Opinion

• Opinion

  Tough Roads Ahead for Two Men of Peace

  Two men who have recently attained very high office now, each in his own domain, search for encounters. The encounters for which they search are quite different from one another, though both are surely commendable. Let us examine their quests. First we have Pope Francis, who is in various ways proving to be a man…

  By Leonard Fein

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Church of Scotland Strikes Out on Israel

  When the Church of Scotland decided to revise its controversial and borderline anti-Semitic report on Israel and the Palestinians, it only really had to do three things. First, the Kirk, as the church is widely know, had to make clear it understood what Zionism actually is. Not, as they originally stated, a solely religious ideology….

  By Liam Hoare May 24, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  If Rabbis Are Allowed To Intermarry, Get Ready for the Non-Jewish Rabbi

  In response to Rabbi Ellen Lippmann’s open letter in these pages to the board of governors of Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion, asking that it reconsider its policy of not ordaining rabbinical students who have non-Jewish spouses or partners, I offer my own open letter to the board: I am writing to urge you…

  By Joel Alperson May 24, 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 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

  Lord of the Land: Israel’s New Jewish Identity Czar

  Israel’s ministry of religious services, headed by economics minister Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home party, has created a new Jewish Identity Administration in an “effort to increase national awareness of Jewish identity,” says a report in Yeshiva World News. Haaretz says its job is to “instill Jewish values” in the general public. The administration…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 23, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Balkanization of Western Wall Prayer ls Threat to Jewish Unity

  I really must avoid spicy foods — even my wife’s scrumptious jalapeno pepper-laced cornbread — before retiring at night. The recipe’s great, but for someone approaching 60, it’s also a recipe for indigestion-fueled nightmares. The scene of my latest bad dream: the Kotel, or Western Wall, in Jerusalem. The time: some future point, may it…

  May 23, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Garcetti’s Honor: L.A. Scribes to the Defense

  My post yesterday about Jewish Los Angeles mayors before Eric Garcetti touched off a flurry of exchanges among writers and scholars who study Southern California Jewry. Among the questions raised were whether Abel Stearns’ serving as alcalde (Spanish for mayor) of el Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1850 counts as being a mayor of a…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 23, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi Wins Battle of Temple Mount — For Now

  We have watched the meteoric rise of Benjamin Netanyahu’s nemesis in the ruling Likud party with considerable interest. Moshe Feiglin has been battling for years to represent the party in Knesset for years, and finally in this year’s general election, he was too strong for the party establishment to stop him. However, his fight was…

  By Nathan Jeffay May 23, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Hey Jeffrey Goldberg, Why I Like Lists of Jews

  So Jeffrey Goldberg thinks that publishing lists of Jews is a bad idea. The fiercely smart, often snarky and well-travelled columnist is with Bloomberg Views now, and wrote a provocative piece calling on the Jerusalem Post and the Forward to, in his words, stop with the ranking, already. The occasion for his complaint was the…

  By Jane Eisner May 23, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  A Moral Responsibility

  In November 2010, when the Manhattan U.S. attorney announced the arrest of 17 Brooklyn residents on charges that they bilked the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany out of many millions of dollars, he minced no words. This was “perverse and pervasive fraud,” said prosecutor Preet Bharara. The leadership of what is known as…

  May 23, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Your Dad in Six Words

  There’s something about the number six in Judaism. God created the world in six days. Six times three is 18 — meaning Chai, or “life” in Hebrew. And six is the number of words we’re asking you to write about your father or grandfather in advance of Father’s Day. What better Jewish tribute to the…

  By Naomi Zeveloff May 23, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Garcetti Is Not L.A.’s 1st Jewish Mayor (Updated)

  As they used to say at the old Yiddish Forward, hold the back page! Not meaning to rain on anyone’s parade, I’m forced to point out that Eric Garcetti is not the first Jewish mayor of Los Angeles. In fact, he’s the third. The first was Don Abel Stearns (1798-1871), Boston-born, a naturalized Mexican citizen…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 22, 2013 | 2 min read