Opinion

• Opinion

  Did You Get Invited to Obama’s Hanukkah Party?

  It’s time to check your inbox. The White House has sent out invitation for this year’s Hanukkah reception hosted by President Obama. It is a good way of measuring one’s status in the world of Jewish leadership. If you’re not invited to the White House reception you’re either from the wrong party (in that case…

  By Nathan Guttman

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Real Issue for Conservative Judaism Is Authenticity

  To be perfectly clear: I believe that the struggle for gender equality within Judaism has brought enormous benefits to Jewish society. The point of my essay was to help explain why Conservative Judaism has not been able to retain its youth by reflecting on why it did not satisfy me. When I wrote that it…

  By Michah Gottlieb Nov 18, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  One Man’s Jewish Temple Mount Crusade

  There is no single place in Jerusalem as politically sensitive as the site that Jews call the Temple Mount, and Muslims call the Haram al-Sharif, or noble sanctuary. In the past couple of decades, there have been riots and violent confrontations there. The Second Intifada erupted in 2000 after Ariel Sharon, then leader of Israel’s…

  By Renee Ghert-Zand Nov 18, 2013 | 4 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  In Orthodox Conflict, Unity Versus Unilateralism

  Judaism’s response to modernity over the centuries has been one of constant change, sometimes small and sometimes large. As attitudes shifted, movements developed. Reform broke from what would later be called the Orthodox mainstream. Conservative broke from Reform. Reconstructionist broke from Conservative. Traditional broke from Conservative. As the Passover song goes, Chad gadya, chad gadya….

  By Gil Student Nov 18, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Road to Jewish Success Runs Through Failure

  (JTA) — At most Jewish conferences, speakers and participants are careful to focus on sharing only their successes and accomplishments. After all, you never know when a potential donor might be listening. But on Monday, 120 Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders are gathering to focus on something very different: failure. Sponsored by New York’s…

  By Julie Wiener Nov 18, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  I Am Not a Distraction to Conservative Judaism

  A line in Michah Gottlieb’s heartfelt cri de coeur about why he left Conservative Judaism for Orthodoxy jumped out at me. In a column published two weeks ago in the Forward, the New York University professor described his gradual disenchantment with the lackluster observance and intellectual dishonesty of the Conservative movement of his youth. Chief…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 18, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Terror Crosses the Green Line

  When an Israeli soldier was murdered on a bus last week, it didn’t just mark the continuation of a wave of Palestinian-perpetrated killings of Israelis. It moved the violence to a new setting. It’s now crossed the Green Line. Since the summer, a soldier was murdered in Hebron, a restaurant worker was murdered by a…

  By Nathan Jeffay Nov 18, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Heartbreak and Hope in the Philippines

  Ofer Merin had just overseen the labors of three preterm pregnant women when the medical manager of Israel’s field hospital in the Philippines took a few minutes to discuss his work this morning. “If we wouldn’t have been here there would have been one nurse or one physician treating all of them,” he said in…

  By Nathan Jeffay Nov 17, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Books

  Scholastic Puts Israel Back on ‘Stilton’ Map

  Scholastic had already apologized for publishing a children’s book in its popular Geronimo Stilton series that included a map of the Middle East leaving out Israel. Stung by the fierce reaction, the publishing giant has gone one step further. It reworked the animated map to include Israel. It also told parents it would replace copies…

  By Dave Goldiner Nov 16, 2013 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Sarah Silverman, Miley and the Pope: Quiz

  Miley Cyrus, Sarah Silverman and Paula Abdul appearing together? Yes indeed – right here, in this week’s quiz. And joining them? The Pope himself! <a href=”http://theforward.polldaddy.com/s/jew-hear-about-3″>View Survey</a>

  By Lenore Skenazy Nov 15, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Remember Gaza

  Gaza is more desperate than I have ever seen it. Vast stretches are ruined, trashy, derelict, little work, few consumer goods, much idleness. Construction projects half finished for lack of building materials and fuel. A huge cement factory, former employer of 114 workers, gathering dust. Geographically separated from the rest of Palestine by Israel and…

  By Kathleen Peratis Nov 15, 2013 | 4 min read