Opinion

• Opinion

  POLL: How Would You Spend Jewish Billions?

  How should Jewish donor dollars get spent? Today, the largest share of Jewish donor dollars goes to Israel-related charities, as the Forward reported last week in the first part of our series on Jewish charity finances. (Part two of the series, published today, is here.) Are we spending too much on Israel? Or maybe too…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  GOP House Bill Tells Feds To Cut Climate Research

  Today, Tuesday, April 1, a day after the United Nations released its latest and most disturbing climate change report (text), the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill ordering the federal government’s top weather and climate research organization to spend more time on forecasting weather and storms and less studying…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 1, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Romemu Bans ‘Email Chametz’ on Passover

  We’ve all felt it. That ever-present desire — compulsion, really — to check and then recheck our email. Just one more hit of the refresh button. Just one more scroll. Just one more reply-all. Just one more delete. We love it. And we hate it. Most of the year, we bemoan but ultimately accept the…

  By Sigal Samuel Mar 31, 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Failing To Capture the Vibrancy of British Jewish Life

  A number of times over the last few years, I’ve had the same, mildly disconcerting, conversation. I’m a pretty involved in the UK Jewish community, spending a big chunk of my life on the merry-go-round of Jewish events. The community also forms of big part of my social life and after 42 years of involvement…

  By Keith Kahn-Harris Mar 31, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  British Jews Go the Way of American Jews

  First, the good news. The most recent census revealed that, for the first time in decades, the decline in Britain’s Jewish population has been arrested. In 2011, 263,346 chose to identify themselves as Jewish by religion in England and Wales, compared to 259,927 in 2001. Beneath the headline figure, however, all it not as it…

  By Liam Hoare Mar 31, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When Is BDS Not BDS? A Vassar Passover Tale

  Several alert readers are unhappy with my post last week on the nasty BDS debate at Vassar College. Among other things, I referred readers to a post by the conservative legal scholar William Jacobson on his LegalInsurrection.com blog, providing extensive documentation on the background to the clash. Critics claim I wrongly soft-pedaled the behavior of…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 31, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Hillel Balances Donors and Students on Campus

  Jay Michaelson’s recent column in these pages, “Only One Way to Change Hillel: Leave,” reveals a number of damaging yet popular misconceptions about the Hillel world and the role of donors in dictating the content of our programming. Jay, since you referred to my own recent essay here, “The Hillel Kids are All Right,” I’m…

  By Danielle Leshaw Mar 31, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Groveling Season, Las Vegas to Jerusalem to D.C.

  Las Vegas, March 29: Chris Christie addresses Republican Jewish Coalition. Sheldon Adelson listens. / Getty Images With all the apologies flying back and forth these days, you might almost think Yom Kippur came early this year. In fact, tradition teaches that there’s a deep spiritual bond between Yom Kippur, which is six months from now,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 31, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Does Takeover of Crimea Mean Messiah Is Near?

  Getty Images Most of the Jewish and general world is fuming over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s takeover of Crimea. But some ultra-Orthodox Jews are positively delighted by it. This week, Grand Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, the vice president of Israel’s Rabbinical Court and a descendant of the revered rabbi known as the Vilna Gaon (aka “Genius…

  By Sigal Samuel Mar 30, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Lesson of Chris Christie and Ehud Olmert Scandals

  The state of New Jersey prides itself on its “long and strong relationship” with the state of Israel. The feeling is often mutual. But this is getting ridiculous. Both states are sweating through major political corruption scandals reaching to the very highest ranks of government. In both cases, the central figure in the scandal saw…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 30, 2014 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Praying Alone

  Be careful what you wish for. My friend Sharon Cohen has introduced me to a rapidly growing phenomenon — to wit, streaming services. For those of you who may be technological laggards, a streaming service is a live broadcast of a worship service. Sit back, relax, and you can watch the Friday night service from…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 29, 2014 | 3 min read