Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Exactly Are We So Exceptional?

  Several weeks ago, in a New York Times op-ed piece, Vladimir Putin wrote, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.” It did not take long for President Obama to assert the contrary, in his address to the UN General Assembly: “Some may disagree, but I believe America…

  By Leonard Fein

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Behind the 42 Year Old Library Book

  Last week 63-year-old Shimon Pepper returned the book “While Six Million Died,” to the Fall River, Mass. library — a remarkable 42 years late. But for Pepper, his trip to his hometown was about more than an old book. He came to rescue Torah scrolls and pay homage to a dying Jewish community. Three years…

  By Anna Goldenberg Oct 18, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Meet the 94%: The Unseen Faces of American Jews

  Amid the troubling statistics about the state of American Jewry in the recent Pew Research Center Survey there was one staggering, positive number that stood out to us: 94% of respondents to the survey said they were “proud” to identify as Jewish. So who makes up the 94%? We asked readers, to submit stories, anecdotes,…

  By Maya Shwayder Oct 18, 2013 | 2 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

  Editor’s Choice: The Real-Life ‘Argo’; Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies

  The Forward is partnering with other Jewish newspapers to offer our readers a peek at some of the best stories from around the country, as selected by the editors at those papers. We will offer a selection of unedited links with brief introductions from the editors of the papers. From the Jewish Journal. Tony Mendez…

  By Forward Staff Oct 18, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  A Victim of the Oy Vey Brigade

  Some years back I wrote about my Uncle Morty, who left Long Island for Manhattan one day in 1959 and never returned. They found his Chevy alongside Grand Central Parkway, but no Morty. The loss was devastating. I was recalling the incident, I wrote, not for sympathy but to note that Uncle Morty was the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 18, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Israel Preparing To Cede Temple Mount?

  Israel is working on a secret plan to cede the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, a lawmaker from the ruling Likud party has claimed. “The issue here is that the prime minister wants to be rid of the Temple Mount,” Moshe Feiglin, a powerful figure on the right flank of the ruling Likud party, wrote…

  By Nathan Jeffay Oct 17, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Where Is the Good News in Pew Survey on #JewishAmerica?

  Reaction to the Pew Research Center’s survey on American Jews is following its own version of the cycles of grief: first horror, then denial, then a shrugging acceptance. After the gloomy news reports of this first-ever independent survey, a second wave of commentators have focused on what they call the “good news”: the population numbers…

  Oct 17, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Russian Jewish Region’s ‘Gay’ Flag Is Kosher!

  The Kremlin’s self-styled flag experts have declared that the flag of Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region —which bears an uncanny resemblance to the rainbow gay pride symbol — is in fact 100% kosher, Buzzfeed World reported. The flag, designed in 1996 for the Birobidzhan region, boasts colorful stripes on a white background. It was under review…

  By Anne Cohen Oct 16, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Send Us Your Forward 50 Nominations

  Each year, the Forward publishes the Forward 50, which is our opinionated list of American Jews who made a difference in the preceding 12 months. Creating the list is a long process for the staff of the Forward. Each of us is required to propose names of candidates — and defend our choices in meetings…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 16, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews Shape American Culture More Than Ever — Even as Pew Warns of Assimilation

  When the results of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey appeared, a sense of panic was quickly followed by a commitment to purpose. True, an intermarriage rate of 52%, later lowered in order to account for sampling difficulties, caused some to claim that assimilation was more destructive of Jewish life than Nazism was. But the…

  By Alan Wolfe Oct 16, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  No Censorship at Theater J

  A small yet vocal group seems to be holding the artistic and ethical sensibilities of the Jewish community of Washington, D.C. hostage, leading Theatre J to scale back its planned production of ‘The Admission’ by Motti Lerner. Theatre, like all arts, is meant to create dialogue as well as delight, foster intellectual discourse for new…

  By David Y. Chack Oct 16, 2013 | 2 min read