Opinion

• Opinion

  Confessions of a Disengaged Young Jew

  I don’t have strong opinions about Israel. I can’t say whether the country’s risks justify the force it often employs, nor can I say whether its greatest threats come from within or without. It’s strange to begin a column by revealing one’s indifference on a topic. I know. Though what interests me isn’t what one…

  By Elissa Strauss

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Jews Should Tune In to the Mindfulness Revolution

  The current cover of Time magazine features a blissed-out and beautiful blonde, captioned with the text “The Mindful Revolution.” The images are cliché, but the Time cover story is but the latest in a long line of significant — possibly historic — changes in how Americans regard contemplative practice. It recounts the fascinating evolution of…

  By Jay Michaelson Feb 3, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Anne Heyman’s Remarkable Life of Service

  Anne Heyman put together a life of immense complexity with apparent ease because she knew who she was, what she cared about and what she wanted to accomplish. Anne loved her family passionately and cared tremendously that her children grow up with a global perspective and with the capacity to care for others. She was…

  By Ruth Messinger Feb 3, 2014 | 2 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 Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

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

  

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  Opinion

  Avant-Garde Aliyah to Berlin

  “There’s always this joke that half of Tel Aviv is actually here,” Liad Hussein Kantorowicz told me when I interviewed her in her Berlin apartment. The numbers back her up: According to the latest estimates, 15,000 to 20,000 people have left Israel in recent years to forge a new life in Berlin. Most of these…

  By Martyna Starosta Feb 3, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Disillusioned on Capitol Hill

  I almost marked the email as spam. When it arrived in my inbox, the subject head had that distinctive indistinctness of junk mail: “Invitation To Testify Before Congress….” Me? Right. But then I clicked on it anyway. And Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia’s office was indeed asking me if I would give witness to the…

  By Gal Beckerman Feb 3, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Politics v. Defense: Hamas Backfire, Shin Bet Purge

  Hamas police on the Gaza-Egypt border, September 2013 / Getty Images Ideology continues to trump security in the Netanyahu government’s approach to combating terrorism. As Hamas struggles to maintain its November 2012 cease-fire with Israel in the face of increasing rocket fire, mostly by al Qaeda-linked Salafi jihad factions, Israel responds by bombing Hamas facilities….

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 3, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Anne Heyman Gave Rwanda Orphans a Family

  Students at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village play basketball on a village court in May 2009. Photo: Ben Gittleson It started with a simple question. Anne Heyman and her husband, Seth Merrin, were attending a 2005 talk at Tufts University Hillel by the real-life hero of “Hotel Rwanda,” Paul Rusesabagina, when they asked him to share the…

  By Ben Gittleson Feb 2, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Drawing ‘My Spanish Inquisition’

  Kurt Hoffman How do you sum up 500 years of Sephardic history in just a couple of illustrations? That’s the challenge I had to answer in the pages of the Forward and on the web at forward.com. Josh Nathan-Kazis’ story tells about his attempt to make good on the Spanish government’s offer to issue passports…

  By Kurt Hoffman Feb 2, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Ignoring My Kids — For Their Own Good

  ‘Mom! Hey, Mom! Look at me!” “Look at me!” has probably been a refrain of parenting small children since the days of “Mom! Look at the drawing of oxen I made on the wall of the cave!” It can seem constant: “Mom! Look how high I can go on the swing!”; “Dad! Come look at…

  By Jordana Horn Feb 2, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What Eric Goldstein’s Appointment Says About Changing Jewish Community

  The report that the UJA-Federation of New York will appoint Eric Goldstein as CEO has implications that go far beyond the appointment itself. Most important are those changes within the federation system, and in the New York Federation itself, which inform the Goldstein appointment. To understand the historical and sociological significance of the Goldstein appointment…

  By Jerome Chanes Jan 31, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Finance Minister Worries About Boycotts

  As the Scarlett Johansson-stoked controversy rages over SodaStream’s West Bank operation, Israel’s centrist Minister of Finance has been considering what effect international opposition to settlement production will have if peace talks fail. And his verdict is pessimistic. In a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies, Minister Yair Lapid said that if Israeli or…

  By Nathan Jeffay Jan 31, 2014 | 2 min read