Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Do We Keep Dissing Chabad’s Spirituality?

  It’s been a year since the Pew Research Center released its “Portrait of Jewish Americans.” I haven’t counted how many words have been written about the report since that time, from the Forward’s e-book to endless handwringing by the OJC (Organized Jewish Community). But somewhere along the line, Pew definitely turned into Phew. As in,…

  By Jay Michaelson

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  The New ‘War on Christmas’ (Or Is It Islam)?

  (JTA) — Looks like there’s another so-called War on Christmas, and this time it’s the Muslims, not the Jews, who are being blamed. The decision by a suburban Washington school district to continue closing for Jewish and Christian holidays — but not label them as such on the school calendar — has ignited a firestorm…

  By Julie Wiener Nov 13, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Next Threat — A ‘Car Intifada’?

  A #Drive4alAqsa meme, part of the “car intifada” campaign / Twitter The past few weeks have seen widespread incitement to violence among both Palestinians and Jewish Israelis. There have been stabbings, harassments, shootings, stone-throwings, hit-and-runs. And now, there’s the “car intifada.” This campaign, which is drawing significant media attention, calls on Palestinians to run over…

  By Yael Even Or Nov 12, 2014 | 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 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

  17 Ways Israel’s Anime Propaganda Video Creeped Me Out

  Well, here’s something you don’t see every day. The Israeli Embassy in Tokyo has launched an anime web series to encourage Japanese tourists to visit the Holy Land — and it’s kind of amazing. “Israel, Like!” is an unusual blend of hasbara and manga — I hereby dub it “hasbaranga” — featuring two Japanese sisters,…

  By Sigal Samuel Nov 12, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why We Chose Rabbi Barry Freundel for the Forward 50

  So why is Rabbi Barry Freundel, who made national headlines when he was arrested on charges of secretly taping naked women in his synagogue’s ritual bath, included in this year’s Forward 50? Friends wanted to know. Readers commented on Facebook. Some were simply curious; others posed the question as a challenge. Does he really belong?…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 11, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Rabbis on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

  Those of us who knew, or thought we knew, Rabbi Barry Freundel — recently arrested for spying on women in the mikveh, with a mountain of evidence suggesting his guilt — are still in shock. As much as I disagreed with many of his halachic positions, I always thought he was one of the good…

  By Jay Michaelson Nov 11, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi’s Cabinet Rattled as Key Livni Ally Quits

  The Netanyahu government’s most left-wing member, environmental defense minister Amir Peretz, quit the cabinet on Sunday and declared war on the prime minister, vowing to work for a new government committed to peace and economic justice. Peretz, a onetime Labor Party chairman and defense minister, is a member of Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah party. The move…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 10, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Judge Posner’s Delightfully Jewy Legal Ruling

  An Orthodox Jew wears a reggae costume as he buys a bottle of wine on Purim / Getty Images Last Thursday, prominent judge and University of Chicago professor Richard Posner offered his decision on Lubavitch-Chabad v. Northwestern University. The case was brought against the university after it disaffiliated itself with its former Chabad organization. The…

  By Gabe Friedman Nov 10, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  My Sephardic Guilt on Kristallnacht

  Postcard of Madeira While other Jewish families suffered unimaginable brutality in the Holocaust, my family lived like royalty in the Portuguese paradise known for its wine, Madeira. I know: I sound like an entitled, unsympathetic brat. And what I’m trying to say is, I feel guilty about this. I always have. Every time a Holocaust…

  By Rachel Delia Benaim Nov 10, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Shrinking Jewish Middle

  As the Jewish Federations of North America holds its annual General Assembly this week, newly emerging evidence from the Pew Research Center’s 2013 “Portrait of American Jewry” points to enormous challenges facing federations, Jewish philanthropy and organized Jewish life, more generally. Virtually every Jewish institution is contending with a sharply diminishing base of people who…

  By Steven M. Cohen and Jack Wertheimer Nov 10, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  More Dire Signs of Liberal Jewry’s Demise

  There’s a pair of new studies just out that sheds important light on the future of Judaism in America. One paints an alarming picture of a population headed for precipitous decline, but offers hope that certain measures can turn things around. The other suggests that the most hopeful measure actually might not offer much hope…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 10, 2014 | 4 min read