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  True Help

  In his recent piece “Who Benefits From Service Trips?” (November 16), Brent Spodek highlights an issue that has long troubled many of us in the Jewish volunteer world: Sometimes service-learning trips for Jews in their 20s and 30s focus more on cultivating “effective Jewish citizens” than on working with communities that could benefit from volunteer…

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s Shimon vs. Bibi, Again

  Israeli President Shimon Peres has locked horns again with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two men have a troubled relationship, and in the summer had a very tense month after Peres went against Netanyahu’s position on Iran. Speaking to a large gathering of Israeli diplomats, Peres heaped praise on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — a…

  By Nathan Jeffay Dec 30, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Orthodox Jews Face a Moment of Reckoning

  After the verdict in the infamous Nechemya Weberman trial was announced, the Satmar community found itself reeling. This story of an unlicensed therapist who for years was sexually abusing a young girl multiple times a week has inflamed our passions to unprecedented levels, and rightfully so. But now that the dust has settled somewhat, it’s…

  By Ezra Friedlander Dec 30, 2012 | 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 ‘Israel is seen as violent’ — and Israeli chefs, once global culinary icons, are feeling the heat

  

• 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

  Why and How We Cover Noah Pozner’s Death

  Are Jewish journalists exploiting Noah Pozner’s death because he was the only Jewish child killed in the Newtown school massacre? That’s the provocative question raised in a blog post by Simi Lichtman, the associate editor of New Voices magazine and a Forward contributor. And her answer is: yes. Lichtman wrote that she is “more than…

  By Jane Eisner Dec 27, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  We Bid Adieu to 2012

  How do we say goodbye to such a year? When we cheered, we voted, we shed a tear. A race for president, a quest for gold, A hurricane that ravaged young and old. Here at the Forward, our yearly review Of Jews in the news in two-oh-one-two Starts with the man who tried to stack…

  Dec 26, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Q&A: Evan Wolfson on Marriage Equality Movement

  A long list of characters helped elevate a pair of marriage-equality cases to the Supreme Court, where they’ll be heard in 2013. But if one person deserves credit for the ascent of the marriage-rights movement, it’s Evan Wolfson. In 2003, when even gay people felt it a fringe cause, Wolfson founded Freedom to Marry as…

  By Michael Kaminer Dec 26, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Lukewarm Response to Anti-Palestinian Letter

  Congressional efforts to shut down the Palestinian delegation office in Washington have garnered only tepid support. A letter, co-authored by the outgoing and incoming leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from both parties and calling on the President to close the PLO office in Washington, has closed on Friday with only 239 signatures. The…

  By Nathan Guttman Dec 24, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  When Thinkers Get It Wrong — And Escape Blame

  These waning days of December are traditionally a time for journalists to sum up the events of the past year and choose highlights for your consideration. A favorite approach is to pick winners and losers, but given the year we’ve just had, that doesn’t feel right. Sure, Obama won and Romney lost. Then what? Instead,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Dec 24, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Noah Pozner’s Last Fondue Dinner

  Noah Pozner loved tacos. Now, we’re finding out he liked a particular fondue restaurant, too. As family and friends trade happy memories of Noah, the 6-year-old Jewish boy killed in the Newtown school shooting, his older sister Danielle recalled Noah’s last trip to his favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot. Not content with his own pot…

  By Susan Armitage Dec 23, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Noah Pozner’s Mom: ‘I’m No Golda Meir’

  Insisting she is no politician, the mother of Noah Pozner is speaking out to demand action to prevent another shooting rampage like the one that claimed her son in Newtown, Conn. Veronique Pozner told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she cannot understand how the Newtown killer was able to get his hands on a automatic weapon…

  By Forward Staff Dec 23, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  A Message to Forward Readers

  By Samuel Norich Dec 21, 2012 | < 1 min read