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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Letters
March 13, 2009
Hebrew College Serves Entire Community Your February 27 article “Hebrew College’s Big Plans Yield Big Debts” noted some of the challenges facing Hebrew College and other Jewish colleges. It is true that the academic landscape has changed, as secular universities have increased their Jewish studies offerings. But while some conclude that we have become an…
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Opinion Victory in Sharm el-Sheikh
Israel scored a significant diplomatic victory at the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in early March, when representatives from more than 70 nations and international organizations gathered to discuss the reconstruction of Gaza. It’s important for Israelis and their friends to recognize what was gained there, and to resist the temptation to sulk over…
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Opinion The Good Banker
Ever since Nancy Reagan started the trend, first ladies have sat with “special guests” who serve as poster children for the particular themes that presidents emphasize as they address Congress and the nation each year. It’s a cynical practice, but an effective one, and President Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress was…
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Opinion The Apartheid of Love
The California Supreme Court will hear legal arguments on March 5 about Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage that was approved in November by 52% of the state’s voters. The point of law at issue is whether or not Proposition 8 constitutes a legal revision to the state constitution. I am not a…
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Opinion A Birthright in Mumbai
On a recent month-long trip to India, we saw the expected: saris and kurtas of every color and design, magnificent Hindu and Buddhist temples, snow-capped Himalayan peaks and — of course — the breathtaking Taj Mahal. We also witnessed something totally unanticipated and completely improbable: the rejuvenation of Jewish life in India, a transformation due in…
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Opinion Saving Our Money for Madoff?
Of all the shocks of the Bernie Madoff heist, perhaps none was more stunning than the list of victims. Among them were several Jewish foundations and many of our community’s most prominent nonprofits. The losses were staggering, and in some cases crippling. Yet the real Madoff scandal isn’t the losses; it’s that our community was…
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Opinion Wonder Upon Wonder
Here are some reasons, even in these gloomy times, to feel good. In Haifa, there’s a man named Hossam Haick. He’s all of 33 years old, and he is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Last September, he was honored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s…
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Opinion A Gloomy Assessment
The crisis in the world economy and the decline of America’s global dominance could be paving the way to a new, multi-polar world order in which powers like Russia, China and India share control with the United States — or compete for it in a global free-for-all. It would be a world in which human…
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Letters March 6, 2009
Israel’s Electoral House Isn’t ‘Divided’ Aaron David Miller writes that, following the Israeli elections, “we have a divided and dysfunctional Israeli house” (“Scrambled Electoral Eggs,” February 20). How is this so? Israel’s elections produced 65 seats for the right-of-center parties, against a mere 44 seats for the left-of-center parties. This suggests that around 60% of…
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Letters February 27, 2009
Conservative Judaism’s Intermarriage Thing J.J. Goldberg provides fascinating and insightful analysis of the challenges facing any future Conservative movement leadership (“Conservative Movement’s ‘Vision Thing,’” February 20). However, I found it equally interesting for what was not mentioned. Nowhere in his piece does the topic of intermarriage appear, even when pointing out that the movement’s slide…
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Opinion Obama’s Faith in ‘Non-Believers’
Last spring, dogged by looping video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright howling “Not ‘God bless America,’ God damn America,” presidential hopeful Barack Obama cracked open the tense discussion of race in this country with his groundbreaking speech in Philadelphia. He drew on his personal history — “I am the son of a black man from…
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