Opinion

• Opinion

  Israel Is Training for the Wrong War

  In the year since last summer’s war with Hezbollah, the Israeli military has been busy preparing for the next round of violence. A number of commanders who proved to be incompetent, the chief of staff among them, have been fired. The military’s budget has been increased by $2 billion, with the extra money going toward…

  By Martin van Creveld

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Let Our Population Data Go

  With the all the news preoccupying the Jewish community, it slipped under the radar that United Jewish Communities last year obtained trademark protection for the terms National Jewish Population Survey® and National Jewish Population Study®. Although the UJC has foresworn conducting a 2010 survey of American Jewry, by registering NJPS® as a service mark, they…

  By Benjamin Phillips, and Charles Kadushin, and Leonard Saxe Jul 25, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Racist Stench Rises Out of Cologne

  Ralph Giordano’s recent criticism of a mosque being prominently constructed in Cologne earned him denunciations from fellow Jews and liberals for supposedly supporting the racist agenda of right-wing extremists. The respected German writer, however, is hardly the only Jewish liberal to finds himself with strange new bedfellows. The controversy Giordano triggered is typical of the…

  By Eric Frey Jul 25, 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’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Bible Ban Sparks Swedish Debate

  Sweden has long had the reputation of being a super-secular nation. Less than 3% of the population attends church. But, within the last few days, it seems that God has made His presence known in Sweden. It all began when a Swedish hotel guest checked into his room and found that the room was outfitted…

  By Gus Tyler Jul 25, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Where Haredim and Hellenists Can Coexist

  A couple of weeks back, both this newspaper and The New York Times reported somewhat breathlessly on the emergence in Poland of a thriving Jew-less Jewish revival. This year, for example, Krakow — a city with 300 Jews — held its 14th annual “Festival of Jewish Culture,” with 20,000 (if you believe the Times) or…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 24, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Ironies of History

  The story of mankind is a story of endless ironies. Thanks to medical science, people are living longer. The result is that governments around the world are confronted with the challenge of providing adequate medical care for their aging populations. When Bismarck introduced old-age insurance to Germany, he set the retirement age at 65 with…

  By Gus Tyler Jul 24, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Move To Clean Up Student Loan Racket

  Aid to students is a big business in the U.S. This year it comes to $18 billion dollars in bank subsidies, mainly for students in low-income families. It is customary for schools to provide an office to advise students on how and where to get the money. Investigations by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo…

  By Gus Tyler Jul 22, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  July 20, 2007

  Group’s Finances Clear A July 13 article fails to mention that all financial information about the Claims Conference is on the organization’s Web site (“Accounting Shift at Claims Conference”). In addition, the Claims Conference Web site lists every single allocation made by the organization, a level of transparency few Jewish organizations can match. The change…

  Jul 20, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Axis Shrinks

  North Korea’s shutdown of a key weapons-grade nuclear reactor, confirmed this week by United Nations inspectors, offers an important moment of clarity in American foreign policy. It could be seen as a critical juncture — perhaps a turning point — in the global quest to limit nuclear arms proliferation and to defang the worst rogue…

  Jul 20, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Dollars Versus Real Dollars

  In the last few days, the stock markets have broken all records. Obviously, we must be doing something right. But a little probing into the situation suggests that the real condition is not quite what it seems to be. Informed economists know that there is a great difference between current dollars and real dollars. At…

  By Gus Tyler Jul 19, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Understand Why Iran Is Arming Iraqi Militias

  The Bush administration is accusing the Iranian government of sending weapons to Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan. More than a few Americans, remembering the intelligence debacle leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, are skeptical of the charges. The skepticism is understandable, but I believe it is wrong. Equally wrong is…

  By Ronald Neumann Jul 18, 2007 | 4 min read