Opinion

• Opinion

  Imagine Living on $21 Per Week

  This month, Jewish communities across the United States will come together and start a yearlong campaign to highlight and address the albatross of poverty that our society carries around its neck. With the holiday season now upon us, a time of year when Americans reflect on the blessings we are all given, I would like…

  By Steve Gutow

  2 min read
• Opinion

  Amusements and Diversions From a Relentless Swamp

  Let’s change the subject, as befits the season of renewal. We know too well the dreadful aspects of the year just ended: the violence in Iraq, Darfur, Afghanistan, Gaza, Virginia Tech and countless others just below our horizon; the deadly hurricanes and the coal mine disasters, the floods and fires and all the rest. Goodbye,…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 12, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Delivering a Deal

  It’s hard to imagine a less likely pair of statesmen to carry off a sensitive, historic peace negotiation than Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, respective leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. For months, skeptical observers on both sides have watched with mixed bemusement and contempt as the two men, both weak leaders with little…

  Sep 12, 2007 | 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  A High Holy Day Story: Reward for No Temptation?

  My rabbi loves challenges, so he loves my halachic questions. “So, Ted,” he says, “any arcane questions today?” We go to his office, where he keeps, in a secret drawer, his wife’s delicious plum cake. Now that I’ve got him in a mellow mood, I begin. “Okay, here’s a tough one tailored for Yom Kippur.”…

  By Ted Roberts Sep 12, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Circumcision Invades Africa

  Circumcision has a long and fascinating history. The latest chapter is being written in Africa. The Wall Street Journal reports “circumcision dramatically reduces the risk of contracting HIV.” In some areas, such as Kenya, the circumcision rate is a high 80%. While Kenya is an exception, there is good reason to believe that ultimately the…

  By Gus Tyler Sep 9, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  September 7, 2007

  Double Standard Applied To Armenian Massacre I might be able to buy into the realpolitik argument that suggests we ought to be more concerned with Turkey as Israel’s ally than with a theoretical and extremely retrospective condemnation of the Armenian deaths as genocide (“Of Genocide and Morality,” August 31). But in that case, how can…

  Sep 7, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Mid-Term Madness

  In the last national election in 2006, the Democrats captured control of both houses of Congress. Their margin of victory, however, was insufficient to override a presidential veto that requires a two-thirds vote. Which means that the Republican Party really was still in control of legislation. Despite this, the present Congress did enact a raise…

  By Gus Tyler Sep 6, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The New Chancellor

  With the installation this week of Arnold Eisen as its seventh chancellor, the 120-year-old Jewish Theological Seminary of America is poised at an unusual moment in the life of a historic institution. The seminary is being offered a rare opportunity to re-imagine itself and the larger Conservative Jewish movement that it leads — and in…

  Sep 5, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Orthodox Ought To Lead The Search for a Solution

  Jews often describe themselves as having a responsibility to work toward tikkun olam, the repairing of the social problems and ethical shortcomings of our time. To many Jews this is a familiar concept on both a private and communal level, but it takes on an entirely new meaning with the modern State of Israel. The…

  By Yedidia Stern Sep 5, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  I’d Give It a 7… It Had a Good Beat, and You Can Daven to It

  What we frequently refer to as the High Holy Days are more accurately described by their Hebrew appellation: Yamim Noraim, the “Days of Awe.” Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are supposed to be significant because of the weighty confrontation with ultimate issues that they embody, especially issues of morality and mortality. For many rabbis, however,…

  By Richard Hirsh Sep 5, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  What If They Can’t Be Cowed Into Submission?

  This past April, the American Jewish Historical Society honored George Shultz, the former secretary of state, for his very powerful contributions to the freedom of Soviet Jewry. As those involved in that struggle know well, this was an honor richly deserved. Shultz went well beyond the usual patter of thanks that is standard at such…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 5, 2007 | 4 min read