In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Letters
November 28, 2008
Seliger’s Opinion on Conference Misguided As organizers of the November 23 conference “Jews Uniting To End the War and Heal America,” we are greatly angered by Ralph Seliger’s November 21 opinion piece “The Progressive Politics We Need.” Seliger focused his suspicions on two out of 50 activists who are leading workshops or plenary sessions at…
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Opinion The Ethics of the Rabbis
On the surface, the crisis besetting America’s largest kosher meatpacker looks a lot like the larger infection that is crippling the nation’s economy and undoing so many iconic brands, from Lehman Brothers to AIG to Circuit City. Like other firms, Agriprocessors fell victim to the arrogance of its owners and the dereliction of outside regulators….
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Letters November 21, 2008
Mock Meat Is Kosher With three of the five largest kosher beef plants in the United States having stopped production, consumers can expect significant shortages of kosher meat as well as price hikes (“Shelves Empty as Three Plants Stop Beef Production,” November 14). But don’t worry: Many companies make great-tasting, kosher-certified mock meats. Jewish law…
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Opinion A Melting Pot President
It was a century ago this year that Israel Zangwill’s iconic play “The Melting Pot” was first staged in New York. Hailed by President Theodore Roosevelt as the quintessential expression of the American spirit, the play celebrated America as the “crucible” that would melt away all Old World hatreds and rivalries. As I contemplated the…
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Opinion Advice on the Arab-Israeli Front: Try Pursuing Peace, Just Don’t Fail
By January 20, President Barack Obama will, no doubt, have already received a tsunami of recommendations on what to do about the Arab-Israeli issue. At the risk of adding to the flood, let me offer up some observations gathered from almost 20 years of traveling the negotiator’s highway. Following this advice will not guarantee success,…
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Opinion The Progressive Politics We Need
For 108 years, the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring has represented the best of the American Jewish progressive tradition. The Workmen’s Circle has been a champion of labor, a voice for social justice and a foe of communist totalitarianism. It fought for the freedom of Soviet Jews and for civil rights here at home. Though its roots…
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Opinion And Now for That Other Election…
Ahhhhhhh, that deep sigh of relief now that the elections are over. Peace and quiet. Good books. No polls, no ads, no rallies, no bumper stickers, no robo-calls or lawn signs. Life can be beautiful. Oops: Not so fast. The elections are not over. There are two more to go. I refer, of course, to…
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Opinion Mazel Tov, Mr. President-Elect! Now Do We Have Some Advice for You …
Get Your Mideast Priorities Straight By Yossi Alpher Your Middle East agenda is huge. You are going to be preoccupied in the years ahead with Iran and Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. These matters will loom much larger for you than will Israel and its immediate and problematic environs. Nevertheless, you…
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Opinion Celebration and Healing
In the end, it turned out, race did not matter. Americans went to the polls and chose a president because of what he could do, not what he looked like. Race has been America’s great shame for two centuries. On November 4, America showed itself and the world that it can face its shame and…
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Opinion Africa’s Bleeding Heart
Two Jews meet at a depot on their way out of Europe. This is not the set-up for a joke — far from it. The travelers are the foreign ministers of France and Great Britain, Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband, and they were journeying to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hoping to stop a…
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Opinion For Conservatives, Exile and Reformation
Following Barack Obama’s victory, political conservatives are suffering a crisis that could be called psychological but is better described as spiritual. The mood is one of depression, despair, panic. Responding to calls for rebuilding the conservative movement, Rush Limbaugh demands purging it instead: “We had some people abandon the conservative movement, and they need to…
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