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
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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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