Opinion

• Opinion

  The Welfare of Children

  In 1996, President Bill Clinton, seeking to fulfill a campaign promise “to end welfare as we know it,” signed a welfare reform law that turned the cash assistance entitlement program into a block grant to states, set lifetime time limits on use of federal funds for welfare, and adopted a work-first philosophy for welfare recipients….

  By Jennifer Mezey

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Shopping for Justice in California

  Just up the street from my home in Pasadena, Calif., there is a Vons supermarket. For the past 10 weeks, I have not shopped there. Instead, I drive by, honk my horn at the workers standing outside with their picket signs and make my way across town to shop at other unionized grocery stores. It…

  By Joshua Levine-Grater Dec 26, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Saddam’s Fate

  There’s no denying it: The humiliating capture of Saddam Hussein has reshuffled the cards and created a new political reality, both here at home and on the world stage. Barely a week ago, the invasion of Iraq appeared to have produced little but trouble for America and the Bush administration, and the hawks’ insistence that…

  Dec 19, 2003 | 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

  Sanctification

  In Chapter 19 of the biblical book of Leviticus, in the Torah portion known as Kedoshim (“Ye shall be holy”), the Israelites received a string of commandments that define what we like to think of as the ethics of public discourse. Beginning in Verse 15, we are commanded, first, to “respect not the poor nor…

  Dec 19, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Tikrit to Jerusalem, By Way of Damascus

  When the news broke on Sunday that Saddam Hussein was captured, there was an uproar of joy here in Jerusalem. Like many Israelis I was glued to the TV screen, watching L. Paul Bremer, the American administrator for Iraq, announce proudly: “Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!” What a great moment for the free world….

  By Uri Dromi Dec 19, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Years

  The recent snowfall reminded me that it was that season again, so I decided to visit one of those camera mega-stores in Manhattan that sells every kind of TV and camera equipment there is, plus electronic devices I’ve never heard of. The approaching holiday season made me think I should buy myself one of those…

  By Roseline Glazer Dec 19, 2003 | 4 min read
• Letters

  December 19, 2003

  Interfaith ‘Debate’ Is A Egregiously Wrong Opinion columnist David Klinghoffer recommends that Jews and Christians enter full-fledged debate over the eternity of Torah and Jesus as Messiah (“Modern-day Disputations, December 12). He also speculates that Rav Joseph Soloveitchik never opposed debate — just amicable dialogue. He is egregiously wrong in both claims. It is hard…

  Dec 19, 2003 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Dawn of a Late Millennium

  The calendar says that soon a year draws to a close, the ball will drop, the tinsel too, and we will enter the fourth year of this still new millennium. Big deal. The last and so far only interesting thing about this new millennium was all that noise about what would happen, but did not,…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 19, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Modern-day Disputations

  One of the most haunting images in the Torah, found in this week’s parsha, casts a startling light on a question that’s roiling the Jewish religious world at this moment. The issue is interfaith dialogue. I know, I know, it’s one of the more sleep-inducing items on the official communal agenda. Those two words conjure…

  By David Klinghoffer Dec 12, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Defining Dr. Dean

  Al Gore’s endorsement of Howard Dean this week gives an all-but-official stamp to something that’s been increasingly apparent for weeks to anyone following the Democratic presidential contest: The former Vermont governor is now the front-runner. From a nine-way melee, the race has evolved into a two-way battle between Dean and everyone else. Dean has gotten…

  Dec 12, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Olmert’s Choice

  When historical shifts take place before your eyes, it’s tough to pick out the single event that marks the moment of transformation. In the case of Israel’s move toward compromise and separation from the Palestinians, the shift has come in a cascading series of events over the last four months or so. The collapse of…

  Dec 12, 2003 | 2 min read