Opinion

• Opinion

  Israel Can Never Be Too Jewish

  Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…

  By Yaakov Dov Bleich

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  What If Matthew Shepard’s Murder Wasn’t an Anti-Gay Hate Crime?

  How important is historical truth? The obvious answer is “very.” Just think of Holocaust denial, which is anti-Semitism built upon historical distortions. But what if an effort to counter hate is based on an inspirational story — and that story is a lie? That’s the moral quandary at the heart of journalist Steve Jimenez’s newly…

  By Kenneth S. Stern Sep 9, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Unholy Alliance of Orthodox Judaism and Political Power Harms Israeli Democracy

  Last June, Forward editor Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world…

  By Rick Jacobs Sep 9, 2013 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Gavin Newsom isn’t waffling on Israel — he’s voicing sensible ideas in an era of outrage

  

• Dan Perry An abominable new Israeli law is a death warrant for democracy

  

• Emily Tamkin We must rewrite the rulebook for fighting antisemitism — or conspiracists like Joe Kent will win the narrative wars

  

• Jay Michaelson Passover’s 4 cups of meaning

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Chemical Weapons Are Different. Here’s Why.

  One of the strangest aspects of the Syria debate is how much energy and passion is going into it, on both sides — for and against American air strikes — and how little light is being shed on the central issue, namely chemical weapons. Secretary of State John Kerry, in his supposedly game-changing speech August…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 8, 2013 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  American (Hasidic) Apparel

  We’re used to seeing adolescent-looking girls posing like wannabe porn stars in American Apparel ads. That probably makes Yoel Weisshaus the most unorthodox American Apparel model ever. His dark blond peyos long and bouncy, the Hasidic 32-year-old college student poses in what is surely the company’s most modest ad ever, wearing a white button down…

  By Debra Nussbaum Cohen Sep 8, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Proud Jews Are Also Committed to Inclusiveness

  Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…

  By Abraham H. Foxman Sep 8, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  For Israeli Military, Armor’s Out, Cyber Is In

  Officers in the U.S. Army have long envied the “short drive” they claim the Israel Defense Forces has to reach its front lines, bemoaning the tyranny of distance when deploying to places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Having relatively short distances to go when meeting a threat means that the IDF is able to go in…

  By Paul McLeary Sep 8, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Michael Bloomberg, Leave Dante de Blasio Alone

  After 12 years and three terms as mayor, Michael Bloomberg somehow still can’t figure out how the average New Yorker thinks. The out-of-touch billionaire who bought a trifecta free pass to Gracie Mansion is leaving office this year. But he couldn’t resist the urge to make an idiot of himself on the way out the…

  By Dave Goldiner Sep 7, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel Should Allow Freedom of Jewish Faith to All

  Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…

  By Tamar Elad-Appelbaum Sep 7, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The ‘Unsavory’ Among Us

  My neighborhood association is disturbed by a recent and ongoing surge in the number of “unsavory” people who use the neighborhood’s plentiful benches for sleeping. It proposes installing bench railings every three feet, which would render stretching out for sleep impossible. In 1968, the federally established minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. That works out…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 7, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  In Israel, Religion Is Reduced To Simplistic Categories

  Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…

  By Elie Kaunfer Sep 6, 2013 | 3 min read