Opinion

• Opinion

  Not Worth a Gamble

  What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? Those four words went around in my head in the spring of 1973. I was 28 years old, wife, mother of two sons and I was pregnant. Being an only child, my dream was having a house full of kids with all the…

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Silent No More, Forward Readers Tell Their Abortion Stories

  Inspired by the moving teen abortion tale of 1960s Chicago, told by Larry Cohler-Esses in these pages in May, many readers wrote in to tell us how the story resonated with their own experiences. So we decided to throw open our pages to share readers’ stories of the abortions in their lives. We received dozens…

  By Laura E. Adkins Jun 14, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  From Generation to Generation

  I recall sitting on the bed next to my mother during her final days, watching the Senate confirmation hearing of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. My mom commented how happy she was that she had lived to see women in such positions of power and respect, as well as how relieved she was that in her lifetime…

  Jun 14, 2016 | 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 A 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 What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  I Was Almost Aborted Before the Holocaust

  I am a 74-year old man, and I can look back at a life that someone sometime in the future will call a life well lived. But were it not for a mother who, against the urgings of her doctor, had refused an abortion, I might not have lived. By rights, I should be a…

  Jun 14, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  In a Back Alley of Tijuana

  It was 1964 in Southern California. I was 23, in a committed relationship, and even though I was using birth control, I found myself pregnant. I had vowed I would never have an abortion. Not because of religious or moral issues but because a 15-year-old high school friend of mine had died from an illegal…

  By Nancy Jun 14, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  In Brazil, Abortion Is Still Illegal

  I never again had that feeling of total integration of conscience and body as at the moment it dawned on me I was pregnant. It was eerie: I found myself standing in front of the window of a very upscale baby shop, with my head turned, observing a man holding his child up in the…

  Jun 14, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Orlando Can Come Together To Be Symbol of Coexistence — Not Hateful Violence

  Orlando, “the City Beautiful” as it is officially known, a city known to most around the world for Walt Disney World, Harry Potter and being the place “where dreams come true” is now on the map as the site of the single largest mass murder in U.S. history. Yesterday in Orlando, a different history was…

  By Aaron Weil Jun 13, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Orlando About Islamist Terrorism, Homophobia, Mental Illness or Guns?

  Was the hideous mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub due to Islamist terrorism, homophobia, mental illness or guns? All of the above — and that is precisely the problem. In the short time since the attack — the 49 victims have only just been identified — politicians and pundits of all stripes have…

  By Jay Michaelson Jun 13, 2016 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  How Hasidic-Owned B&H Photo Store Puts Money Before God’s Word

  (CLARIFICATION BELOW) Muslims have the Kaaba in Mecca. Sikhs have the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Photographers have B&H on the west side of Manhattan. To call it an audio and visual equipment store is like calling Katz’s Deli a mere sandwich shop. There’s a reason you’ll hear numerous languages spoken on the floors of B&H….

  By Ari Paul Jun 13, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Avigdor Lieberman Might Just Be the Key to Mideast Peace. Really.

  It could turn out to be the biggest surprise of the year in Middle East diplomacy: Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s blustering, ultra-nationalist new defense minister, just might be the key to reviving the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. So, at least, say several key sources familiar with a complex round of behind-the-scenes Israeli-Arab contacts. Lieberman’s significance lies…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 13, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Will Orlando Massacre Help Hillary Clinton Unite Nation — or Give Opening to Donald Trump?

  The massacre in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and the worst terror incident since 9/11, is a terrible human tragedy, first and foremost. It will shock even those Americans who have grown numb to the daily recurrence of mass-shootings in their country. Orlando, renowned for making children’s dreams come true, will now…

  Jun 13, 2016 | 5 min read