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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Opinion
Olmert’s Corruption, In a Word
A number of emotions vie for top billing in the wake of the tragic exchange that took place this week between Israel and Hezbollah. Sadness and sympathy for the Goldwasser and Regev families, of course; shock and disbelief at the inhumane callousness of Hezbollah, naturally; but outrage and disgust for the Israeli government should be…
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Opinion The Value of Settlement Is Obsolete
It was one of the most important and largely forgotten milestones in the history of the state: 41 years ago, on July 16, 1967, a young kibbutznik got out of his jeep at Aalleiqa, an abandoned Syrian army base on the Golan Heights, and became the first settler in the occupied territories. Only five weeks…
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Opinion Speaking for God
Right now, in scholarly circles, there is a search for the true author of what has come to be known as the “Serenity Prayer.” The prayer reads, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” The authorship has…
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Opinion A Drum Major for Righteous Indignation
The occasion: The Senate vote on a bill to bar a 10.6% cut in payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients. Just before the July recess, the bill drew 59 “yea” votes — one shy of what was needed to cut off debate, eight shy of what would be needed to override the president’s promised…
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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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