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
The Only ‘Presidential’ GOP Candidate
Trust me on this. Do not, even in idle curiosity, look at the postings on The Huffington Post regarding Joseph Lieberman’s endorsement of John McCain. Or, if you disregard my very sober advice and do have a look, bear in mind that all the antisemitism and anti-Israelism you will see expressed there is all there…
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Letters December 14, 2007
Emergent Communities Attract the Experienced One can scarcely begrudge opinion writer Shawn Landres his computer-infused enthusiasm for alternative emergent communities (“Breaking the Code of Ritual Observance,” December 7). However, a note of caution is in order. As a news article in the same issue indicates, such groups tend to attract Jews who have already had…
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Opinion The Puzzle of Algiers
Algiers, the city once synonymous with armed Arab insurgency, recaptured its status this week, if only for a moment, as a symbolic ground zero in the shadowy drama we call the war on terror. The grotesque carnage visited on the Algerian capital Tuesday morning — two simultaneous car bombs, close to 70 dead, most of…
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Opinion Legislating Hate
Congress failed an important test last week when it flubbed its latest effort to enact a new, stronger federal hate-crimes law. The measure would have given gays the same anti-bias protection enjoyed by blacks and Jews. Named for Matthew Shepard, a gay man beaten to death by bigots in Wyoming in 1998, it has been…
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Opinion Teach Israeli Children Value of Democracy
For all the talk about Israel facing an existential threat, be it from Iran or from Gaza, perhaps the biggest danger to the country is emanating from a place far closer to home. Israelis’ commitment to democratic values is on the decline: They are losing faith in rights, diversity and equality, according to a survey…
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Opinion Is the Outline of a Peace Deal Really All That Clear?
‘Truthfully,” Tony Blair said barely a month ago, “if you took any group of well-educated Israelis or Palestinians and said to them, describe on two sheets of paper the rough solution to the core final status issues — territory, right of return, Jerusalem — they could probably do it roughly along the same contours of…
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Opinion The Torture of Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi
Here is a thought experiment: Imagine what it would have meant for America today had these steps not been taken, had the military remained segregated. Plainly, and in addition to the continuing insult to black Americans and the reduced effectiveness of the military itself, the nation would be markedly disadvantaged on the world stage. The…
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Opinion Fool Me Once: Israel’s Moment
Aftershocks will reverberate for months, if not years, from this week’s bombshell American intelligence report on Iranian nuclear ambitions. Whenever the dust finally settles, though, the news won’t be good. In the short run, the report effectively rules out a military strike against Iran. That’s a good thing, given the terrifying fallout — waves of…
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Letters December 7, 2007
Partner Organizations Own Center’s Archives Regardless of whether a merger is desirable between New York University’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and the Center for Jewish History, as Lawrence Shiffman and Elisheva Carlebach debate in opposing November 30 opinion articles, facts regarding ownership of the center’s resources and of its mission need clarification…
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Opinion America Must Stay Focused on Pakistan
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been one of the most tragic confrontations in history, and last week’s summit in Annapolis was long overdue. But coming as it does at the end of a second-term presidency and involving two leaders deeply unpopular with their own people, the renewed peace process is likely to be an exercise in…
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Opinion My Parents Barely Knew About Shabbat
My introduction to the world of Judaism began soon after my family moved to the United States, when I was enrolled in an Orthodox school for Russian immigrants. I was young, and the lectures seeped in quickly. Within months, I had learned all about the Torah, High Holy Day rituals and the importance of mitzvot…
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