Opinion

• Opinion

  Bibi Went Too Easy on Obama’s Iran Deal

  Getty Images In his speech to the U.S. Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu effectively made the case that the emerging nuclear deal with Iran is a “very bad deal.” But we would say that’s actually a polite understatement; Netanyahu didn’t go far enough. This is a dangerous deal — not only for Israel but…

  By Bob Feferman and Matan Shamir

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  7 Answers About Israel’s Vote

  (Reuters) — Israelis will vote in a parliamentary election on March 17, choosing among party lists of candidates to serve in the 120-seat Knesset. No party has won a majority of seats since Israel’s first election in 1949. Here are 7 questions and answers about the vote and what sort of coalition negotiations could emerge:…

  By Jeffrey Heller Mar 9, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Mirth and Melancholy: My Purim Experience

  Jackie Mason had it wrong when he said gentiles are focused on the next cocktail and Jews on the next meal. I’ve now grasped that Jews do their share of imbibing. There’s wine every Shabbat, single malt on Simchat Torah, egg nog on Hanukkah (okay, maybe just in my family), four cups of wine on…

  By Abigail Pogrebin Mar 9, 2015 | 5 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• 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

  If Jewish Seminaries Are Empty, Let’s Merge Them

  A recent Forward article asked a provocative and troubling question: “Where Are All the Non-Orthodox Rabbis?” It pointed to a steep decline in enrollment at non-Orthodox rabbinical schools, which should prompt some new thinking. Here’s a start: Why not merge the Reform and Conservative seminaries? Last year, the non-Orthodox rabbinical schools admitted fewer than 100…

  By Andy Bachman Mar 9, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Bibi Nixed Two-State Solution

  Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party were backpedaling furiously this weekend to dispel an unwelcome image of diplomatic flexibility, after a negotiating document surfaced in which the Israeli prime minister appeared to offer sweeping concessions to the Palestinians on 1967 borders, return of refugees, Palestinian presence in the Jordan Valley and some undefined Palestinian claim…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 9, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I Will Not Simply Accept Intermarriage

  Over the past two years, influential Conservative rabbis have begun flirting with performing intermarriages and with relaxing conversion standards, or at least wringing their hands at Judaism’s traditional endogamy norm and the distress it is causing interfaith families. Given pervasive intermarriage — 58% of all American Jews marrying since 2000 wed gentiles — it may…

  By Jeremy Kalmanofsky Mar 8, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Palestinians Cut Security Ties With Israel — Not

  “Palestinians cut security coordination with Israel”? Really? This looks like another one of those cases where the press gets out ahead of the story. The initial headlines (here, here) said the Palestinians have cut security coordination between their forces and Israel’s. The stories under the headlines said that actually the PLO’s central council had either…

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

  Bibi Speech Gave Us Green Light To Openly Debate Israel — at Last

  When historians look back on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, they may not focus on what he said about Iran which contained little that was new. The speech may be remembered more as marking the moment when many lovers of Israel felt emboldened to say what they have felt for years – that…

  By Jeremy Ben-Ami Mar 6, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  With Friends Like These (on Iran), Who Needs Enemies?

  On March 3, addressing a joint meeting of Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran to be scrapped and replaced with “a much better deal.” Many things have been said for and against the prime minister’s plea, some convincing, some less so. But the most decisive reply came…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 6, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  An Israeli and German Alliance Decades in the Making

  Yermi Brenner When Yakov Hadas-Handelsman was born in Tel Aviv in 1957 the passports Israel was issuing to its citizens still bore the inscription “Valid to any country except Germany.” Today, Hadas-Handelsman is the Israeli ambassador to Germany. He devotes much of his time to nourishing and deepening the relationship with the German nation, which…

  By Yermi Brenner Mar 6, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Is WhatsApp Now ‘Hasidic Friendly’?

  Ultra-Orthodox rabbis gather to condemn the internet in 2012 / Josh Nathan-Kazis A Forward tipster texted us this morning to report an odd spam message he’d received on his phone. Sent from a Spanish phone number, the spam read: “Check out WhatsApp Messenger for your smartphone. Hasidic friendly! Download it today…” Last year, I reported…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Mar 5, 2015 | 2 min read