Opinion

• Opinion

  Conservative and Reform Rabbis Deserve Same Recognition as Avi Weiss and Orthodox

  (JTA) — The good news is in: Rabbi Avi Weiss’ conversions will be accepted in Israel. I am glad to see that the religious integrity and leadership of Rabbi Weiss has been acknowledged. Undoubtedly, this course correction on the part of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate is due in part to the hue and cry of…

  By Julie Schonfeld

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Loehmann’s Transformed Shopping Forever — and Gave Me a Million Memories

  So long, Loehmann’s. After a series of store closings and bankruptcies over the past 15 years, the retailer has decided to call it quits, citing a sluggish economy and a failure to implement an effective e-commerce strategy as the causes of its demise. This marks the end of not just deep discounts on designer clothes,…

  By Elissa Strauss Jan 17, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ADL’s One-State Double Standard

  Chile’s El Palestino soccer club recently raised the ire of pro-Israel groups when it decided to redesign its team jerseys, replacing the numeral one with a one-state map of Palestine. Because they show the entire map of Israel as Palestine, these jerseys effectively erase Israel, making it seem like the state doesn’t exist. In a…

  By Sigal Samuel Jan 16, 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 A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• 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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Alan Webber Wants To Be Governor of New Mexico

  In 1996, Alan Webber launched Fast Company magazine as a hybrid of “Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal.” The same energy hovers around his recently announced run for Governor of New Mexico. A Tweet kicked off the campaign; a few days later, Webber confirmed the run with a simple “Yeah” in a Santa Fe…

  By Michael Kaminer Jan 16, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Are Social Conservatives Finally Growing Up?

  Sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Before I was born, these were the frontiers of the social revolutions sweeping America. The favorite moments of the Boomer generation — Woodstock, the Summer of Love — combined all three. And while the political revolution the Beatles sang about never quite came to pass, the Sixties’ changes in…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 16, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Intermarriage Rorschach Test

  Is intermarriage good for the Jews? This is not a trick question. It’s the new Rorschach test in determining how you think about the Jewish future. If you believe, as does the leadership of the Reform movement, that intermarriage is a fact of modern life, an inevitability in an open society where Jews are —…

  Jan 16, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  In Jewish Italy, ‘Diaspora’ Is a Dirty Word

  The former Jewish ghetto on the banks of the Tiber in central Rome. / Getty Images Should Jews living in the Diaspora feel ashamed of being, well, Jews living in the Diaspora? A growing number of European Jews, it seems, believe the answer is yes. But when did we start buying into this narrative? I’ve…

  By Anna Momigliano Jan 15, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Ukraine ‘Euromaidan’ Protests Must Shun Anti-Semitism

  (JTA) — From the moment of its spontaneous combustion on Nov. 21 and for weeks thereafter, the mass pro-European Union encampment in the center of Kiev appeared to represent the epitome of 21st-century European values. The activities of the vast, multi-ethnic crowd in Maidan Square quickly came to be called Euromaidan and celebrated themes of…

  By Oleksandr Feldman Jan 15, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Rose Fostanes, Israeli X-Factor’s Unlikely Winner

  It was one of the most moving moments I can remember in Israeli television. Last night, Israel’s most popular human export crowned the country’s most adored import. Supermodel Bar Refaeli, whose career took off in foreign fashion centers, delivered the best imaginable news to a woman who unexpectedly found fame far from home, in Israel….

  By Nathan Jeffay Jan 15, 2014 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  After ‘Selma,’ Asking How Many of Us in ‘We Shall Overcome’

  How big of a “We” were the Jews in “We shall overcome”? Since the nationwide release of “Selma” a week before the national holiday commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., I have wondered about the extent of Jewish participation in the civil rights movement. Was it just the Selma marches? Was our support also…

  By Edmon J. Rodman Jan 15, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Polar Vortex Is Nothing To Laugh At

  The new year elevated our national conversation to new heights of unreality, if that’s possible. Democrats in Washington presented 2014 as the year we tackle economic inequality, Congress permitting, which it won’t. Progressives fought to ensure we don’t forget immigration reform, gun safety and protecting abortion rights. Conservatives hoped to stand firm on budgets and…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 15, 2014 | 4 min read