Opinion

• Opinion

  Disillusioned on Capitol Hill

  I almost marked the email as spam. When it arrived in my inbox, the subject head had that distinctive indistinctness of junk mail: “Invitation To Testify Before Congress….” Me? Right. But then I clicked on it anyway. And Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia’s office was indeed asking me if I would give witness to the…

  By Gal Beckerman

  5 min read
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  Opinion

  Politics v. Defense: Hamas Backfire, Shin Bet Purge

  Hamas police on the Gaza-Egypt border, September 2013 / Getty Images Ideology continues to trump security in the Netanyahu government’s approach to combating terrorism. As Hamas struggles to maintain its November 2012 cease-fire with Israel in the face of increasing rocket fire, mostly by al Qaeda-linked Salafi jihad factions, Israel responds by bombing Hamas facilities….

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 3, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Anne Heyman Gave Rwanda Orphans a Family

  Students at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village play basketball on a village court in May 2009. Photo: Ben Gittleson It started with a simple question. Anne Heyman and her husband, Seth Merrin, were attending a 2005 talk at Tufts University Hillel by the real-life hero of “Hotel Rwanda,” Paul Rusesabagina, when they asked him to share the…

  By Ben Gittleson Feb 2, 2014 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Drawing ‘My Spanish Inquisition’

  Kurt Hoffman How do you sum up 500 years of Sephardic history in just a couple of illustrations? That’s the challenge I had to answer in the pages of the Forward and on the web at forward.com. Josh Nathan-Kazis’ story tells about his attempt to make good on the Spanish government’s offer to issue passports…

  By Kurt Hoffman Feb 2, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Ignoring My Kids — For Their Own Good

  ‘Mom! Hey, Mom! Look at me!” “Look at me!” has probably been a refrain of parenting small children since the days of “Mom! Look at the drawing of oxen I made on the wall of the cave!” It can seem constant: “Mom! Look how high I can go on the swing!”; “Dad! Come look at…

  By Jordana Horn Feb 2, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What Eric Goldstein’s Appointment Says About Changing Jewish Community

  The report that the UJA-Federation of New York will appoint Eric Goldstein as CEO has implications that go far beyond the appointment itself. Most important are those changes within the federation system, and in the New York Federation itself, which inform the Goldstein appointment. To understand the historical and sociological significance of the Goldstein appointment…

  By Jerome Chanes Jan 31, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Finance Minister Worries About Boycotts

  As the Scarlett Johansson-stoked controversy rages over SodaStream’s West Bank operation, Israel’s centrist Minister of Finance has been considering what effect international opposition to settlement production will have if peace talks fail. And his verdict is pessimistic. In a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies, Minister Yair Lapid said that if Israeli or…

  By Nathan Jeffay Jan 31, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The ‘Portuguese Schindler’ and Me

  Aristides Sousa Mendes is a national hero today in Portugal for bravely saving Jews fleeing the Nazis. It wasn’t always that way. When Aristides Sousa Mendes was a child, his name forced his family to leave Portugal for Africa. Today, his name is famous, and his grandfather and namesake, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, is a…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 31, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  My Search for the Perfect Biblical Blue

  A few of the author’s many blue inks on paper. / Jeffrey K. Salkin It’s time for me to confess my hobby. I collect and use fountain pens. I have no memory of how I first got into this particular way of writing. No, it has nothing to do with the fabled “Today I am…

  By Jeffrey K. Salkin Jan 31, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Does Rick Jacobs Think Intermarriage Is Good?

  (JTA) — For an article I wrote on a recent flare-up in the intermarriage debate, I did two interviews with Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Twice I asked him whether there was any value in articulating a communal preference for in-marriage over intermarriage, and the second time I followed…

  By Julie Wiener Jan 31, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Bursting Bubbles of SodaStream’s Haters

  Is it wrong for Scarlett Johansson to perform as the celebrity global ambassador for the Israeli company SodaStream? Is it wrong for the rest of us to drink the fizzy, made-at-home water in the environmentally-friendly reusable bottles that are manufactured in Palestinian land occupied by Israel since the 1967 war? Thanks to the high-wattage Super…

  Jan 31, 2014 | 2 min read