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.
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.
Last week’s Aipac convention, where President Bush spoke to calls for “four more years,” left the impression that many of America’s Jews are moving away from their traditionally Democratic preferences to rally around a president whom they see as a strong friend of Israel. But is it really the case that American Jews on the…
President Bush’s not quite prime-time address on Monday at the Army War College had four vital audiences: the American people, the international community, the Iraqi people and the American military. But the president could not or did not tell any of his audiences what they needed and deserved to hear. At a critical moment for…
Teach the Children Well After reading the April 16 account of Holocaust education teachers in New Jersey and Iowa, I found that I could not simply turn the page (“Two Holocaust-Ed Teachers Find That Empathy Is Often Born of Adversity”). My reasons were many and varied. As a combat infantryman in France and Germany during…
A few days ago, in a conversation with a retired senior officer in the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, the Defense Intelligence Agency, I dropped a derogatory remark about the now infamous posing of naked Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. “We learned it from you,” the DIA man retorted. “Not the taunting women and the photos,”…
In the space of eight days this month, Islamist radicals successfully assassinated both the president of the American-backed governing council in Iraq and the president of the Russian-backed government in Chechnya. While America and the West frantically debate the progress of our war in Iraq, the mounting violence of the opposition and the best way…
Traditionalists may be forgiven for finding a dark irony this year in the celebration of Shavuot, which begins next Tuesday, May 25. The festival traditionally marks the giving of the Law to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, seven weeks after their departure from Egypt. True, the Passover holiday, coming just weeks before, enjoys…
Once again, Jews are fighting for their place in German society. This time, however, the battle is internal — Jew vs. Jew, with the identity of the world’s fastest growing Jewish community hanging in the balance. In one corner stands the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the longtime champion of communal interests and official…
The Democratic establishment is concerned about where presumptive presidential candidate John Kerry stands as his campaign moves toward summer. The Bush re-election effort has spent some of its fortune establishing a formidable field operation in the battleground states, where in some cases the Kerry campaign has yet to even designate state coordinators. In Ohio, to…
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s address to the Anti-Defamation League on May 3 was interesting, both in what he said and what he did not say about Israel, the Middle East and the war on terrorism. It reflected his by now familiar practice of vague assurances and lack of clarity and consistency in his…
O.U. Firm in Position An April 30 article on the New York City “Equal Benefits Bill” suggests that Agudath Israel of America is about to compromise its position on homosexual relationships in order to remain eligible for city funding (“Orthodox Group Opens Door to Same-Sex Benefits,” April 30). That is nonsense. We would never trade…
America is changing rapidly. If American Jews don’t grasp the significance of these changes, then we just might be left in the dust one day, notwithstanding our remarkable success to date. America has played a unique role in the life of the Jewish people, particularly in the postwar era. That role, simply put, is irreplaceable,…
100% of profits support our journalism