Opinion

• Opinion

  The Empathy Rule

  Forty-one minutes into his powerful speech in Jerusalem, President Obama went off script. This spontaneous moment wasn’t the one replayed endlessly on cable television, when he paused to describe meeting with Palestinian young people his daughters’ ages. No, this diversion was only four words, easy to miss, but significant. It was in the “peace is…

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  For Poor Students, Barriers To Higher Education Are Many

  The front-page story in The New York Times grabbed my attention. Citing the work of education researchers, the article said that the nation’s 238 most selective colleges are failing to attract talented low-income students. Even though these students have a better chance of graduating from selective schools than from the local community college, many don’t…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 27, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Can Barack Obama Turn Israel Into a Blue State — With Benjamin Netanyahu’s Help?

  Of all of the gestures performed during Barack Obama’s trip to Israel, that of the president of the United States bowing to the president of the State of Israel as the former accepted the Presidential Medal of Distinction was among the more extraordinary. But even before that, there was another moment of symbolism when the…

  By William Kolbrener Mar 27, 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 is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Tantalizing Hints From Supremes on Gay Marriage

  The arguments over Proposition 8 – the California ban on same-sex marriage – gave tantalizing hints about the thinking of Supreme Court justices hearing the case. After a lawyer in support of the ban, Charles Cooper, argued that procreation and child-rearing were fundamental to a state’s interest in marriage, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg brought up…

  By Michael Kaminer Mar 26, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Honoring the Many Liberations That Mark Passover

  This is the season of our deliverance. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb saying so. It was in this season, tradition teaches, at the first full moon of spring around 3,500 years ago that our Hebrew ancestors staged recorded history’s first successful slave rebellion. We’ve marked the anniversary ever since by retelling…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 26, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Defining Marriage for the 21st Century

  As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in two cases about same-sex marriage, there’s been speculation about whether the experiences of the justices themselves will bear upon their momentous task of defining marriage in the 21st century. We certainly hope so. Those experiences should inform the deliberation, for they illustrate how society’s concept…

  Mar 25, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Obama Seder Reflects Common Bond With Jews

  Just before the doors of the Old Family Dining Room swing open to welcome Elijah to the White House Seder, Dr. Eric Whitaker, a friend of President Obama, reads aloud the Emancipation Proclamation. Last week, as I researched the Obama Seder (the only Seder hosted by a sitting President), I was struck by several things,…

  By Devra Ferst Mar 25, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  A Useful Tension at the Heart of Judaism

  A very senior professor from a very distinguished university sought me out recently, ostensibly to talk about international human rights. His specific interest, he said, was in the relative absence of Jews from the ongoing struggle to advance humanitarian concerns. But the issue that ended up taking most of our time was: Why Jewish? That…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 23, 2013 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Anne Frank, Dr. King and the ADL’s Moving Video

  What if Martin Luther King, Jr., Anne Frank, Matthew Shepard and Yitzhak Rabin were still alive today? A new video from the Anti-Defamation League depicts the contributions they could have made to society and asks viewers to envision a world without hate. Produced for the ADL’s 100th anniversary and set to John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the…

  By Susan Armitage Mar 22, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  6 Things to Remember About Obama’s Trip

  Strategically sandwiching his public criticism of Israeli policy in the middle of three days committing himself to Jewish history and hopes, President Barack Obama flies out of Ben Gurion airport hoping that Israelis will remember the balance in his visit. The visit was all about critical mass. He wanted a critical mass of poignant words,…

  By Nathan Jeffay Mar 22, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How To Pick the Perfect Rabbi

  I once spent three years of my life following what was supposed to be a one-year search for a new rabbi at one of the country’s biggest synagogues. It was one of the most fascinating, shocking and challenging experiences of my life — as a Jew and as a writer. And it made me entirely…

  By Stephen Fried Mar 22, 2013 | 4 min read