Opinion

• Opinion

  Mental Distraction on Guns

  After each mass shooting by an obviously disturbed American who indiscriminately mows down innocent civilians, the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre can always be counted on to put the problem in perspective. For LaPierre, the fact that Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on September 16 is yet another…

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  What Makes a Jew? It’s What You Do.

  There’s a classic story in my family about the time many years ago when we sat around the table at Aunt Sarah’s house loudly debating what it meant to be a Jew in America. Bubbe Esther, my husband’s grandmother, sat quietly in the corner until someone thought to ask her. How do you define being…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 1, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Pope Francis Most Small-C Catholic Pontiff Ever?

  There has been near-universal joyous reaction to Pope Francis’s recent proclamation that the Roman Catholic Church needs to focus less on issues like homosexuality, abortion and contraception and more on other, deeper spiritual matters. The Holy Father has been lauded for his humility, and his reasoned stance that the Church needs to find a new…

  By Jeffrey K. Salkin Sep 30, 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 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 Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

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  Opinion

  Halacha at the Crosswalk

  The recent incident this past Yom Kippur involving a woman in Jacksonville, Florida who was killed while crossing an intersection with dangerously fast cars was very tragic indeed. It not only left the sixteen year old daughter who was with her with life-threatening injuries, it left her orphaned r”l. This young lady had lost her…

  By Yair Hoffman Sep 30, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Can Catholic Church Thrive Without ‘Obsession’ on Gays and Abortion?

  Like every other gay person I know, I rejoiced at the recent statement by Pope Francis I that, in his view, the Catholic Church has been overly “obsessed” with homosexuality, abortion and birth control. For one thing, I hope that the pope’s statement ends the massive crusade on the part of the United States Conference…

  By Jay Michaelson Sep 30, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  News Quiz: What To Call Hanukkah/Thanksgiving?

  We’ve got Anne ‘n’ Andy in this week’s quiz — Anne Frank and Andy Samberg, that is, both busy, as well as a peek at what may or may not be a real show: “Downton Rebbe.” And somehow Mariano Rivera made it in, too!

  By Lenore Skenazy Sep 30, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Is for Jews, Too

  A group of people partakes in violence to prevent a rival group from praying in a site that is deemed holy to both. The authorities in charge of the area restrict access to this revered spot and forbid the second group to enter because of fears of upcoming violent disturbances. At first glance, one would…

  By Aaron Magid Sep 30, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Willie Rapfogel’s Fall From Grace

  The sight of William E. Rapfogel being hustled into a car by two New York City law enforcement officers September 24 after he was arraigned on charges of stealing millions from the poverty charity he ran for more than two decades was embarrassing enough. The fact that Rapfogel was wearing a yarmulke made it only…

  Sep 30, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Hipster Anne Frank Speaks Back From Twitter Attic

  Guess who sent me an email from her attic — er, I mean, loft? My post here last Thursday about Hipster Anne Frank’s tasteless tweets didn’t sit well with her, and she wanted to let me know. She wrote me saying that I had gotten her all wrong. The email arrived two days after she…

  By Renee Ghert-Zand Sep 29, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Lone Jew in Austria’s Far-Right Party

  Parliamentary elections are held in Austria on Sept. 29 and polls suggest that the far right-wing Freedom Party will achieve one of the best results in its history — and may even shake the governing coalition. The Freedom Party has mostly been shunned by Jewish voters because it grew out of a federation of former…

  By Anna Goldenberg Sep 29, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Celebrating Simchat Torah, Brooklyn-Style

  It was a Simchat Torah celebration that surely most of the Hasidim walking past had never before witnessed: hundreds of liberal Jews, men and women, young children and the middle-aged, dancing together with Torah scrolls held aloft. Revelers twirled round and round in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, just outside the entrance to Prospect Park. “Simchat…

  By Debra Nussbaum Cohen Sep 28, 2013 | 2 min read