Opinion

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  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

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Sharon They Loved, the Sharon We Hated

  Ariel Sharon in death, as in life, presents a challenge for us. By advocating a bold, self-asserting Jewish settlement movement, with or without a peace agreement, Sharon shattered the image of Israel as a country that places the achievement of peace with its neighbors above all other national goals. This triggered a long-term rift with…

  By David Hazony Jan 11, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Three Different Deaths

  Three noteworthy deaths, though only two of the three are notable. There was a time I knew Edgar Bronfman, who died recently at age 84, quite well. He was helpful to my progeny, Moment Magazine. We’d have lunch, once a month or so, in his private dining room in the Seagram building in New York,…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 11, 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 Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

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

  

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  Opinion

  If ‘Palestine’ Jerseys Incite Hatred, What About JNF?

  Normally, when a sports team decides to redesign its uniforms, the decision isn’t considered a major news story. But when Chile’s El Palestino soccer club began wearing jerseys that show the entire map of Israel as Palestine, it met with an intense Jewish backlash — and it’s easy to see why. By using a one-state…

  By Sigal Samuel Jan 10, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  MLA Panel Is High On Emotion, Low On Facts

  ‘It Impacts People’: Professors and scholars are debating the boycott of Israel at the MLA. // Thinkstock Vote Your Conscience! Well, that was certainly the message at session 48 of the MLA, billed as a roundtable discussion of “Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine.” “There is no us and them, only us and…

  By Rachel S. Harris Jan 10, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  After Caleb Jacoby Found, Twitter War Resumes

  The disappearance of Caleb Jacoby — who was found, thankfully, safe and sound in New York last night — brought out the best in many people in the Jewish (and general) blogosphere and Twittersphere. And it brought out the worst in others. As the news that Caleb had been found hit social media, people shed…

  By Sigal Samuel Jan 10, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Caleb Jacoby — It’s None Of Our Business

  According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, approximately 800,000 children younger than 18 are reported missing each year. That means close to 2,200 children a day or 91 children every hour are reported missing in the United States. And yet, I don’t remember a story catching the attention of the Jewish community…

  By Efrem Goldberg Jan 10, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  What Have I Done? Lot of Watergate Under a Bridge

  Scene from Gov. Christie’s morning staff meeting? The pivotal moment from the classic 1957 film “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” in which British prisoner-of-war officer Alec Guinness comes face to face with his obsessive and misguided attempt to build his legacy on a bridge. The parallel to the current moment isn’t entirely perfect, other…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 9, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Germany’s Not Just Faking Holocaust Contrition

  News that drunken revelers had, on New Year’s Eve, used Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as a urinal came shortly after The New York Times published an op-ed by Yascha Mounk on the conflicts of being a German Jew. Together, these items create an image of a Germany not at ease with…

  By Liam Hoare Jan 9, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Where the Money Leads

  When Jennifer Gorovitz, the first and only woman to head a major Jewish federation in the United States, announced in early January that she was quitting, she made a plaintive request: Remember my accomplishments running the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco for five years. Don’t just focus on the gender gap and the inequities…

  Jan 9, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Sarah Silverman Hailed As Prophetess in Israel

  Comedian Sarah Silverman has been called many things, but never a prophetess. Until yesterday, when she was given prophetic credentials in the magazine section of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot. The accolade comes from an interview with her sister, Jerusalem-based Reform rabbi (and one of the Forward 50 list of important Jews) Susan Silverman, which…

  By Nathan Jeffay Jan 8, 2014 | 2 min read