Opinion

• Opinion

  What Sex Abuse Cases at Horace Mann and Y.U. Should Teach Us

  As a former student at Horace Mann School in the Bronx’s Riverdale neighborhood, I was instrumental in breaking the silence around the prestigious prep school’s decades-long history of child sexual abuse. Although I myself am not an abuse survivor, I saw many of my fellow alumni’s stories come to light when The New York Times…

  By Amos Kamil

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump Aide Blasts Obama Hanukkah Speech — Says Shabbat Better

  What Team Trump don’t know about the Jews could apparently fill a scroll and then some. Last week, Donald Trump left Republican members of the Tribe flabbergasted by saying he doesn’t need their money. He also praised Jews as top-notch “negotiators.” Now, comes this: A top aide to the Republican frontrunner criticized President Barack for…

  By John A. Oswald Dec 7, 2015 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Campus #BlackLivesMatter Protests Are Bad for the Jews

  (JTA) — A day before University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler made headlines with a hunger strike protesting racism on campus, a coalition of 36 Jewish and civil rights organizations contacted University Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin to protest a vile act of anti-Semitism that had recently occurred at Mizzou: Someone had used feces to…

  By Tammi Rossman-Benjamin Dec 7, 2015 | 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

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

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  How To Cope With Terrorism? Take a Lesson from Israelis

  In the aftermath of the Paris attack and the San Bernardino mass shooting, many of my New York City patients are shaken. They seek my professional advice on how to cope with anxiety, anger and loss, the three primary emotions precipitated by the threat of terrorism. And just like in the dark days that followed…

  By Alon Gratch Dec 7, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Politics Has Always Had a Place in Synagogue — and for Good Reason

  By choosing to display the Israeli and American flags, is my synagogue allowing something foreign and dangerous into my place of worship? Alex Kane, , says yes. I prefer to see these flags as an invitation, not an intrusion. Accepting the presence of these national symbols doesn’t have to mean a blind surrender or naïve…

  By Menachem Freedman Dec 7, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Israeli Flags Don’t Belong in Synagogue — or American Ones, Either

  Over the past couple of years, I have spent many Friday evenings at Brooklyn’s various egalitarian independent minyanim. My partner introduced me to this world, and I appreciate it for its vibrant, welcoming, progressive community. I also find these informal prayer spaces refreshing because no Israeli or American flags are present. Unfortunately, many New York…

  By Alex Kane Dec 7, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Saying Kaddish Isn’t Always Profound — and Yet

  I’ve resisted writing about my year of saying Kaddish for my mother. Writers more famous than I am have already produced overlong, overwritten tomes on the subject. Often, such writing carries a sense of lyrical, self-indulgent profundity. But my process hasn’t been profound. It’s been mundane, and pontification seems ridiculous. After 11 months, having taken…

  By Jay Michaelson Dec 7, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Widening Rift Between American Jews and Israel on Painful Display at Saban Forum

  At a recent Haaretz side session at the  Jewish Federations’ General Assembly, I hosted Peter Beinart for a conversation entitled “Israelis are from Mars, American Jews are from Venus.” A month later, our colorful caption was fully borne out by the 2015 Saban Forum, which highlighted the great gap between large parts of the American Jewish…

  By Chemi Shalev (Haaretz) Dec 7, 2015 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  What New York’s Subway Lines Taught Me About Jewish Identity

  I confess that I was taken aback by the popularity of my last piece for the Forward, In that article, I used some seat-of-the-pants social science and mapping to figure out which line of the New York City Subway served the greatest number of Jews — which turned out to be the “F.” I had…

  By Jonathan Paul Katz Dec 6, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Signs That Benjamin Netanyahu’s Split With Israel Security Chiefs Is a Crisis

  As Israel’s current wave of terrorist violence enters its third month, long-simmering tensions between the country’s political leadership and its security branches are escalating and approaching what feels like a crisis level. True, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies have clashed with Israel’s defenders repeatedly — on Iran, the Palestinians, the Obama administration —…

  By J.J. Goldberg Dec 6, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Ben Carson and the Dollar Bill’s ‘Star of David’

  Donald Trump stumbled at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference when he said he didn’t want the tribe’s money and was simpatico because, like “you folks,” he too is a good haggler. He wasn’t the only one who made some boneheaded remarks. Ben Carson, brain surgeon, also had some notable slip-ups. If you could get past…

  By John A. Oswald Dec 4, 2015 | 2 min read