Opinion

• Letters

  April 6, 2007 — Forward Memories

  The Loveliest Face of Them All My mother appeared on the Forverts’s rotogravure page sometime in the l930s. She graduated from college in l933, like Marjorie Morningstar. Unlike Marjorie, though, she went on to earn a master’s degree at Columbia University in psychology, and got a job in Macy’s personnel department. At some point during…

  6 min read
• Opinion

  They’ve Been Good Sports

  I’ve never heard of a more chilling taunt in the world of sports: “You’re next for the gas ovens, Zeidel!” It was screamed back in 1968 by a Boston Bruin opponent at a Philadelphia Flyers’ hockey player named Larry Zeidel. And yet, as this spring training marks the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s belated entry…

  By Gerald Eskenazi Mar 30, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Media Was Misled by Amnesty’s Legal Advocacy

  Anyone following last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah knows that international human rights groups such as Amnesty International were fiercely critical of Israel, accusing it of violating international law by inflicting disproportionate harm on civilians. What the public might not know from these human rights groups’ reports — but what Amnesty has now conceded…

  By Marc Stern Mar 30, 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

  Admit That the Boycott of Hamas Has Been a Failure

  For more than a year, the European Union and its member states toed the harsh Israeli line in boycotting the Hamas-led Palestinian government. But since the unity government of Fatah and Hamas was sworn in earlier this month, the Europeans have parted ways with Jerusalem and are seeking direct contacts with the Palestinian Authority —…

  By Eric Frey Mar 30, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Make JTS Proud To Be Pluralistic

  As a Conservative rabbi, I applaud the Jewish Theological Seminary’s decision this week to ordain openly gay and lesbian Jews. Far from weakening the movement, this will strengthen the convictions of Conservative Jews to teach and live as Jews committed to the balance between tradition and change. If history is any guide, however, the integration…

  By Joanna Samuels Mar 30, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Niftiest Pedagogic Device There Is

  The Passover Haggadah, as we all know, is fixated on the number four: Four questions, four cups of wine, four sons and so fourth. But that fixation derives from a much earlier time, when the number four was basically as high as most people could count. The system back then, we’re told, was “one, two,…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 30, 2007 | 4 min read
• Letters

  Letters, March 30, 2007

  Romney Made a Mistake A March 16 letter to the editor ignores Henry Ford’s shameful legacy of antisemitism and the influence that his publications continue to have on modern-day antisemitic rhetoric and writings (“Ford Motor Co. Helped Israel in the Early Years”). The letter writer is correct in asserting that “when we forget history we…

  Mar 30, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Risk-taking in Riyadh

  As the Forward went to press this week, reports from a senior Israeli journalist currently in Riyadh — those words themselves bespeak a revolution in Arab-Israeli relations — indicate that Saudi Arabia is preparing to roll out an elaborate new peace proposal. Formulated in the course of secret talks with Israeli and American officials, the…

  Mar 30, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Prize for Partnership

  The Israel Prize, the Jewish state’s highest civilian honor, is awarded each year on Independence Day to individuals and, occasionally, institutions that have made outstanding contributions to Israeli society. Each year’s award list a snapshot in time of Israel’s self-image, its sense at that moment in history of what it thinks it should be. This…

  Mar 30, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Make the Negev Desert ‘Blossom As the Rose’

  David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, understood that the Jewish state’s future lay in the Negev. Indeed, he himself called the Negev home, and it was in his hometown of Sde Boker that, this past November, the development of the Negev once again became a national strategic priority. At a special government meeting held in…

  By Shimon Peres Mar 23, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Back Bill To Ban Cluster Bombs

  The United States and Israel, as well as dozens of other countries that are makers, sellers or stockpilers of weapons, are in the cross hairs of an international movement to abolish cluster bombs. Weapons are, of course, meant to kill, and are a fact of war. But cluster bombs, like landmines, kill indiscriminately, and therefore…

  By Kathleen Peratis Mar 23, 2007 | 4 min read