Opinion

• Opinion

  Stop Worrying: Details Follow

  It takes a special kind of courage to bring Jews good news. We are a people bred on tales of past disaster and impending doom. The very hint that things might be going well for us, that calamity isn’t lurking around the corner, seems to drive some of our brethren to the brink of distraction….

  3 min read
• Opinion

  An Energy-conserving Light Unto the Nations

  How many Jews does it take to change an energy-conserving light bulb? Few reputable scientists debate the devastating impact of global warming. And few question that this is a human-caused disaster that only humans can resolve. Using carbon-based fuels with abandon will only add to the greenhouse effect that is making the earth warmer and…

  By Steve Gutow Dec 15, 2006 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Let Each Congregation Choose for Itself

  In our increasingly black or white, left or right, right or wrong world, where fundamentalisms of all kinds increasingly flourish, it is neither convenient nor glamorous to claim the center. But that center, where we are challenged to balance newly received wisdom with tradition, new information with moral concerns, facts with beliefs, is where we…

  By Jerome Epstein Dec 15, 2006 | 3 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

  From Beirut (and Baghdad, and Tehran) to Jerusalem

  It has become, it seems, the new paradigm for dealing with the Middle East: Just solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or at least start moving in that direction. Then it will be much easier for the United States to deal with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Al Qaeda, democratization and all the other problems of the Arab…

  By Yossi Alpher Dec 15, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Are We More Than Just A Category?

  In 1964, preeminent sociologist Marshall Sklare published an article in Commentary magazine titled “Intermarriage and the Jewish Future,” sounding an alarm at a time when only 7.2% of married Jews had non-Jewish spouses. Even though Sklare and most Jews of his time viewed intermarriage as a one-way ticket out of Judaism, the conventional wisdom of…

  By Bethamie Horowitz Dec 15, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Drawing Blood From a Stone

  Mortgages are America’s largest business. At present it comes to ten trillion dollars. That’s $10,000,000,000,000 — a sizable sum. But the business is in trouble right now. As The Wall Street Journal reported December 5, “More Borrowers With Risky Loans Are Falling Behind.” Who are these borrowers, and why are they falling behind in their…

  By Gus Tyler Dec 15, 2006 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  The Silk-purse Promises of a War We’ve Lost

  The Iraq Study Group believes that “The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability. There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts: Lebanon, Syria, and President Bush’s June 2002…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 15, 2006 | 4 min read
• Letters

  December 15, 2006

  Boston Study Question Did Not Bias Results As the principal researchers who conducted the recently released Boston Jewish community study, we appreciate the comments by opinion writers Steven M. Cohen, Jack Ukeles and Ron Miller regarding our finding that the majority of children in intermarried homes are being raised as Jews (“Read Boston Study on…

  Dec 15, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Conclave of Hate

  In a way, the Iranian regime may have done the world a favor when it decided to host this week’s international gathering of Holocaust deniers. By rolling out the red carpet for the ugliest gathering in recent memory of frauds, nutballs, white racists and unreconstructed Nazis from every dark corner of the world, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…

  Dec 15, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  As We Like It

  This Friday night, December 15, marks the first night of the festival of Hanukkah. On this date by the lunar calendar, 2,171 years ago, the Maccabee guerrillas of Judea completed their victory over their Syrian-Greek overlords and retook the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Ever since then, Jews around the world have marked the event with…

  Dec 15, 2006 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  When We Withdraw, Will Saudis Heed a Sunni Call to Arms?

  If Iraq descends into a full-blown civil war during or following the withdrawal of American-led coalition forces, would Saudi Arabia be compelled to intervene? The Saudis have come under mounting pressure to give Iraqi Sunni Arabs the wherewithal to stand up against Iraq’s Shi’ites and Kurds, especially the former. Riyadh has so far resisted this…

  By Wayne White Dec 8, 2006 | 4 min read