Opinion

• Letters

  June 30, 2006

  WZO Is Reorganizing I recently returned from serving as a delegate to the World Zionist Congress, and wonder whether Hebrew University professor Gabriel Sheffer was actually at the event when he commented that “young people aren’t involved” in the World Zionist Organization (“Rabbi Boycotts President at Zionist Parley,” June 23). Their significant presence was felt…

  5 min read
• Opinion

  A Talk With Tzipi

  At the end of a week of meetings here in Jerusalem with, among others, five senior Cabinet ministers, sundry Knesset members and several Palestinians, it is not the sprawling nature of the issues nor even the matter of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s unilateralist intentions that most concerns me. Quite to my surprise, it is an…

  By Leonard Fein Jun 30, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Combustible

  As is common in the Middle East, the armed thugs who attacked a pair of Israeli army posts near Kibbutz Kerem Shalom last Sunday morning, killing two soldiers and kidnapping a third, were actually aiming at a different target altogether. Back in Gaza, the squabbling leaders of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, the…

  Jun 30, 2006 | 2 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Diplomatic Victories

  Despite the tensions on the Gaza border, Israel has won some notable diplomatic victories in recent days, few of them more dramatic or gratifying than the twin victories scored last week. On June 21, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies voted overwhelmingly to admit Israel to membership, after decades of exclusion….

  Jun 30, 2006 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Three Wise Men’s Unholy Influence

  Don’t fall off your chair, but I’ve recently had to admit I was wrong about something. My list of the individuals whose thoughts form the top three most lamentable cultural influences in modern times needs to be amended. This realization, in turn, raises a question about the influence exerted by a larger group of people:…

  By David Klinghoffer Jun 30, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Bring Orthodox to Communal Table

  There was a telling moment at the recent centennial celebration of the American Jewish Committee. During a seminar about the Jewish future, scholar Steven Bayme noted that according to the most recent National Jewish Population Survey, the Orthodox are marrying earlier and raising larger families than the more liberal segments of the community. As the…

  By David Eliezrie Jun 30, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Gap of Our Own Generation

  At a talent show earlier this spring, a group of sixth graders from Manhattan’s Abraham Joshua Heschel Middle School played “Hey, Jude.” Soon enough, everyone in the room — kids, parents and teachers — was crooning the Beatles hit song together. This never would have happened in my school days during the 1960s. Back then,…

  By Bethamie Horowitz Jun 23, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Honoring Our Religion

  The quarrel that erupted this week between Moshe Katsav, president of Israel, and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, could easily be dismissed as a case of wounded pride, an inconsequential squabble over symbols without substance. But that would seriously understate the gravity of the dispute. In refusing to address the…

  Jun 23, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Cutting and Running

  Democrats in the Senate tried to flex their muscles this week by capitalizing on popular dislike of the war in Iraq to call for a scheduled American troop withdrawal. What they got instead was a reminder of their own fecklessness as they split their ranks between competing resolutions that Republicans gleefully described as “cut and…

  Jun 23, 2006 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Only When Women Speak Up Will Organizations Listen

  The controversy surrounding the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute’s recent meeting at Wye Plantation has made clear that women are not coming to the table and telling leaders what the community wants and needs — but it would be a mistake to conclude that we are not involved in community life. Look around at any…

  By Leah Aharonov Jun 23, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Gender Bias Is a Fact of Communal Life

  A by-now widely reported accident took place at Wye Plantation last week. The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute convened a meeting of Jewish organizational leaders to discuss the future of the Jewish people — but hardly any women leaders were invited, hardly any were expected to participate before dozens of Jews sent protest letters to…

  By Shaul Kelner and Steven M. Cohen Jun 23, 2006 | 4 min read