Opinion

• Opinion

  British Jews: Showing Green Line Is Not ‘Insane’

  Young British Jews who support the Sign on the Green Line Campaign. / YouTube Throughout our history, young Jewish voices have played a vital role in shaping the Jewish story. Young people lead and teach other young people and take on significant leadership roles. Youth empowerment is highly valued, and it was with this feeling…

  By Jordan Marsh and Jess Weiss

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Call Us ‘Ultra-Orthodox’

  My religious group is routinely referred to by a pejorative. That the name we are called is negative in only an indirect way doesn’t alter the fact that it is disparaging. It telegraphs a subconscious bias (and may well spawn from the same). I’m not quite Howard Beale-mad about the subtle slur, but I’m peeved…

  Feb 24, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Disappearing Places of Our Jewish Past in the Old Country

  I was born in a city in eastern Slovakia, called Bardejov. When I was growing up, we Jews made up nearly a third of the city. We had synagogues, schools, a number of communal organizations, even a couple of Hebrew publishing houses. Then came the Holocaust. Only several hundred of us survived. Some of us…

  By Emil Fish Feb 24, 2014 | 4 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 ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Netanyahu’s new Gaza plan is a disaster. But it contains a tiny kernel of wisdom

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Moving Toward a ‘Living Wage’

  There’s an active debate in America regarding the minimum wage. By and large, with President Obama’s endorsement and substantial public agreement, there’s widespread support for a bump upward, from the current national minimum of $7.25 and hour to $10.10 an hour. That sounds like a hefty hike, but it is actually about as stingy as…

  By Leonard Fein Feb 22, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Ukraine: Don’t Scapegoat Your Jews and Muslims

  Back in May 2011, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which I serve as president, co-sponsored an international conference in Kiev together with the Ukrainian Jewish Committee to fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Ukraine and around the world. During the conference, I met many wonderful Jewish and Muslim Ukrainians — mainly from the Crimean Tatar…

  By Marc Schneier Feb 21, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Benjamin Netanyahu Tells AIPAC To Put Its Head In a Noose

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked America’s Presidents Day February 17 by lecturing to a visiting group of American presidents in Jerusalem. No, Bibi didn’t have any actual occupants of the White House to wag his finger at this time. But he had the next best thing: the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 21, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  U.S. Sharply Boosts Aid to Syria Rebels: Report

  America is reportedly stepping up its commitment to the Syrian rebels with new injections of money, upgraded weapons and intelligence coordination, according to several respected Arab news sources, the Abu Dhabi-based The National and the Jordanian-based Ammon News. The moves are said to include supply of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, which Saudi Arabia has been eager…

  Feb 21, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  News Quiz: Millionaire Matchmaker, Google and Sephardi Jews

  Gathered here today are hipsters, con men, Orthodox Jews and at least one Yenta. What could possibly go right?

  By Lenore Skenazy Feb 20, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Israeli ‘Semi-Citizenship’? No Thanks!

  Getty Images Yesterday in these pages Mira Sucharov explored the concept of qualified Diaspora Jewish citizenship in Israel. She was responding to Naftali Bennett’s floating of the idea (he called it “semi-citizenship”), but she seems open to the notion. However vague, both Bennett and Sucharov meant more than just the ability of ex-pats to vote…

  By Brent E. Sasley Feb 20, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Haredi Draft Refusers May Go to Jail Smiling

  An ultra-Orthodox Jewish volunteer to the Israeli Army’s Nahal Haredi brigade. / Getty Images Plans to draft ultra-Orthodox men to Israel’s army are moving ahead — complete with a surprise. There has been lots of tough talk regarding the need for universal service, but there was a widespread expectation that the government would stop short…

  By Nathan Jeffay Feb 20, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Kiev Is Burning

  (JTA) — The scenes from Kiev are reminiscent of Cairo in 2011— or perhaps the Battle of Stalingrad or revolutionary Paris. A ring of burning barricades surrounds the stage on which opposition leaders, European Union parliament members and protesters speak. Images in the news are filled with blood and smoke, burning cars, streets denuded of…

  By Talia Lavin Feb 20, 2014 | 3 min read