Opinion

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  Israel’s Got No Business Banning Nazi Symbols

  A swastika symbol painted on the wall of a synagogue in Petah Tikva, Israel. / Getty Images Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted for a bill yesterday that, if it passes three readings in the Knesset, would impose penalties on those who use the term “Nazi” as a comparison, employ Nazi symbols, or call in…

  By Brent E. Sasley

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Tunisia Makes Progress on Minority Rights — And the World Ignores It

  “News of disaster is the only narrative people need. The darker the news, the grander the narrative.” This observation, made by a character in Don DeLillo’s novel Mao II, has never seemed truer than today. Just ask the citizens of Tunisia, who are marking on January 14 the third anniversary of the overthrow of Zine…

  By Robert Zaretsky Jan 13, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Gary Shteyngart, Tiger Mom and the Pope

  Welcome to probably the only place you can find the Tiger Mom, the Modern Language Association and the Pope all hanging out together. Watch out!

  By Lenore Skenazy Jan 13, 2014 | < 1 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman A precise, Chekhovian logic guided Israel’s strike on Iran — but chaos could come next

  

• Nora Berman Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla was never going to help Palestinians

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s strike on Iran was necessary. But for real change, the US must join the fray

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times

  

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  Opinion

  A Portrait of Ariel Sharon

  This week, all of Israel and not a few world leaders gathered to mark the passing of former prime minister Ariel Sharon. Cartoonist Eli Valley offers his own unique graphic take on the much-memorialized man.

  By Eli Valley Jan 13, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Menachem Stark — Just Another Hasid?

  I was pained to read Jay Michaelson’s article about murdered Hasidic businessman Menachem Stark. With its ‘Us-vs.-Them’ mentality, simplistic black-and-white view of human character, and broad stereotypes, it was an ugly and shameful slur. It was almost down-right Haredi. I don’t claim to possess any more information about Stark than Michaelson does. Just like him…

  By Mordechai Lightstone Jan 12, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Sharon’s Legacies — in Life and Death

  I was saying kaddish for my mother when Ariel Sharon was felled by a stroke in January 2006. To me, Sharon was a complicated, divisive figure, whose attitude towards Palestinians left me so disgusted that I once walked out on a speech he gave. I remained skeptical of his political conversion and concerned about the…

  By Jane Eisner Jan 12, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Fighting Jewish Slumlords Isn’t Anti-Semitic

  Menachem Stark’s death and the media’s inflammatory response to it highlight a particular kind of anti-Semitism: the kind that can emerge as a result of the religious Jewish community’s involvement in real estate and the horrible living conditions in many of those buildings. As a tenant organizer at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, I work…

  By Elise Goldin Jan 12, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How We Recollect Sharon: Good, Bad, Ugly, Human

  Ariel Sharon in Knesset, preparing his speech for opening of summer session, May 7, 2001 / Getty Images Amid the outpouring of tributes to Ariel Sharon following his death, a few seem particularly noteworthy for their unexpected insights — some into the life and character of Sharon, others into the character of the writers. Chemi…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 12, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Fiction and Farce: Democracy at the MLA

  Thinkstock I would love to say that powerful argument won the day. I’d like to claim that intellect and facts persuaded the members, and whether the resolution was won or lost, its decisive outcome was a result of profound and significant reflection. The first resolution before the Modern Language Association’s Delegate Assembly served to censure…

  By Rachel S. Harris Jan 12, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  First They Came For the Humanities…

  Thinkstock This year’s MLA was supposed to be discussing the crisis of affairs in the Humanities. Only a lucky few of the graduate students on the market with their freshly minted PhDs will find jobs in academia — ever. The increasing corporatization of higher education is driving the scholarly agenda, as funders begin to dictate…

  By Rachel S. Harris Jan 11, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Who Will Show Up To Mourn Ariel Sharon?

  A life-size art installation of Ariel Sharon is displayed in 2010 in Tel Aviv. / Getty Images Ariel Sharon, the 11th Prime Minister of Israel, has died, and arrangements are being made for his funeral. The question that looms large now is who will watch him reach his final resting place and who won’t. Sharon’s…

  By Nathan Jeffay Jan 11, 2014 | 2 min read