Opinion

• Opinion

  How Benjamin Netanyahu’s Allies Twist the Truth on Iran

  “A lie,” Winston Churchill once said (some say it was Mark Twain), “gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” As Exhibit A, I submit Martin Kramer’s August 24 blog post on the Commentary website, in which he lambasted me for a claim I never made, namely…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  7 min read
• 
  Books

  Is Israeli Children’s Book About Gaza Kittens Guilty of ‘Paw-Washing’?

  My Facebook newsfeed is always alive with kittens, but last week it was alive with political kittens. Israeli author Nurit Sternberg has written a children’s book called “,” about two kittens “rescued” from last summer’s fighting zone in Gaza and brought to Israel by the IDF soldier Matan Meshi. Both the kittens and Meshi happen…

  By Jonathan Paul Katz Aug 31, 2015 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  8 Pitfalls To Avoid When Being an Ally to Jews of Color

  When it comes to Jews of color, allies are definitely needed. But if you want to be an effective ally, there are important things to consider before, during and after the process. If not properly considered, some of these things will lead to major pitfalls. So what exactly are the pitfalls, and how can you…

  By Jared Jackson Aug 31, 2015 | 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 My brother-in-law’s kibbutz weathered Oct. 7. Then came the Iranian missile strikes

  

• Nora Berman Zohran Mamdani is right about what ‘intifada’ means — well, kind of

  

• Dan Perry Celebrating my daughter’s birthday in a bomb shelter, as missiles struck Tel Aviv

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  Excommunicating Pro-BDS Jews Is a Huge Strategic Mistake

  This month, we at Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek in Connecticut did something that most synagogues and Jewish organizations have refused to do: We held a forum about the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel (BDS) with participants from pro-BDS Jewish Voice for Peace and from anti-BDS J Street. Lightning didn’t strike, and…

  By Rachel Goldenberg and Andy Schatz Aug 30, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Orthodox Belief in God and Faith Is Spreading — Got a Problem With That?

  Reading two recent breathless headlines in the Forward, it would seem that Judaism, at least as practiced in America, is somehow in mortal danger of being co-opted and radically changed by Orthodox Jewry. An article by Nathan Guttman boldly declares that the “Pew Study Finds Orthodox Similar to Evangelical Christians — Not Other Jews.” To…

  By Mordechai Lightstone Aug 29, 2015 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  What Is a Jewish Response to Virginia On-Air Gun Killings?

  Every time a senseless shooting happens, as it did yet again this week in Roanoke, Virginia, liberals ask the question Bob Dylan posed more than 50 years ago: “How many deaths will it take till he knows/That too many people have died?” The answer, however, to preventing attacks like the one that killed reporter Alison…

  By Jay Michaelson Aug 29, 2015 | 7 min read
• 
  Letters

  Yes, Birthright Israel Should Subsidize Free Teen Trips

  Elan Ezrachi is correct in his assumption that teen trips to Israel must be subsidized if we want to see a significant increase in teen travel to Israel (“Why We Need to Subsidize Teen Travel to Israel”, August 24, 2015). However, based on our four-plus decades of running Youth to Israel Adventure (Y2I), our fully-subsidized…

  By Robert I. Lappin Aug 28, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Donald Trump and the Danger of Scapegoating

  Recently a friend explained why she planned to register to vote for the first time in order to place her ballot for Donald Trump: “He’s good for the Jews.” No, he isn’t. Almost all American Jews know the story of how their family came to America. For many — usually the descendants of Eastern European…

  By Bethany Mandel Aug 28, 2015 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Don’t Fall for ‘Netanyahu Derangement Syndrome’ on Iran Deal

  In real estate, they say, it’s location, location, location. In policy, especially military policy, the secret is timing. Let me explain. Lately there’s been a mini-hubbub on the Web, aimed at discrediting my coverage of the Iran nuclear debate. My critics keep claiming I said something I never said: that Israel’s security establishment likes the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 28, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Letters

  ‘Israeli Opinion Must Have an Impact on Our Decision’

  For better or worse Israel Advocacy is now and must be on the agenda of nearly every Federation. We are with Israel in time of war and peace, advocating, lobbying, visiting and being supportive in every way we can. A Federation board can never reflect every perspective and we acknowledge the validity of many points…

  Aug 27, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  When Orthodox and Evangelicals Align — and What It Means for Everyone Else

  Sixty years ago, a Jewish intellectual named Will Herberg published a book that jolted the way Americans thought about their religious landscape. The title of his book, if not his musty thesis, could describe a new American religious alignment that presents serious challenges for progressive Jews and Judaism today. “Protestant-Catholic-Jew: An Essay in American Religious…

  By Jane Eisner Aug 27, 2015 | 4 min read