Opinion

• Opinion

  Bar Mitzvah Boy Talks Gay Marriage

  At my bar mitzvah, many moons ago, I took the daring step to talk about… I can’t remember. Like most Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids, my remarks were pretty perfunctory. But not those of Duncan McAlpine Sennett. In a talk now trending on YouTube, Duncan starts out in straightforward fashion, talking about his Torah portion….

  By Jay Michaelson

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  After Sandy, One Shul Celebrated Hanukkah Without Lights

  It has become my annual ritual. I flippantly say, minutes before the first night of Hanukkah, “I’m going to 116th Street to blur the separation between church and state.” Apparently, some very well-meaning and generous person from Indiana donated a large, electric menorah to the Jewish community of the Rockaways following 9/11, because our community…

  By Marjorie Slome Dec 2, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What’s Wrong With These Selfies? Everything.

  There are many positive things about social media. Selfies, or photos of themselves, taken by young people at Holocaust sites and memorials are not among them. The German version of Vice magazine collected and published a bunch of these totally tasteless Instagram posts to drive home the point. Don’t read German? No worries. You just…

  By Renee Ghert-Zand Dec 1, 2013 | 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 Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Saveur Declares State of Palestine

  Jews and Arabs appaerently still can’t work out terms for a mutually acceptable nation for the Palestinian people. But Saveur, an upscale food magazine, has it all figured out. Throughout an opulently photographed feature headlined “Heart of Palestine” in Saveur’s December issue, writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins — who’s written cookbooks on the Mediterranean and Italy…

  By Michael Kaminer Dec 1, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  From Our Archives: Hanukkah, Forever New

  Sebastiano Conca: ‘Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem’ (1737) / Wikimedia Commons What follows is a Forward editorial in celebration of Hanukkah from back in December 2004, when I was editor. I was rather proud of it then, and I think the message holds up pretty well. Down at the bottom is an…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 29, 2013 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Obama’s Thanksgivukkah Greeting Has Different Meaning for Israelis

  (JTA) President Obama, always up on the latest Jewish internet fads, sent out an official Thanksgivukkah greeting yesterday: “For the first time since the late 1800s – and for the last time until some 70,000 years from now – the first day of Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving. It’s an event so rare some have even…

  By Ben Sales Nov 29, 2013 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Occupy Thanksgivukkah

  The santas who sunbathe on Sydney beaches, barbecuing their lunch on December 25th are revelling in the duality of the Christmas holiday. On the one hand it’s a universal holiday, celebrating the birth of the Christian messiah who was born for us all and so it’s perfectly appropriate for Australians (and their tourist visitors) to…

  By Dan Friedman Nov 29, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Arik Einstein: A Few of My Faves (with Translation)

  It’s tough picking out the best, the most representative and my own favorites, so I went with my favorites and then narrowed it down. If you want a few more, try this selection from Haaretz or, if you don’t need translation, just check out YouTube (though if you don’t need translation there’s a pretty good…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 29, 2013 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Thanksgiving May Be More Miraculous Than Hanukkah

  This year’s convergence of Hanukah and Thanksgiving, which, we’re told, will not be repeated until 70,000 years from now, leads to a question: Which celebrates the greater miracle? The question may seem misplaced, even impertinent. We understand Hanukah as a celebration of miracle; no miracle is associated with Thanksgiving. Yet I mean to argue that…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 28, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Without Arik, There’s No One To Sing

  For my American friends: Its hard to describe what is going on today in Tel Aviv and all over Israel. The entire country is in a state of mourning, and even the weather has joined in with grey overcast skies. Its days like these though, that I love being Israeli. There is an overwhelming feeling of…

  By Laura Bialis Nov 27, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Day (Israeli) Music Died

  To borrow a phrase from Don McLean, here in Israel, yesterday was the day the music died. Just as Buddy Holly, who McLean was singing about, was an American icon, Arik Einstein, who passed away aged 74, was an Israeli icon. He was the man who moved on the ideologically earnest music of the Zionist…

  By Nathan Jeffay Nov 27, 2013 | 2 min read