Opinion

• Opinion

  It’s Good Harvey Weinstein Was Stopped. But Let’s Not Start A Witch Hunt

  The dizzying downfall of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, accused of sexually harassing and assaulting numerous actresses and other women, has produced a rare moment of consensus in America’s fractured culture. Virtually all agree that the once-powerful producer, who has been fired from his company and is being scrubbed from film and television credits, is a…

  By Cathy Young

  6 min read
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  Opinion

  What Should Jewish Institutions Do To Combat Sexual Harassment?

  Have Your Say is your chance to tell us what you think. Comment below or on Facebook and let us know what you think about the question posed in the headline. We’ll incorporate your answers in a story later in the week!

  Oct 16, 2017 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Did Netanyahu help torpedo the Iran deal — two years ago?

  Two and a half years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a provocative speech before the U.S. Congress, denouncing the pending agreement to curtail Iran’s nuclear program. “Denounce” may be too kind a word here. Actually, he trashed it, employing every emotional weapon at his disposal. He said the agreement could threaten the very…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 16, 2017 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman A doctor in the midst of the Boulder attack: ‘This did not come out of vacuum’

  

• Nora Berman For new parents, the aid crisis in Gaza is hitting hard

  

• Dan Perry Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious.

  

• Emily Tamkin The two things I fear most after the horrifying attack on Jews in Boulder

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  How The New Israel Litmus Test Turns Jews Into Christian Zionists

  Over the past few months, a controversy has rocked the Jewish community. After David Myers was appointed president and CEO of the Center for Jewish History, in Manhattan, a small group of individuals published a scathing letter accusing Myers of supporting a boycott of Israel and undermining the Israel Defense Forces. On the grounds that…

  By Shaul Magid Oct 16, 2017 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  No, Telling Someone They Are Being Anti-Semitic Is Not ‘Censorship’

  Suppose, in a conversation with a friend, she makes a policy proposal. You object, saying that the proposal would hurt the poor. Presumably she disagrees, but she wants to know more. She asks you for details as to why you believe her policy is harmful in this way. After hearing your reasons in more detail,…

  By David Schraub Oct 16, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  There Are No Adults In The White House. Worse, There Are No Mensches

  The meaning of the Yiddish word “mensch” can scarce be conveyed in English. Literally a man, mensch means so much more than that. But it means so much more than that. A mensch is a good man, someone who can be relied upon to do the right thing. A mensch has integrity. He (or she!)…

  By Robert Zaretsky Oct 15, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Letters

  We Have No Right To Decide Israelis’ Fate

  Dear Editor, After reading articles on the divisions among Jewish people over Israel, Zionism, settlements and the like, I have one question: Why does it really matter? There has been an elephant in the room since Israel was established. At no time since it’s inception have the Muslim states ever agreed to live with Israel…

  By Eliott Brumer Oct 12, 2017 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  The Nazis Were Far Worse Than Communists — Just Ask My Mother

  In the winter of 1944-45 the Soviet Red Army surrounded the Hungarian capital of Budapest and began the bloody work of taking over the city. Even then, as they fought desperately for their own survival, the Germans and their Hungarian allies did not waver in their determination to annihilate Budapest’s Jewish population. Unable to deport…

  By Amir Alexander Oct 12, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Raphael Golb Is Facing Jail Time — For Parodying a Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar

  In July of 2008, a lawyer and literary scholar named Raphael Golb created an email account named after Lawrence Schiffman, a professor who studies the Dead Sea Scrolls. From [email protected], Golb sent a slew of emails in which, writing as Schiffman, he “admitted” to having plagiarized the work of another Dead Sea Scrolls professor named…

  By Arthur S. Hayes Oct 12, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  If Jews kvell over our Nobel laureates, do we have to atone for our Harvey Weinsteins?

  The other day I listened to an NPR interview with Dick Thaler, the 2017 Nobel Prize laureate in Economics Science. I was duly impressed with his intellect and manner, and I soon found myself wondering whether he was Jewish. Over 40% of the economics prize laureates have been Jewish. But identifying Nobel Prize winners as…

  By Daniel Kohn Oct 11, 2017 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Trump’s Birth Control Policy Tramples Jewish Women’s Religious Liberty

  On Friday October 6th, President Donald Trump’s administration enabled employers to opt-out of providing contraceptive coverage as a part of their healthcare plan if they claim a religious or moral objection to doing so. The ruling was in line with something the president said five months ago, when he promised that “we will not allow…

  By Laura E. Adkins Oct 11, 2017 | 4 min read