In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Opinion
There’s a Price for Paying Ransom for Hostages
For all the headlines they grab, the kidnapping of European and Asian hostages in Iraq and Afghanistan is far from the worst of the many woes afflicting the two countries. But the damage caused by these incidents goes far beyond individual human tragedy, mostly thanks to the hapless reactions of the victims’ governments. Their willingness…
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Opinion Some Methodists Are on a Mission To Demonize Israel
In 2004, the United Methodist Church passed a resolution calling for “members of each congregation to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from all perspectives.” The call for impartiality by the largest mainline Protestant church in the United States was a laudable one, but it has since become clear that for some Methodists fair-mindedness is not on…
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Opinion One Thing New Orleans’s Poor Haven’t Lost
As a society, we suffer from attention deficit disorder. One minute it’s Iraq, the next it’s Paris Hilton, then on to the mine disaster and thence to Darfur. We are bombarded by snippets, like a manic bumper car jostled now in this direction, now in that. Oh, we are engaged after a fashion, but our…
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Opinion Our Topsy Turvy Times
Once upon a time when the sun never set on the British Empire, the crown jewel in the imperial crown was a country called India. There were many agricultural products that the empire derived from India, including opium. When the power loom for weaving textiles made its appearance, the native Indians started up a lively…
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Opinion The Roots of the Housing Crisis
Foreclosures of homes are the big pain of the day. Millions of families who once proudly boasted that they had reached a level of earnings that allowed them to buy a house are now squirming as lending institutions threaten foreclosure. What happened? The good old days came and departed. Families, mainly middle class, who could…
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Letters August 17, 2007
Keep Debate Over Shul Renovation Civil As president of the board of directors of Holy Blossom Temple, I write this letter to let readers know that the board firmly supports our senior rabbi, John Moscowitz, and the role he has played thus far in our renewal process (“Renovation of Storied Toronto Synagogue Opens Cracks in…
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Opinion Mortgages and the Jewish Question
For most of us, the current crisis in America’s housing market is a distant echo, a barely understood series of headlines that might as well be in Greek, in a section of the newspaper often left unread. But the crisis is real. It threatens hundreds of thousands of American families who are in danger of…
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Opinion Time for Uncertainty
Elul, the last month of the traditional Jewish calendar, began this past week, straddling as usual the end of August and the beginning of September. It is a harsh season, when the first joys of summer have worn off and the comfort of fall is still far ahead. It is a time of searing heat…
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Opinion Planting Tomatoes on a Hilltop Overlooking Shechem
‘Let’s make a garden,” my 22-year-old daughter Ayelet suggested during my weekly visit to their little home in Yitzhar, a Jewish community near the ancient city of Shechem, or Nablus as it’s called today. Nestled in the valley between two mountains, Eval and Grezim, Shechem is the place where Jacob bought property, where Joseph is…
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Opinion Swiss Bank Claimants Deserve Better
In November 2000 a group of Swiss banks settled a class-action lawsuit by agreeing to pay $1.25 billion to Holocaust victims, including $800 million to those who deposited funds in the banks prior to World War II and did not receive them afterward. The Zurich-based Claims Resolution Tribunal, or CRT, was appointed to administer the…
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Opinion Is it Still Adultery if the Spouse Has Alzheimer’s?
Every 7.5 seconds, an American turns 60. Member of the first wave of baby boomers are joining their parents in creating a demographic tipping point unprecedented in our history. We now see the longest living, most mobile and most spiritually challenging multi-generational cohort of older adults in American history. How we respond to this challenge…
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Sports This year’s biggest World Cup upset came from its most Jew-ish team
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Fast Forward Years after a boycott fight, Ben & Jerry’s Israel debuts a flavor celebrating Israeli resilience
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Fast Forward Mamdani calls AIPAC ‘monsters’ in rally ahead of NY primaries
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Fast Forward Jewish groups push back against Trump’s Iran deal — but more quietly so far than in 2015
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News Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli politician who could dethrone Netanyahu?