Opinion

• Opinion

  Women’s Prayer Protests at Western Wall Are Just Childish Provocation

  I am, in my religious behavior, somewhere between what Israelis would call a hiloni or “secular” Jew and a masorti or “traditional” one. My wife and I light candles on Shabbat, we celebrate the Jewish holidays with our children and grandchildren, and now and then, for one reason or another, I find myself in a…

  By Hillel Halkin

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Kotel Struggle a Civil Rights Battle for Jews

  Fifty years ago civil rights activists staged a sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s in Jackson Mississippi to protest the segregated seating which existed, mandating separate areas for black and white patrons. Young students from nearby Tougaloo College, both black and white, sat together at the “whites only” counter, waiting futilely to be served….

  By Nechama Liss-Levinson Jun 24, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Organized Labor and the Chutzpah of Power

  What’s your definition of “chutzpah”? The classic case involves the kid who murders his parents, then begs for mercy as an orphan. Lately, though, I’ve discovered a few cases that bring the concept into sharper focus. The truth is, they add up to one big story, in which the American labor movement — and the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 24, 2013 | 5 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Foxman: Foes of ‘2 States’ Hurt Israel’s Credibility

  As Washington and Jerusalem jockey over terms for renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman insists that his organization will continue to support Israel. But he warns that Israelis make the job harder and hurt their own cause by allowing hardline opponents of Palestinian statehood to speak for them. He singled out Israel’s…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 24, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Jewish Baby Names Are So Important

  What’s in a name? Roses by any other name would, as the bard would have it, smell as sweet. Because after all, a name cannot change a person’s inner essence and soul. Or can it? These are the questions that keep you up late at night as you wonder what you will name your unborn…

  By Jordana Horn Jun 23, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Barack Obama Asks Americans To Trust Him When History Proves We Cannot

  “Noting extensive deliberations in the Situation Room, [the President] added, ‘Unless you’ve been involved in those conversations, then it’s kind of hard for you to understand that the complexity of the situation and how we have to not rush into one more war in the Middle East.’” That’s how The New York Times reported President…

  By Leonard Fein Jun 22, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A Bittersweet Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

  While President Obama attended meetings in Berlin prior to his grand address at the Brandenburg Gate, First Lady Michelle Obama and their children, Malia and Sasha, visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Guided by the director of the site, Uwe Neumärker, the family spent half an hour among the 2,711 stone sarcophagi…

  By Liam Hoare Jun 21, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Speaking Up for Peace

  In last week’s edition we criticized the silence of most Jewish organizations after Secretary of State John Kerry, addressing an American Jewish Committee forum in Washington, called on American Jews to support the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Only a tiny number of organizations had taken up the call (including two we inadvertently omitted, Ameinu and the…

  Jun 21, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Putin: Jews Ruined Russia – But Now We’re Pals, Eh?

  If you’ve been following Vladimir Putin’s image troubles over the Schneerson Library, the priceless Chabad literary trove that the Bolsheviks seized, Russia held and Crown Heights wants, you may have heard about his weird remarks last Thursday (June 13) when he handed over a batch of the treasure to the new Chabad-run museum in Moscow:…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 21, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Texting and the Power of ‘Half Shabbat’

  Should observant Jews text on Shabbat — and if not, why not? I personally do not text on Shabbat because I believe doing so violates the prohibition on working on that day. Gershom Gorenberg eloquently expressed the same viewpoint in the Daily Beast’s Open Zion blog. I’m not sure how well this message would resonate…

  By Aryeh Younger Jun 20, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Specter of Xenophobia Stalks Europe

  Poetry, Robert Frost famously said, is what gets lost in translation. But as “L’Allemagne Disparaît,” the newly issued French translation of Thilo Sarrazin’s “Deutschland Schafft Sich Ab,” reminds us, demagoguery survives translation all too well. While the translation of the French title, “Germany Is Disappearing,” transforms that of the German title, “Germany Does Itself In,”…

  By Robert Zaretsky Jun 20, 2013 | 4 min read