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
A Plea From the Pulpit for Balance
A Web site affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently declared that “The Jewish community in the Diaspora must get a life.” It was wrong, and it was insulting, but I am more concerned about what lies behind the statement. There is a mindset even more wrong, and it is sadly growing among my fellow…
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Opinion Plagued by the Widespread Virus of Doubt
‘Mom, today Naomi broke the Ten Commandments five times! She lied three times and stole two times.” That was our 6-year-old son Ezra’s prosecutorial summation of his 5-year-old sister’s activities, delivered to my wife Nika as the kids were being tucked in one recent evening. Nika reminded Ezra that tattling is also not nice, and…
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Opinion If the Health of the Nation Were Really an Issue
By now, we’ve been told repeatedly that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the policies of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. There’s really only one exception, and because it stands alone, the interviewers and the pundits keep coming back to it. That is, of course, the healthcare proposals that the two have put…
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Opinion The Gaza Fence
Gaza’s convulsions have kept much of the world community riveted in horrified fascination for the past month, wondering what it all means and what could possibly happen next. Scenes of Palestinians leveling the barrier wall along the Gaza-Egypt border, flooding across by the tens of thousands and overwhelming Egyptian security forces, have provided some of…
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Opinion The Danger of the Deficit
Entering his last year in office, President Bush might have been expected to acknowledge the bleak political landscape and to tread modestly. He has lost both houses of Congress, the confidence of most Americans and much of the world’s good will. His agenda has been repudiated, at home and abroad, and there’s no time left…
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Letters February 8, 2008
Note Jewish Scientists I could not agree more with Arts & Culture writer David Kaufmann’s review of the PBS series “The Jewish Americans” (“A History of Us: ‘The Jewish Americans’ Hits the High Notes,” January 25). What PBS did, they did well; what they left out was even more incredible. Kaufmann properly laments the omission…
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Opinion The Lesson of Super Tuesday’s Split Ticket
The conventional wisdom this past December said that by now we would have anointed presidential candidates from both political parties. Super Tuesday was supposed to be a victory lap. Instead, it was a mosh pit. Both parties’ voters delivered the equivalent of split tickets. Delegate counts suddenly matter, and a brokered convention or two is…
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Opinion Let the Spirit of Bill Gates Be Brought to the Pews
As one of about two dozen religious leaders invited to attend the World Economic Forum last month in Davos, Switzerland, I spent four of the most fascinating days of my life engaged in high-level interfaith dialogue with representatives of the Muslim and Christian world. Where else could I sit with a member of the Saudi…
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Opinion Accept That the Regime in Iran Is Here To Stay
Many respectable experts on Iran, prominent among them Americans, Israelis and Iranians-in-exile, believe they know how to replace the theocratic regime in Tehran with something far more benign and friendly. “Another $100 million for broadcasting to Iran’s disaffected youth and women will do the trick,” says a veteran Israeli security official who served in pre-revolutionary…
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Opinion We Have Already Been Defeated in Iraq
Daniel Levy is one of the new stars in Washington, as also in cyberspace. Levy comes to Washington from Israel, where his distinguished record included serving as senior policy advisor to then-justice minister Yossi Beilin and as the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative. Now, under the auspices of The Century Foundation and the…
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Opinion The Truth About Barack Obama
I was saddened to see the shameful whisper campaign about Barack Obama’s faith be granted credence, however partial, in these pages. In a February 1 editorial, assertions are repeated that contradict the facts about Obama’s life, and the spirit of unity that surrounds his candidacy (“Fear Factor”). Barack Obama is a Christian. He has been…
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