Opinion

• Opinion

  How Will the New U.N. Secretary General Be Chosen — and How Does That Impact Israel?

  Over the past few months, a passionate political race has been taking place over one of the most desired positions in the world. The results will impact not only the United States, but also Israel and its place in the world. I am not referring to the American presidential race. While the question of who…

  By David Roet

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Bernie Sanders Campaign as a Pivotal Episode in Jewish History

  The summer issue of the British journal Jewish Quarterly has a long essay by yours truly, looking at the presidential campaign as a significant episode in Jewish history — primarily in terms of the Sanders campaign and the Trump phenomenon. JQ has a pretty stiff paywall, so they’ve generously given me permission to post my…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 2, 2016 | 16 min read
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  Opinion

  You Want To Name Streets After the Murderers of Ukraine’s Jews?

  Imagine you’re going for a walk in your hometown and, rounding a corner, you encounter a street that has been newly renamed: Adolf Eichmann Road. You’re horrified, of course. Then you learn that your local Jewish leaders did not protest the name change. They supported it. This is more or less what’s happening in Ukraine…

  By Lev Golinkin Aug 2, 2016 | 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 A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• Dan Perry Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  What Donald Trump Can Learn from Canada

  The thing about bullies is that, in the best-case scenario, they force their victims to declare their own agency. That’s what happened this past week with Ghazala Khan, who penned an op-ed in The Washington Post after Donald Trump callously questioned why she did not speak as she stood alongside her husband at the Democratic…

  By Mira Sucharov Aug 1, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Don’t Children’s Rights Count in Ultra-Orthodox Education Debates?

  As you read these words, a new law is being hustled through Israel’s Knesset that would abolish all requirements for the teaching of a “core curriculum” in ultra-Orthodox Israeli schools, even those that are partly funded by the government itself. If the bill becomes law, many young Israelis educated in right-wing Orthodox yeshivot will learn…

  By Michael Lesher Aug 1, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Soundtrack of Our Spirit Volume 2

  Enter to win here. Last year, when we created Soundtrack of Our Spirit to discover and share the best in Jewish music, we had a hunch that readers would engage in this ambitious new project. We never imagined how successful it would be! Nominations poured in — more than 300 in total — of extraordinary…

  By Jane Eisner Aug 1, 2016 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Soundtrack of Our Spirit: Enter to Win

  Apply To Win Below I am proud and excited to announce this year’s call for nominations for Soundtrack of Our Spirit. You may nominate yourself or someone else through the short form below. We are looking for cantors, song leaders and songwriters who work with Jewish music of any kind to submit their best work…

  By Jane Eisner Aug 1, 2016 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump’s Attack On This Muslim Family Puts Us All to Shame

  For a society to sustain itself as a moral entity, its inhabitants need, at the very least, three attributes: sacrifice, shame and empathy. Every major faith embodies these features, creating mechanisms to promote sacrifice, shame those who violate the society’s norms, and reward the empathetic impulses that encourage us to transcend our inherent selfishness. That…

  By Jane Eisner Jul 31, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Learning Torah From My Kidney — by Donating It to My Dad

  In the Hebrew Bible, the word “kidneys” is mentioned over a dozen times to metaphorically describe one’s emotional and moral choices. With a literal translation, Psalms 138:13 reads: “It was you who created my kidneys; You fashioned me in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am awesomely, wondrously made; your work is wonderful;…

  By Yael Krieger Jul 31, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  4 Things To Remember About Pope Francis’s Visit to Auschwitz

  Pope Francis made a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau Friday. The spiritual leader of the world’s Catholics silently reflected, met with Jewish and Christian survivors of the death camp, and left a note in the guestbook, which read: “Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty!” There’s a lot to be said about…

  By Lana Adler Jul 29, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  After Orthodox-Only Mikveh Law, Time To Rein In the Israeli Rabbinate

  As a woman who underwent Orthodox conversion, I was livid when I read about the controversial Israeli bill that was formally passed into law July 25. The bill allows local Orthodox rabbinates to ban non-Orthodox conversions in publicly funded mikvehs. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party may have introduced this piece of legislation, but in…

  By Bethany Mandel Jul 29, 2016 | 4 min read