Opinion

• Opinion

  Better Schools for Better Communities

  After 50 well-spent years inside urban public schools — as a teacher and principal, a parent, a school board member, an author and advocate — I’ve discovered that, given the chance, all children can receive a high-quality education. All we need are small class sizes, probably located in small schools. Lots of time for teachers…

  By Deborah Meier

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Rabbi Jonah Pesner Mulls Massachusetts Senate Run

  A rabbi passed over last year for the leadership of the Reform movement thinks he might have better luck running for the U.S. Senate. Rabbi Jonah Pesner, a senior vice president at the Union for Reform Judaism, told the Boston Phoenix on January 7 that he is considering entering the special election to replace Senator…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 8, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Build on Gay Marriage Victories

  It’s looking like 2013 will be the year of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (it’s up to Justice Kennedy) and California’s Proposition 8, both of which try to criminalize marriage that is not between a man and a woman. The Obama administration, already not…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 8, 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

  Raise Minimum Wage and Protect Workers Rights

  The minimum wage was created in 1938 to help reduce poverty. Today that goal has been abandoned, as Congress has resisted raising the minimum wage to keep up with the cost of living, and millions of full-time workers are unable to make ends meet. A person paid the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour…

  By Alan Van Capelle Jan 8, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Barack Obama’s Israeli Boom Box

  President Obama listens to Israeli radio on an ’80s-style ghetto blaster. That’s the concept behind a new Israeli ad for a government-owned radio station, promoting its coverage of the upcoming elections in the Jewish state. The ad pictures the U.S. president on the lawn of the White House with a radio glued to his ear….

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 7, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  For 2013, A Marriage Agenda

  Judging by the amount of money spent, and organizations created, and words expressed, you would think that the most serious problem facing the American Jewish community is the waning attachment to Israel among young adults. But that’s not what keeps me up at night. What haunts me and the many parents I know who have…

  By Jane Eisner Jan 7, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Make Food Aid Work for All

  This past fall, Congress allowed the U.S. Farm Bill — the legislation that governs the vast majority of our country’s food and agriculture policies, including international food aid — to expire. If our elected leaders refuse to move the process forward, funding for emergency food aid will run out in 2013. This doesn’t only jeopardize…

  By Timi Gerson Jan 7, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Where’s the Platform, Bibi?

  With less than three weeks until elections in Israel, the nation’s leading party still has no platform. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hybrid political faction formed from the recent merger between the ruling Likud party and right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu, has yet to publish its platform, in which it lays out its stands on major issues. It’s…

  By Nathan Guttman Jan 6, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Pass Common Sense Gun Control Measures

  The president’s undisguised grief expressed that of the nation as we mourned the innocent lives lost in Newtown in yet another mass shooting. Maybe we aren’t so inured to gun violence after all, even though many of us no longer notice the news reports of children and others gunned down every day in our communities….

  By Sammie Moshenberg Jan 6, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Chuck Hagel’s Jewish Scorecard

  The debate over the possible nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel for defense secretary is not dying down. The White House has yet to formally announce whether Hagel will be its pick for the top Pentagon post, although President Obama has signalled to insiders that he is the likely choice. And the president did come…

  By Nathan Guttman Jan 5, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Stamp Out Slavery for Good

  Every day this week, the Forward is publishing pieces from opinion leaders in different fields about their prescription for policy in President Obama’s second term. One hundred and fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery still exists in America. It takes place in just about every industry — agriculture, manufacturing, restaurants, domestic work and the…

  By Jill Jacobs Jan 5, 2013 | 2 min read