Opinion

• Opinion

  The Holocaust Denier Who Would Be Yasser Arafat’s Prime Minister

  While European Union officials praised Yasser Arafat’s decision to appoint his first-ever prime minister, historians of the Holocaust were wincing at the thought that a leading candidate for the job is the author of a book questioning whether the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews. The candidate is Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, Arafat’s…

  By Rafael Medoff

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Who’s Afraid Of the Big, Bad Israel Debate?

  Earlier this month a Torah commentary that I wrote for the Jewish Theological Seminary’s weekly student newsletter was rejected on the grounds that it included a critique of Israeli government policies. The decision by a member of the administration not to print the Torah commentary prompted the resignation of the student editor of the publication,…

  By Jill Jacobs Feb 21, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Homeless Babushka’s Shopping Cart

  I’ve never spoken to homeless people. They frighten me. Once, while walking out of a Starbucks in SoHo carrying my coffee, a wild-looking man walked over and began screaming. I ran away as I watched him lunge at me. I had no confidence that onlookers would help me out, and felt lucky my body remembered…

  By Roseline Glazer Feb 21, 2003 | 3 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

  February 21, 2003

  Masorti Funds Overdue Those of us who have been involved with the Masorti movement have long been frustrated by the lack of support from the Conservative movement as a whole in the United States for our brothers and sisters in Israel (“Conservatives Ask Rabbis To Bail Out Their Israeli Arm,” February 7). The recent decision…

  Feb 21, 2003 | 6 min read
• Opinion

  For Aging Survivors, a Prescription for Disaster

  Somewhere in hell, Hitler, Eichmann and their cohorts must be laughing. While elderly Holocaust survivors cannot afford proper medical treatment and are forced to subsist on the edge of poverty, the German government provides full healthcare and generous pensions to its World War II veterans. It is utterly obscene that former Nazi soldiers are living…

  By Menachem Z. Rosensaft Jan 31, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Perfect? No. But UJC Is a Success Story

  I’m baffled and left wondering what motivates those who trade in misinformation and are selective in memory and gathering of facts. On this page last week, United Jewish Communities and the continental Jewish federation system were erroneously portrayed as lacking in purpose and in tangible results (“Ill UJC Needs Second Opinion,” by Shoshana Cardin). This…

  By James Tisch Jan 31, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Animal Rights and the Political Animal

  Is Judaism a religion of the left or the right? Or neither? I raise the question because I’ve been reading a new book that on the surface seems to have little to do with Judaism. Matthew Scully’s “Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy” is one of the…

  By David Klinghoffer Jan 31, 2003 | 4 min read
• Letters

  January 31, 2003

  Recognize Shefa Fund’s Impact on Social Justice Within the Jewish funding community there are sharp disagreements regarding the wisdom of particular grants to the Israeli “refusenik” groups Yesh Gvul and Courage to Refuse, but we disagree even more with the style and tenor of those who are attacking one of the organizations making those grants,…

  Jan 31, 2003 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  The Continental Iraq Divide

  It is exceedingly difficult to know what to make of and how to react to European misgivings about the American approach to Iraq. Germany and France, dismissed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as history, have made clear their opposition to Washington’s insistence on regime change in Iraq and the Bush administration’s readiness to act…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 31, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Recipe for Disunion

  Great presidents, it’s said, are in large measure products of circumstance. It’s at moments of national crisis that a leader has the opportunity to rise above his narrow base, put aside his own past baggage and rally a united citizenry. Only in crisis can a president be transformed into something larger than the sum of…

  Jan 31, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Mitzna’s Choice

  Ariel Sharon faces a daunting challenge as he attempts to sort out the results of this week’s Knesset elections and put together a government that can lead Israel into the next phase of its struggles. All those who care about Israel’s welfare, even those who disagree with Sharon’s vision and his methods, must wish him…

  Jan 31, 2003 | 3 min read