Opinion

• Opinion

  MLA Panel Is High On Emotion, Low On Facts

  ‘It Impacts People’: Professors and scholars are debating the boycott of Israel at the MLA. // Thinkstock Vote Your Conscience! Well, that was certainly the message at session 48 of the MLA, billed as a roundtable discussion of “Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine.” “There is no us and them, only us and…

  By Rachel S. Harris

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  After Caleb Jacoby Found, Twitter War Resumes

  The disappearance of Caleb Jacoby — who was found, thankfully, safe and sound in New York last night — brought out the best in many people in the Jewish (and general) blogosphere and Twittersphere. And it brought out the worst in others. As the news that Caleb had been found hit social media, people shed…

  By Sigal Samuel Jan 10, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Caleb Jacoby — It’s None Of Our Business

  According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, approximately 800,000 children younger than 18 are reported missing each year. That means close to 2,200 children a day or 91 children every hour are reported missing in the United States. And yet, I don’t remember a story catching the attention of the Jewish community…

  By Efrem Goldberg Jan 10, 2014 | 5 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

  What Have I Done? Lot of Watergate Under a Bridge

  Scene from Gov. Christie’s morning staff meeting? The pivotal moment from the classic 1957 film “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” in which British prisoner-of-war officer Alec Guinness comes face to face with his obsessive and misguided attempt to build his legacy on a bridge. The parallel to the current moment isn’t entirely perfect, other…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 9, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Germany’s Not Just Faking Holocaust Contrition

  News that drunken revelers had, on New Year’s Eve, used Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as a urinal came shortly after The New York Times published an op-ed by Yascha Mounk on the conflicts of being a German Jew. Together, these items create an image of a Germany not at ease with…

  By Liam Hoare Jan 9, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Where the Money Leads

  When Jennifer Gorovitz, the first and only woman to head a major Jewish federation in the United States, announced in early January that she was quitting, she made a plaintive request: Remember my accomplishments running the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco for five years. Don’t just focus on the gender gap and the inequities…

  Jan 9, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Sarah Silverman Hailed As Prophetess in Israel

  Comedian Sarah Silverman has been called many things, but never a prophetess. Until yesterday, when she was given prophetic credentials in the magazine section of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot. The accolade comes from an interview with her sister, Jerusalem-based Reform rabbi (and one of the Forward 50 list of important Jews) Susan Silverman, which…

  By Nathan Jeffay Jan 8, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  We Are All Jeff Jacoby

  When one puts forth conservative ideas that go against the grain of what many see as the defining pattern of a more liberal press, one earns one’s share of attention. Jeff Jacoby, a Jewish columnist at the Boston Globe, has tackled hot-button topics ranging from abortion to climate change to the war on Christmas to…

  By Mira Sucharov Jan 8, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Hillel’s Battle Over the Meaning of ‘Pro-Israel’

  As the controversy rages over Hillel’s Israel guidelines — which delineate which groups it will partner with or allow to participate in Hillel-sponsored events — observers have started to wonder what effect all this will have on American Jewish identity and Israel advocacy. The issue, though, is about more than just defining Hillel; it’s also…

  By Brent E. Sasley Jan 8, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Losing in the ‘Knockout’ Game

  I’m not used to feeling this scared. My body is stuck in a tug of war. On one hand, it wants to go for a walk. It’s an unseasonably warm winter day out that offers a small reprieve from the arctic chill. I have no excuses. But on the other hand, the streets look so…

  By Eli Reiter Jan 8, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Britain Should Apologize for Balfour Declaration

  Palestinians protest on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in 2013. / Getty Images In 2014, commemoration of the First World War on the one-hundredth anniversary of its commencement will be inescapable. So, too, will the debate over the merits of the miserable and bloody conflict that took the lives of over 16 million soldiers…

  By Liam Hoare Jan 7, 2014 | 4 min read