Opinion

• Opinion

  U.S. Must Be Climate Change Leader

  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. A sense of urgency over climate change has gripped the world’s scientists, as once-in-a-century superstorms, droughts, floods and shortages of food and water have become commonplace. Lately the alarm has…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  2 min read
• Opinion

  ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Brings Torture to Big Screen

  I recently sat in the dark of a movie theater and watched a human being being tortured. This happened at the beginning of Kathryn Bigelow’s new film “Zero Dark Thirty.” The film’s torture scenes begin the narrative arc toward the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, and so “Zero Dark Thirty” has reopened the…

  By Rachel Kahn-Troster Jan 4, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Watching as Israel’s Election Approaches

  Having finally come to the end of a grueling election season in the United States, American Jews — certainly this one included — could be forgiven for wanting to take a long break from electoral politics. Yet those of us invested in the Israeli future, with friends and family living in cities recently targeted by…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 4, 2013 | 5 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

  Requiem for the American Jewish Novel?

  I may be one of the few writers who was not surprised this past November to read about Philip Roth’s retirement, nor was I inspired to sit shiva for the American Jewish novel. When our media announced the news (a month after being scooped by the French magazine Les Inrocks), a spate of commentary appeared…

  By Sharon Pomerantz Jan 4, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When Mommies Lay Down Their Spears

  If you want to generate a spike in traffic to your website, to sell more copies of your paper or magazine, or to get more ”likes” on Facebook, you should write a screed taking down the way particular people parent their children. “Mommy wars” trigger media feeding frenzies whenever one of them rears its soft-spotted…

  By Jordana Horn Jan 4, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Wrestling With Details of Noah Pozner’s Killing

  This post originally appeared on the web site of the Dart Society, an independent association of journalists who cover violence and tragedy. Nine days after Veronique Pozner’s son, Noah, was killed in the Newtown schools shootings, I interviewed her and other members of the family about their grieving process. The family had just finished observing…

  By Naomi Zeveloff Jan 3, 2013 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Hidden Victims of Russia’s Adoption Ban

  I used to see them fairly often in airports, nicer hotels or restaurants. Living in Eastern Europe, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine and later working for a non-profit in Russia, I’d become adept at spotting other Americans in public. I sized them up, taking into account the color and style of their…

  By Susan Armitage Jan 3, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Post-Romney Agenda for Jewish Conservatives

  If President Obama can get around to it, his second term is likely to focus on one more big legislative ambition: immigration reform. The outlines of such a reform effort are relatively unknown. Other than some kind of legal status for those here illegally, it’s not immediately clear what Obama would want to achieve, or…

  By Noam Neusner Jan 3, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Questions for Yeshiva

  On December 13, the Forward published an explosive story by our Paul Berger detailing how Yeshiva University for years ignored students who claimed that they were sexually abused by two former staff members at Y.U.’s high school for boys in Manhattan. For that story, Berger spoke to four students who voluntarily offered their accounts. Since…

  Jan 2, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Too Sexy for Limmud?

  Limmud is supposed to be a big tent. But it apparently isn’t expansive enough to accommodate one author’s broad backside. The rear end in question belongs to provocative author and spoken word artist Vanessa Hidary on the cover of her memoir, “The Last Kaiser Roll in the Bodega.” A drawing of Hidary, known at The…

  By Renee Ghert-Zand Jan 1, 2013 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Are Israeli Right-Wingers Hungry for Peace?

  A pair of new polls indicates that right-wing Israelis are surprisingly open to a peace deal with the Palestinians. The polls laid out a two-state-solution scenario to Israelis and asked them if they would back it. Among voters of Likud-Beytenu, the right-wing coaltion that is expected to win the January election, in a Smith Institute…

  By Nathan Jeffay Dec 31, 2012 | 2 min read