Opinion

• Opinion

  Mark Sanford Wins: When Party Trumps Character?

  It’s sort of fun watching Democrats and liberals do headstands over the political redemption of Mark Sanford, the disgraced Republican ex-governor of South Carolina who was handily elected to the House of Representatives in a special election. Here was a champion of conservative values who narrowly escaped impeachment just four years ago after disappearing from…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Quiz: Warren Buffett and BBQ Joint’s Jewish Plan

  Welcome, readers! This week’s news quiz takes us from ultra-Orthodox England to Corky’s Ribs & BBQ in Memphis, Tenn. with a stop by Warren Buffett’s brain and heart to see what he believes in! And was that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul we just glimpsed? Did he really…?

  By Lenore Skenazy May 8, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Battle for Jerusalem Set Stage for Half-Century of Conflict

  Late in the afternoon on June 7, 1967, sober dark suits and homburgs mixed with the paratroopers’ battle dress as the leaders of the nation began to arrive at the Western Wall, most of them looking dazed. The paratroopers were, for the most part, too young to have seen the Wall before, yet young enough…

  By Abraham Rabinovich May 8, 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 is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  If Jews Are a Race — Which One?

  It’s no surprise that Johns Hopkins geneticist Eran Elhaik stirred a hornet’s nest of controversy with his claim to have debunked the scientific theory that Jews are mostly members of a single race, with origins in the land that is now Israel. But as Rita Rubin, the science writer who penned the Forward’s piece on…

  By Anne Cohen May 8, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Keeping the Faith in Gun Control Fight

  In an effort to push forward stalled gun control legislation, Vice President Joe Biden met on Monday at the White House with faith leaders, including three representatives of the Jewish community. In the meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, Biden discussed at length the current status of the background check legislation which failed…

  By Nathan Guttman May 7, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  A Father’s Pain at Overseeing Son’s Circumcision

  I’m in the shower at 6 a.m. with a sick feeling in my gut. Today, my 8-day-old son is going to be circumcised. This is my third round, and many people told me this time would be easier — and being an Orthodox Jew who embraces ritual in his life, you’d think it would be….

  By Elie Jesner May 7, 2013 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Stakes for Chief Rabbi: Marriage, Converts, Peace

  That fight within the Jewish Home party over nominations for chief rabbi has more to it than meets the eye. True, it opens up a fault line within the religious Zionist movement, between the liberal wing that backs Rabbi David Stav and the more religiously conservative wing that backs Rabbi Yaakov Ariel. But it’s also…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 6, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Taking Pulse of the Shtetl-Sphere

  In the legendary days of the Yiddish Forward, Ab. Cahan, the founding editor, could leave his office at 175 East Broadway and roam the streets, synagogues, restaurants, schools yards and tenements of the Lower East Side to listen to his readers. And he did, often. It helped him keep a finger on the pulse of…

  By Jane Eisner May 6, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  More Killed by Toddlers Than Terrorists in U.S.

  Startling fact: Number of persons killed on American soil so far this year by terrorists: 3. Number of persons killed on American soil so far this year by toddlers: 5. Note that three of the toddler killings occurred on the same day, April 9, six days before the Boston Marathon bombing. The most recent took…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 5, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  If Only Iran Nuclear Red Lines Were as Simple as Hockey for Israel

  I don’t know if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a hockey fan, but I hope he was watching the opening game of the National Hockey League championship series April 30 in St. Louis. It held a useful lesson for Middle East diplomats. The home team, the St. Louis Blues, isn’t what you’d call championship…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 5, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Heartbreaking Policy to African Asylum-Seekers

  Meet Omer Olivier. Mr. Olivier is an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has been living in Israel for the last seventeen years without official status. Although he has filed a request to be recognized as a refugee, his lack of recognized status means he cannot work legally nor get medical services….

  By Leonard Fein May 4, 2013 | 3 min read