Opinion

• Opinion

  Is Israel a Special Case?

  As the blunt ax of sequestration begins its crude work, chopping federal expenditures with no purpose or sense of priority, it’s no wonder that those who work to secure and protect American aid to Israel are worried. That $3.1 billion pays for more than a military shopping list every year. It’s an outward representation of…

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Slice of Bread for LGBT Jews and All the Excluded

  Jews who want to challenge the community use foods as a way symbolizing those challenges on the most heartfelt of Jewish rituals: the Passover seder. Each day, we will examine a different food and what it means. In 1997 I wrote a book with the title “Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and…

  By Rebecca Alpert Mar 17, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Messages in Obama’s Israel Itinerary

  President Obama’s itinerary for his upcoming visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank contains messages both direct and subtle. And one of the subtler messages seems to be embedded in his decision to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit in Jerusalem. In case the intended message passes you by: When President Obama spoke to…

  By Nathan Guttman Mar 17, 2013 | 2 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

  In South Dakota, Putting Guns Where They Don’t Belong

  Given the broad reach of the Forward’s digital offerings, we’re hopeful that maybe some readers in South Dakota will see this editorial. Whoever does read it, we ask that you consider a few questions before sending your child to school. Our request is prompted by the fact that South Dakota has just become the first…

  Mar 16, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Work of Passover

  I have long believed that Judaism is a system of vocational education — that is, of education for a vocation, a calling (from the Latin vocare, to call). I needn’t elaborate here on the substance and texture of that calling. I note only that such questions as ayeka (“Where are you?”) and such injunctions as…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 16, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Yeshiva Rabbi’s Shades of Bigotry

  The lede, as we call it in the journalism biz, sat there silently on the computer screen, like an IED waiting to explode: “… or as he put it, ‘a shvartze,’” it said at the end. The phrase reported accurately the word Rabbi Hershel Schachter used to describe the reason he resisted the idea of…

  By Larry Cohler-Esses Mar 15, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi’s Final Snub

  Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-Beytenu party announced Friday afternoon Israel-time that the coalition negotiations are complete, and the government will be presented to President Shimon Peres on Saturday night. Expect a swearing in on Monday (just don’t ask what Sara Netanyahu will be wearing for this swearing in). There was a last-minute hitch last-night which saw Jewish…

  By Nathan Jeffay Mar 15, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Obama and Netanyahu Need One Other, But Neither One Has Room To Maneuver

  When President Obama’s helicopter convoy deposits him in Jerusalem on March 20 for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it will bring together two leaders who, despite their famed mutual antipathy, have far more in common than either man’s partisans would readily admit. It’s a perfect recipe for trouble. Both men have come fresh off…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 15, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Mazel Tov, Pope Francis. Or Is It John?

  I admit I was a tad nervous today walking into the Congregation Sons of Israel, in Cherry Hill, N.J. Though a warm and nurturing synagogue and community — this being a Torah reading day — I was wondering whether the gabai, the coordinator, would call me up with the formulaic “Ya’amod, haRav Francis.” You see,…

  By David Gutterman Mar 14, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Big Losers — Not Just Ultra-Orthodox

  The Forward looks today at some of the winners in Israel’s new coalition deal, but who are the losers? Apart from the obvious answer which is the Haredi parties, who were left out in the cold, Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz is one of the biggest losers. His party has just two seats in the new…

  By Nathan Jeffay Mar 14, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  There’s Jewish Life Outside the Orthodox, David Brooks!

  In early March, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote a column titled “The Orthodox Surge.” In it, he detailed his visit to Brooklyn’s fancy kosher supermarket Pomegranate. He waxed rhapsodic over everything from “dairy-free cheese puffs” to “a long aisle bursting with little bags of chips and pretzels, suitable for putting into school lunch…

  By Jordana Horn Mar 14, 2013 | 3 min read