extermination camp” (“Comic Explores Shoah”). After a relatively long absence of such mindlessly insulting and history-falsifying nonsense, we were shocked to again find it again in print — and all the more so in a Jewish newspaper…

  Jun 19, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Kind of Friend Israel Needs

  President Bush was in this part of the world last month, and I had the opportunity to attend two of his speeches, one at the Knesset, the other at the World Economic Forum in Sharm el Sheikh. On both occasions I found myself standing up and clapping for a president whose feelings of friendship for…

  By Yossi Beilin Jun 19, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Then They Came for the Bahai

  In mastering the knowlege that even bigotry is relative and comes in gradations, I was a premature pupil. I learned this lesson when I was only 10. In 1977, in an eclectic neighborhood in Tehran, my Jewish family lived on a narrow, wooded alley in what was then an upscale area, alongside two other Jewish…

  By Roya Hakakian Jun 19, 2008 | 3 min read