Opinion

• Opinion

  Hillel’s Battle Over the Meaning of ‘Pro-Israel’

  As the controversy rages over Hillel’s Israel guidelines — which delineate which groups it will partner with or allow to participate in Hillel-sponsored events — observers have started to wonder what effect all this will have on American Jewish identity and Israel advocacy. The issue, though, is about more than just defining Hillel; it’s also…

  By Brent E. Sasley

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Losing in the ‘Knockout’ Game

  I’m not used to feeling this scared. My body is stuck in a tug of war. On one hand, it wants to go for a walk. It’s an unseasonably warm winter day out that offers a small reprieve from the arctic chill. I have no excuses. But on the other hand, the streets look so…

  By Eli Reiter Jan 8, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Britain Should Apologize for Balfour Declaration

  Palestinians protest on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in 2013. / Getty Images In 2014, commemoration of the First World War on the one-hundredth anniversary of its commencement will be inescapable. So, too, will the debate over the merits of the miserable and bloody conflict that took the lives of over 16 million soldiers…

  By Liam Hoare Jan 7, 2014 | 4 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

  News Quiz: The Pope, Mark Zuckerberg and Canada

  There are certain things we humans cannot get enough of, and several of them surface in this week’s news quiz. These include sexy bottoms, French food, Mark Zuckerberg’s money…and Joan Rivers.

  By Lenore Skenazy Jan 7, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  What Limmud Can Teach Us

  The fourth and final night of the massive conference known as Limmud UK coincided with Christmas, but you’d never know it in the auditorium where thousands gathered on the campus of the University of Warwick in Coventry, several hours from London. Instead, the focus was on the two men who oversaw the annual marathon of…

  By Jane Eisner Jan 7, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Menachem Stark and God’s Missing Cliff Notes

  Amid the torrent of ink spilled over the murder of Menachem Stark — some of it callous, some of it defensive, much of it self-righteous — one of the smartest pieces appeared Monday on the website of the Jewish Press, the Orthodox Brooklyn weekly. Written by the paper’s online editor and columnist, the irreplaceable Yori…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 7, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Orthodox Rabbis Stand by Avi Weiss — Sort Of

  (JTA) — The Rabbinical Council of America is standing behind Rabbi Avi Weiss of Riverdale, N.Y., in his dispute with Israel’s Chief Rabbinate — sort of. Last week, the Rabbinate for the first time offered its reasons for deciding several months ago that Weiss, an Orthodox rabbi and RCA member, wasn’t kosher enough to affirm…

  By Uri Heilman Jan 6, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Judging Menachem Stark’s Jewish Life — Not Just His Death

  A man was murdered last week. By many news accounts, he was a crook. He also happened to be a Haredi Jew. Does the last fact matter? Yes, according to the politicians who have fallen over themselves to condemn the New York Post’s typically tasteless coverage of the death, which included the headline — based…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 6, 2014 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Social Justice Is Not Just for Americans

  This year will witness the reintegration, at long last, of a Jewish vision for social justice in both the Diaspora and in Israel. At the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, a recent gathering of Jewish social justice organization, Rabbi David Rosenn of the New Israel Fund and I co-led a conversation about how the situation in…

  By Jill Jacobs Jan 6, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Putting Aside That Old Jewish Pessimism

  It is still surprising — funny, even — that a people that has survived and thrived through millennia filled with cataclysms can still find itself debilitated by anxiety about its future, and especially by such concerns as banal as, say, the impending retirement of the generation of baby boomer CEOs running Jewish organizations. This past…

  By Yehuda Kurtzer Jan 6, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Menachem Stark Was Good Man Who Didn’t Deserve To Die — Or Be Smeared

  My brother in law, Menachem Stark was killed this weekend. A 39-year old father of seven, he will be missed by his wife, children, friends, and so many others. He had so much ahead of him and his loss is a tragedy for all of us. He left home Thursday, and simply never returned home….

  By Alexander Buxbaum Jan 6, 2014 | 2 min read