Opinion

• Opinion

  When Bullying of Jewish Students Masks Ugly Anti-Semitism

  Last year, Jewish high school students from Queens told me, almost as an aside, that classmates roll pennies in front of them. Two years ago, a group of high school students from the Binghamton, N.Y., area told me they were called “cheapie,” had to listen to chants of “Heil Hitler” and “Nazi,” and were kicked…

  By Kenneth S. Stern

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Mon Dieu, C’est Le Forverts!

  The Forward’s new Yiddish site has certainly taken off with a bang. In the days since the launch of the yiddish.forward.com site was announced, several major media outlets have run stories on it, and what it means for the future of the Yiddish language. We hoped the new site might get a lot of attention…

  By Forward Staff Feb 5, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Siegelmania’s Greatest Hits, Ed Koch Edition

  The death of Ed Koch reminded us that in our archives we have a couple of poems about the mayor by the late, great poet of the Forward, Stanley Siegelman. These are too charming not to share again, so without further ado, we offer a special reissue of Siegelmania’s greatest Koch hits. Ed Koch’s Grave…

  By Gal Beckerman Feb 5, 2013 | 2 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement

  

• Rob Eshman Want to understand what’s wrong with the ‘pro-Palestine’ movement? This Palestinian can help

  

• Nora Berman Did Netanyahu coerce Trump into attacking Iran? No — but he tried with Obama

  

• Dan Perry Trump wants to control the Israeli judiciary. Uh, good luck

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Let Her Sing!

  I held my seven month old daughter Ravi on my lap as we watched the video of Ophir Ben-Shetreet sing. The 17 year old alto gave a soulful performance on Israel’s The Voice, garnering the judge’s acclaim, and inducing some leg bopping on Ravi’s part. Recently, Ben-Shetreet has been the center of much controversy as…

  By Avram Mlotek Feb 5, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Who Are the Israeli Centrists and Why Did They Vote for Yair Lapid?

  People overseas don’t understand the amazing success of Yair Lapid in Israel’s January 22 parliamentary elections. He hardly said a word about the Palestinians, the peace process, terrorism, war — all those things that Israelis are supposedly preoccupied with every waking minute. But I understand. For the past 15 years, I’ve been living in the…

  By Larry Derfner Feb 5, 2013 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Where are the Women? (Again)

  Last December, as we at the Forward were putting the finishing touches on our fourth annual salary survey of Jewish communal leadership, the Chronicle of Philanthropy asked me to write about why I have become so committed to reporting and writing about the gender imbalance in nonprofit leadership. The short answer: Because it persists! The…

  By Jane Eisner Feb 4, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Egypt on the Edge

  Amid the blaze of graffiti in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square — from hastily scribbled political slogans to elaborate portraits of the many martyrs of Egypt’s unfinished revolution — is an arresting image that encapsulates some of the rage engulfing the country right now. It shows the easily recognizable face of Mohamed Morsi, the embattled…

  Feb 4, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Yiddish 4.0

  What mazel! Last week, Yiddishists round the world woke up to find an article by Joseph Berger about the Forverts — in the New York Times, no less — entitled: “For Yiddish A Fresh Presence Online”. The next day, a Hebrew translation of the article appeared in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, with a slightly different…

  By Boris Sandler Feb 4, 2013 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Syria Defense Belt Eyed To Defend Golan Heights

  Israeli news media are citing a London Sunday Times report that claims Israel is considering establishing a security zone along its border with Syria to protect itself against attacks by jihadist forces following the expected fall of the Assad regime. The zone would extend 10 miles into Syria and would have two infantry brigades and…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 3, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  The President’s Glaring Omission

  Now that President Obama’s second-term agenda is coming into focus, this seems like the appropriate time to start getting nervous. Not scared, necessarily. Scared can wait until after the State of the Union address on February 12. Meanwhile, just nervous. The good news is that Obama appears at last to have found his mojo. He’s…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 3, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Jewish Summer Camp That Doesn’t Feel Like One

  ‘Please can we go to this camp?” my older son asked me after a parlor meeting in my town with the director of an overnight camp. “I really want to go!” my younger son said. I wasn’t ready for this. Sure, one could argue that when you go to a parlor meeting about an overnight…

  By Jordana Horn Feb 2, 2013 | 4 min read