Opinion

• Opinion

  Arab Street: We’re Bushed

  Two editorial cartoons this week summed up Arab feelings about the re-election of President Bush. The London-based Saudi daily Asharq Al Awsat’s cartoonist drew Uncle Sam carrying a sign displaying Bush’s motto of the past four years, “With Us, Or Against Us”; alongside the image, a second frame offers the American president’s ultimatum for the…

  By Youssef Ibrahim

  4 min read
• Opinion

  A Night of Broken Glass, on a Date With History

  From the observation platform atop the restored Reichstag, the German parliament building, the most prominent landmark on the cityscape of central Berlin is the gleaming dome of the Moorish synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse. When dedicated in 1866, in the presence of Otto von Bismarck and other Prussian dignitaries, it gave resounding expression to Berlin Jewry’s feeling…

  By Ismar Schorsch Nov 12, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Value Of Opposition

  The moaning and groaning is neither helpful nor appropriate. There is every reason for concern, but none for despair. Beyond the fact that Senator John Kerry received more votes than any candidate for the presidency in American history — except, of course, George W. Bush — there is a mine of provocative data buried in…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 12, 2004 | 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

• Letters

  November 5, 2004

  Shuls Without a Prayer The picture of Szeged Synagogue mentioned in an October 29 article caught my attention, because my husband and I visited it in 2000 (“Built Judaism: How Synagogue Photography Opens Worlds”). The restored synagogue, with its cobalt blues and gold inlay, is truly awesome. I believe that Tony Curtis, the movie actor,…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Heal the Rift In Our Nation

  It wasn’t until I traveled to Florida just as the election campaign was nearing its conclusion that I understood how very deeply our nation is divided. Living, as I do, in Massachusetts — quite decisively a nonbattleground state — I have been aware only at a distance of the frequency and the brutality of the…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 5, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The President’s Mandate

  The results of this election will be analyzed, spun and dissected for years, but one cardinal message must be clear in our minds: The Republicans have become this nation’s majority party. Democrats need to look that reality in the face, absorb it and begin to plan their next moves accordingly. Four years ago, the Republican…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  What Democrats Must Do

  Democrats face a delicate balancing act. On one hand, they must use every tool at their disposal, building coalitions where possible, filibustering when necessary, in order to slow or block the worst extremes of the Bush agenda. On the other hand, they must begin a long process of reconnecting with the voters. The two goals…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Living Under Water

  There’s an old joke about the British secret service learning that the polar ice cap is melting, threatening to drown the world within six months. The queen asks the clergy to go on television and prepare the public for the End. The archbishop of Canterbury goes first, urging his flock to receive sacraments and get…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  A Lesson From the ACLU On How To Admit Mistakes

  As we learned from this year’s presidential race, it is hard to forgive where there is no admission of error. So it was with joy and relief that I learned, October 18, that the American Civil Liberties Union finally had owned up to a whopper — the signing of a pledge, as a condition of…

  By Kathleen Peratis Nov 5, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Thou Shalt Separate Church and State

  You might think that I, as a biblical scholar and an observant Jew, would have been overjoyed that the Supreme Court recently agreed to take up the issue of displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings. After all, our nation’s highest arbiter of justice is about to give free publicity to the book I love…

  By Marc Brettler Nov 5, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  In God We the People Trust

  In agreeing recently to rule on the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays at the Texas Capitol building and two Kentucky courthouses, the Supreme Court has waded into a controversy that, for religious conservatives, is fast catching up to abortion and gay marriage as one of the gravest domestic issues of the day. It would seem…

  By David Klinghoffer Nov 5, 2004 | 3 min read