Opinion

• Opinion

  I Never Said Thanks to Edgar Bronfman

  My first meeting with Edgar was not what you’d call auspicious. I was 17 and had just, mysteriously, been selected for Edgar’s newest philanthropic venture, the Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel. This was a mystery because I was a very sheepish and reluctant Jew — as Edgar himself had been at that age — and…

  By Jonathan Tepperman

  2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Edgar Bronfman’s Enduring Contribution to Jewish Youth

  Over the course of his life, Edgar Bronfman, who died December 21 at age 84, founded and supported innumerable Jewish charitable causes, including many with other members of his family. But among those he launched on his own, he considered the most significant to be the Bronfman Youth Fellowships, a Jewish identity program for Israelis…

  By Becky Voorwinde Dec 24, 2013 | 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Holiday Season Underlines Shifts in Judaism as Self-Definition Fades

  ‘Tis the season once again — the season of the December Dilemma. In its original form, the alliterative allusion is to the challenge of raising Jewish kids in a non-Jewish society. Everyone loves Christmas, right? So how come we don’t celebrate it? But the December Dilemma is dated. A majority of non-Orthodox Jewish marriages are…

  By Jay Michaelson Dec 24, 2013 | 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

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  Why Christmas Is America’s Storybook Holiday for All

  Growing up, my family’s Jewish identity was rooted more in what we didn’t do rather than what we did. Keep kosher. Not so much. Observe the Sabbath? Nominally. Regularly attend synagogue? Once a month at best. But boy were we proud, even eager, to abstain from anything and everything that we considered goyish. These included,…

  By Elissa Strauss Dec 24, 2013 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Watch Limmud Live From Britain

  The Limmud conference starts today and continues through Thursday. The Forward is exclusively providing the live stream of the event in North America.

  By Forward Staff Dec 24, 2013 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Mideast Peace ‘Bridge’ Too Far?

  A few weeks ago, President Barack Obama revealed that the current objective of American-led Israeli-Palestinian talks about a two-state solution is a “framework agreement.” This document, he explained, would not “address every single detail, but gets us to a point where everybody recognizes [that it is] better to move forward than [to] move backwards.” Secretary…

  By Yossi Alpher Dec 23, 2013 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Jonathan Pollard and the Spying-on-Israel Scandal

  Israelis call for the release of Jonathan Pollard on March 19, 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel. “Hypocritical.” “Illegitimate.” “Unacceptable.” All these words and more are being used in Israeli political circles to describe Friday’s revelation that the NSA spied on former prime minister Ehud Olmert and former defense minister Ehud Barak in 2009. And how does…

  By Sigal Samuel Dec 23, 2013 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  News Quiz: Hitler, Sarah Silverman and Grace Kelly

  Hitler, Sarah Silverman and Jonah Hill walk into a news quiz. You just know it has to be this one, right? Come on — what other news quiz could it possibly be?

  By Lenore Skenazy Dec 23, 2013 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Edgar Bronfman, Prince of the Jews

  (JTA) — In the coming days, many eulogies will attempt to capture the magnitude of the loss suffered this week by the Jewish community. Really, though, all you need are eight words: Edgar Bronfman was a prince of his people. There are other machers who devote much of their time and money to Jewish causes. But…

  By Ami Eden Dec 23, 2013 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Should Rabbis Marry Outside the Faith?

  A rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, the Reform movement’s central rabbinical school, set off a revealing internal spat when he wrote an op-ed questioning the school’s policy on rabbis and intermarriage. Officially no student at the school is allowed to date or marry a non-Jewish partner. The debate illuminated the Reform movement’s tricky balance:…

  By Dana Evan Kaplan and Ellen Lippmann Dec 23, 2013 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  How Should We Feel About the Pew Study of #JewishAmerica?

  A survey of the state of American Jewry conducted by the venerable Pew Research Center dropped like a bomb in October. The numbers seemed to augur a dramatic change in American Jewish life, with intermarriage increasing, religious observance by the non-Orthodox decreasing, and a general sense that Jewish identity was fading. Commentary and analysis proliferated,…

  By J.J. Goldberg and Jay Michaelson Dec 23, 2013 | 2 min read