Opinion

• Opinion

  When Judaism Is All About You

  After 40 years in the same congregation and almost 50 since my ordination, I should know what to say in my High Holy Days sermons. It should be easy. But this year it’s not. Sure, I can readily address the perennial themes of High Holy Days preaching: repentance; Israel; Jewish identity versus American assimilation; life’s…

  By Gerald L. Zelizer

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Sinai’s Surge in Islamist Terror Gives Israel Jitters

  A surge in terror activity by Al Qaeda affiliates in Sinai is frightening tourists in the southern Israel resort town of Eilat, and that’s making city officials and business leaders very nervous. It’s infuriating the Egyptian military. And it’s hardening Israeli attitudes toward the peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Not surprisingly, it’s also reopening the…

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

  Egypt Isn’t Syria. One Is Fixable. One, Not So Much

  Israel’s Walla News site offers a fascinating and, I think, crucial insight (in Hebrew) into the turmoil in Egypt and Syria. It’s by Dror Ze’evi, a professor of Turkish and Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev. He writes that the two conflicts, however similar or related they might appear on the surface,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 17, 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Netanyahu’s new Gaza plan is a disaster. But it contains a tiny kernel of wisdom

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Menachem Begin Was Israel Leader True to Convictions

  On a day in June 1977, in a Knesset buzzing with excitement — every seat taken, senior officials cramming reserved sections, and the galleries packed with ambassadors and other dignitaries — Menachem Begin, a picture of confidence and robustness, mounted the podium to present his newly elected government for parliamentary approval. He dryly outlined the…

  By Yehuda Avner Aug 16, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When Jewish Toronto Fought Back — 80 Years Ago

  Was the carving of two swastikas into a Toronto golf course last weekend a random hate crime — or a twisted nod to history? Police think it was a run-of-the-mill act of anti-Semitic vandalism. But some note the crime took place on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the historic Christie Pits riots, when…

  By Michael Kaminer Aug 16, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Cutting Egypt Aid Would Kill Mideast Peace Hopes

  At the risk of sounding ethnocentric, the current earthquake in Egypt has enormous implications for the well-being of Israel, and not in a good way. Put simply, the course of action that seems self-evidently proper to right-minded Americans — punishing the Egyptian military, ending military cooperation, suspending aid — will almost certainly have a catastrophic…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 15, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  English Soccer Kicks Off — Minus Israelis

  The new English Premier League season will kick off on Saturday without a single Israeli on any of the top league’s 20 teams. It shouldn’t be seen as entirely out of the ordinary for a nation of Israel’s size and resources not to have any representatives in the Premier League. As Joshua Halickman, aka The…

  By Liam Hoare Aug 15, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Settlement Shenanigans

  Thanks to political, bureaucratic and logistical requirements, Israel’s settlement project is inherently complicated. The approval process for new units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has more layers than a thick piece of baklava. In the more contested areas, where even some hard-liners believe there could be a Palestinian state, there are additional administrative…

  Aug 15, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  As Peace Talks Begin, Good Will In Short Supply

  Secretary of State John Kerry had promised that the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would be kept confidential, so that the negotiators could exchange ideas without being subject to pressure from extremists on each side until a package of mutual concessions was ready that could show each side what it received in return for what it gave…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 15, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Bob Filner’s Too Bad for Hooters

  Hooters is drawing a line in the sand — and his name is San Diego Mayor Bob Filner. The jiggle joint restaurant chain, not normally known for its political correctness, has announced it will no longer serve the embattled Jewish pol, according to signs posted outside locations across the city. Filner, recently slammed with a…

  By Doni Bloomfield Aug 14, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Gay, Orthodox and Outspoken

  The Supreme Court’s decisions around marriage rights may have elated gay and lesbian Jews and their allies. But for LGBT Jews in the Orthodox community, the ruling might have the opposite effect. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations issued a statement reiterating Judaism “forbids homosexual relationships”; Agudath Israel went a step further, claiming the “sanctity”…

  By Michael Kaminer Aug 14, 2013 | 4 min read