In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Confront the Extremists in Our Midst
Why can’t American Jews call extremism by its name? Over the last year, I have looked on in dismay as Israeli settlers who openly oppose our most cherished values as Americans and as Jews have been treated by Jewish organizational leadership and the Jewish press with attitudes ranging from polite silence to sympathetic understanding. Even…
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Opinion The Conservative Movement’s Double Standard
For more than a decade, the Conservative movement has proclaimed its welcoming attitudes toward gay and lesbian Jews. As evidence, Conservative leaders have often cited the movement’s 1992 “Consensus Statement,” which affirms that “gays and lesbians are welcome in our congregations, youth groups, camps and schools.” They neglect to mention the other, less-than-inclusive portions of…
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Letters February 4, 2005
Call Modern Hebrew By Its Name: ‘Israeli’ In the December 24 On Language column, Philologos criticizes my glottonym “Israeli” as a “denigrating word for modern Hebrew” (“Hebrew vs. Israeli”). But I would argue that “Israeli” is not at all derogatory. It simply acknowledges that the marvelously complex language spoken by Israelis is very different from…
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Opinion Encourage ‘Ownership’ and Save Social Security
The very first monthly Social Security check was sent out in January 1940 to Ida Mae Fuller, of Ludlow, Vermont, age 65. After paying Social Security taxes for three years, since the program began on January 1, 1937, Fuller collected Social Security benefits for 35 years until her death in 1975, at age 100. The…
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Opinion A Light Unto the United Nations… And Israel
On January 24, the United Nations General Assembly held a special session commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps. Member states gathered in New York to recall how the world failed to prevent the most sadistic and maniacal element of Hitler’s war machine. But that is not all that was…
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Opinion Antisemitism Goes Public in Russia
Hate crimes flourish in darkness. To name them and inform the public of their prevalence is the first step in shining a light. Natan Sharansky’s recent opinion article on this page describes how “classical” antisemitism used to be “easy to recognize,” “not only vulgar and illegal, but socially unacceptable throughout the free world.” Hardly a…
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Opinion The Old Arab Pecking Order, Turned Upside Down in Iraq
The Iraqi elections almost certainly created a government dominated by the country’s Shi’ite majority. For the first time in Iraq’s history, and the first time in several hundred years in the Arab world, an Arab state will be ruled by representatives of Shi’ite Islam, the same minority branch of Islam that rules Iran and is…
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Opinion Silence in the Face of Torture
Just before Alberto Gonzales’s testimony at his January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, one wag noted, “Mr. Gonzales has directed members of his staff to revise the White House definition of torture to include torture.” Witty, but painful. In his prepared remarks, Gonzales said, “America stands against and will not tolerate torture under…
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Opinion The Limits of Unilateralism
President Bush and his allies have a right to claim last Sunday’s election in Iraq as a moral victory. The willingness of millions of Iraqis to defy terrorist threats and line up to vote is a testament to the power of the human spirit. After decades of tyranny, Iraqis were given an opportunity to vote…
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Opinion A Haven at Last
Israel did the right thing this week in deciding to double the pace of immigration from Ethiopia, where an estimated 20,000 members of the so-called Falash Mura community have been waiting for years to join their relatives in the Jewish state. Jerusalem’s foot-dragging on the issue has been a blot on Israel’s humanitarian and Zionist…
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Opinion Give Them Liberty or…
In the peroration of his inaugural speech, President Bush made explicit the scope of his ambition: “When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, ‘It rang as if it meant something.’ In our time it means something still. America, in this young…
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