Opinion

• Opinion

  Why We Need Yeshiva University

  The Jewish community needs Yeshiva University. For many years, this claim would have been considered uncontroversial within the Orthodox Jewish community. Orthodox Jewish students needed a place where they could pursue their religious education comfortably while earning undergraduate degrees — and the structure of the Y.U. curriculum undeniably afforded students this opportunity. But Y.U.’s rash…

  By Michael A. Helfand

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  A Blanket of Snow Changes Jerusalem — Even Just for Shabbat

  Getty Images They say that the sun shines on the righteous. Maybe not, but you did have a better chance of weathering this weekend’s Middle East storm if you’re Haredi. At the height of the Alexa storm, which brought unusually cold temperatures and severe snow, some 60,000 Israel households were without power. However in some…

  By Nathan Jeffay Dec 16, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Avraham Verdiger, 92, Was Haredi Labor’s Last Leader

  Ultra-Orthodox Holocaust survivors at Zeilsheim DP camp in Germany, preparing to settle at Hafetz Haim, the first Haredi kibbutz, circa 1947 (Yad Vashem) On the eve of Hanukkah, while the eyes of the world were fixed on the impending demise of one human rights champion, Nelson Mandela, and the sudden, unexpected emergence of another, Pope…

  By J.J. Goldberg Dec 16, 2013 | 5 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 Celebrating my daughter’s birthday in a bomb shelter, as missiles struck Tel Aviv

  

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

  

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  Opinion

  Harvard Hillel Falsely Accuses the Forward

  Credit: Flickr/timsackton Harvard being Harvard, and Hillel being Hillel, it catches an editor’s attention when the executive director of Hillel at Harvard sends out an email blast publicly accusing the Forward of printing an untruth; especially when he does so without the courtesy of telling us or others what that untruth might be — despite…

  By Larry Cohler-Esses Dec 15, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Please Don’t Call Me ‘Super Mom’

  When I was about 4 years old, I had my future career mapped out: I was going to be Wonder Woman. Sadly, my parents did not love me enough to buy me the Wonder Woman Underoos of my dreams. I did, however, have a Wonder Woman bathing suit, which was a distant second best in…

  By Jordana Horn Dec 15, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Good, the Bad, and the Indeterminate of 2013

  It’s that waning time of the year again, a time to look back at the events that informed and shaped the last twelve months. Obviously, the overwhelming news of the last year was the victory of the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. But, this being a serious newspaper, we cannot be distracted by…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 14, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I Had To Protest Nelson Mandela

  Since Nelson Mandela’s death on December 5, my protests during his 1990 visit to New York have been characterized by many — including J.J. Goldberg on the Forward’s website — as radical and militant. Let me set the record straight: I consider Mandela to be a universal hero. The suffering he endured in prison for…

  By Avi Weiss Dec 14, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish Exploitation of the Educated Underclass

  Right now Jewish academics in the U.S. are preoccupied with the American Studies Association’s boycott of Israel. But very few Jews in academia — or Jews in any position of moral authority — have spoken up about an academic scandal that has been quietly building for decades: the exploitation of adjunct instructors at American colleges…

  By Gordon Haber Dec 13, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A Community of Exes — Hasids, That Is

  Frimet (third from right), holds up her Footsteps certificate with the other fellows. I am a Footsteps member and supporter. I am also an observant Jew. To the critics of Footsteps, a not-for-profit organization that helps those seeking to leave their ultra-religious communities, this statement may seem like an oxymoron. Until about a year ago,…

  By Frimet Goldberger Dec 12, 2013 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Blood Donation Rules Are Becoming a National Problem

  Yesterday, an Ethiopian-born lawmaker was told at a Knesset blood drive that the state doesn’t want her blood because of her origins. I know how she feels. There is widespread outrage following the news that Pnina Tamano-Shata, the first Ethiopian born Knesset member, was told not to donate (or that she could donate but the…

  By Nathan Jeffay Dec 12, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A Trailblazing Cantor

  In many ways, Mark Goldman’s a traditional cantor. He serves a 900-member Reform congregation, in Plantation, Florida. He’s performed around the world, including a historic group gig at the Vatican. And he loves to chant the “haunting, yet familiar” Kol Nidre. But this year, the UK expat became a trailblazer. After nearly two decades as…

  By Michael Kaminer Dec 12, 2013 | 3 min read