Opinion

• Letters

  December 16, 2005

  Oldest Bat Mitzvah Girl In History Was 101 While Esther Eisner sounds absolutely wonderful and should be lauded for becoming bat mitzvah at the age of 99 (“Oldest Bat Mitzvah Girl in History! [Or So We Think]”, December 2), my co-author, Paula Wolfson, and I interviewed and photographed an older woman on her bat mitzvah…

  5 min read
• Opinion

  Austria Comes to Terms With Its Past

  Last week, after a federal judge in New York dismissed the last major Holocaust restitution case against the government of Austria and several private Austrian corporations, Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel told President Bush that he was declaring “legal peace.” The Austrian leader then called me and said in emotional terms that it was a “moment of…

  By Stuart Eizenstat Dec 16, 2005 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  The Danger of Arab Democracy

  This week, Iraqis were set to go to the polls to elect a new parliament. At least two of the radical Islamist parties on the ballot, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the Sadr Organization, maintain large and active militias. In Lebanon, elections a few months ago returned Hezbollah to parliament….

  By Yossi Alpher Dec 16, 2005 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz Class assignment: Get to know your murdered Jewish neighbors

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry How Israel became a country where teenagers murder each other in cold blood

  

• Emily Tamkin American Jews have a Hasan Piker problem. Solving it is going to hurt

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  The Fruits of Good Will

  Israel and its friends had good reason to celebrate this week, as the international community prepared to remove the legal barrier that keeps the Jewish state from joining the Red Cross. To the shame of the world humanitarian movement, Israel has been effectively barred from membership for decades by a technicality in the 1929 Geneva…

  Dec 2, 2005 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Big Spill

  That massive chemical slick that was spilled into China’s Songhua River on November 13 completed its havoc-strewn journey through Harbin this week, allowing China’s fourth largest city to sound the all-clear and turn its water back on (though the lasting impact on groundwater and soil quality won’t be known for months or longer). Meanwhile, the…

  Dec 2, 2005 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Sea of Distrust Watering Down Euro-Mediterranean Ties

  As soon as European monitors took up their positions at the newly opened Rafah checkpoint last month, European Union diplomats started speaking of a new chapter in the difficult relationship between Israel and Europe. Not surprisingly, the honeymoon ended barely after it had begun. The leak last week of a controversial E.U. report, which heaped…

  By Eric Frey Dec 2, 2005 | 4 min read
• Letters

  December 2, 2005

  Kinky’s Candidacy Is Not Just About Politics A November 25 letter writer, having let a yucky word push his buttons, chides the Forward for implicitly approving Kinky Friedman’s campaign for governor of Texas (“Too Kinky for Texas”). As a native New Yorker happily residing in Providence, R.I., I could have only one reason for wishing…

  By James Bridge Dec 2, 2005 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Laboring for Social Welfare Limited by An Open Economy

  By speaking out loudly against the rise of economic inequality and the spread of poverty in Israel, newly elected Labor Party leader Amir Peretz has brought about a major shift in the country’s public agenda, away from the security matters that have dominated debate in Israel for so long. Some unspecified anti-poverty measures were supposedly…

  By Ephraim Kleiman Dec 2, 2005 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Jewishness Gets Americanized, Lox, Schlock and Pickle Barrel

  Of late, ethnic Jewishness in America seems to have taken on some new flavors. Consider the bagel. Today, in addition to the traditional poppy seed and onion, one hears about heretical varieties like blueberry, rainbow and parmesan. And what’s more, these bagels now seem to be available everywhere around the nation, whereas even 25 years…

  By Bethamie Horowitz Dec 2, 2005 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Open a Secular Door to Judaism

  When the bomb was thrown 22 years ago, many were aghast: Surely it would lead to an irreparable schism in the Jewish people. Even within the Reform Jewish movement, from which the explosive decision known as “patrilineal descent” had emanated, there were cautionary voices. The Reform rabbinate in Israel, as also Reform Hillel rabbis here…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 2, 2005 | 4 min read
• Letters

  November 25, 2005

  Recognize Chabad Way I have no doubt that Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov, my colleague in Munster, Ind., is most deserving of the rabbinic award he garnered from his local federation (“Chabad Makes Inroads at Parley,” November 18). I am less sure, however, of the Forward’s attempt to portray his wife’s position in her local Conservative Hebrew…

  Nov 25, 2005 | 5 min read