Opinion

• Opinion

  Orthodox: Imbue Ritual With Spirituality

  There is hardly an Orthodox Jewish community of any size in this country that does not have a day school, a Jewish high school and often a kollel of advanced scholars who are teaching and doing outreach in the community. The study of traditional texts is more widespread in American Orthodox Jewish communities today than…

  By Tzvi Hersh Weinreb

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Our Responsibility to Holocaust Survivors

  The Jewish Council for Public Affairs last month called for “any and all Holocaust-related funds” to be used to aid impoverished survivors. Amid reports of needy survivors in Florida and Boston, the JCPA passed a resolution at its annual plenum in which it objected to setting aside any discretionary funds for Holocaust education, research and…

  By Marilyn Henry Mar 14, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Old-New Paths to Religious Renewal in America

  One year ago this month, I announced a new campaign for Conservative synagogues in order to strengthen Jewish commitment. The campaign articulated a vision of synagogues stimulating congregants to climb the ladder of Jewish living by urging Conservative Jews to make a personal “Compact of Conservative Commitment.” The compact was based on the recognition that…

  By Jerome Epstein Mar 14, 2003 | 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

• Letters

  March 7, 2003

  Israel Debate Reflects Communal Fears Opinion writer Jill Jacobs wonders why the Jewish community is trying to deter anti-Israel discussions amongst ourselves (“Who’s Afraid Of the Big, Bad Israel Debate?”, February 21). Why? Because we are afraid of history repeating itself. We are afraid that mounting anti-Israelism around the world is merely a disguise for…

  Mar 7, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Getting To Know Ariel Sharon

  There is justifiable confusion regarding Ariel Sharon’s intentions, now that he has established a new government. Herewith, then, are some useful tips on how to relate to Israel’s recently re-elected prime minister. Do not envy him. Sharon presides over a failing economy with negative growth, a chronic war with a corrupt and relentless enemy, a…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 7, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Who the Real Enemy Is

  The high drama of the Iraqi crisis descended into low comedy for a moment last weekend when United Nations weapons inspectors set about demolishing their first batch of forbidden Al Samoud 2 missiles. Setting to work, the inspectors found that the missiles refused to disintegrate under the weight of the Iraqi bulldozers brought in for…

  Mar 7, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

  Addressing the American Medical Association this week, President Bush laid out the broad contours of his plan for revamping Medicare. He’s proposing to fix something that basically isn’t broken, offering in its place a sulfurous brew of bad economics and bad social policy. The best that can be said about it is that it doesn’t…

  Mar 7, 2003 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Carry the Legacy of Remembrance

  In the death camps, strangers became friends. When anyone was near death or about to be killed by the Nazis, they asked their fellow inmates, “Don’t forget me. Keep the memory alive.” The delegates who at last month’s annual meeting of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs called for restricting the disbursement of funds dedicated…

  By Kalman Sultanik Mar 7, 2003 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Then They Came for the Romani Women

  I hear stories of forced sterilization experiments on a daily basis. I hear frail, old voices trying to explain what happened to them so many years ago at the hands of Nazi doctors. These Holocaust survivors struggle to describe the indescribable, fighting to recollect the horrific experiments to which they were subjected so that they…

  By Ruth Weinberger Mar 7, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Saudi Schools Keep Sowing Seeds of Hate

  Meeting with leaders of the American Jewish Committee in New York last September, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal acknowledged a problem with his country’s schoolbooks, and he assured us that steps would be taken to rewrite them. He asserted, as he has in interviews with American media, that the problematic passages are limited to about…

  By David A. Harris Mar 7, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Fallacy of Biological Judaism

  Observant Jews of centuries past understood that while being born a Jew was precious and important to one’s Jewishness, it was not necessary and certainly not sufficient for a full Jewish life. The central ideas and actions of a Jew have always had to be taught and learned, never inherited. Nevertheless, until recently many reasonable…

  By Robert Pollack Mar 7, 2003 | 4 min read