Opinion

• Opinion

  French Jews Picked as Most Loved — and Hated — Figures

  The results are in from France’s annual flurry of end of the year polls to determine who is in and who is out, embraced or disgraced by the public. According to the newspaper Le Parisien, the nation’s most admired public figure is the singer and songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman. More or less at the same time,…

  By Robert Zaretsky

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Everyone’s a Handwriting Expert — Even The Donald

  We know Jack Lew’s signature wouldn’t win any gold stars for penmanship. President Obama even joked that if he’d known Lew’s John Hancock was so loopy, he would have reconsidered his nomination for Treasury secretary. But self-proclaimed handwriting analyst Donald Trump says Lew’s signature isn’t just bad. Rather, it tells the real estate mogul-turned-wannabe Republican…

  By Susan Armitage Jan 14, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Marriage Isn’t One Size Fits All

  Let’s face it. Unless you send your child to a Jewish day school, Camp Ramah or Brandeis University, there is a high chance that he or she will become romantically involved with a non-Jew. While I appreciate Jane Eisner’s concerns in For 2013, A Marriage Agenda, she does not address some of the fundamental issues…

  By Dan Brotman Jan 14, 2013 | 3 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 Charlie Kirk and Alan Berg: 2 murders, 41 years apart, show the painful perils of polarization

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s strike in Qatar: An audacious bid for victory, or just another foolhardy provocation?

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  No More Excuses

  Last year, when Pennsylvania State University finally acknowledged that it needed to thoroughly probe allegations that one of its top coaches had abused boys in his care, it turned to former FBI chief Louis Freeh to conduct the investigation. Eight months later, after he and his team interviewed 430 witnesses and examined 3.5 million emails…

  Jan 14, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Are We Jews by Choice or Blood?

  Back when he was Israel’s Minister of Justice, the irrepressible and ever-creative Yossi Beilin put forward a proposal for secular conversion to Judaism. As he explained, “It is simply unimaginable that in the 21st century, a time in which most of world Jewry is not religious, we should continue to grant certain religious establishments the…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 14, 2013 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Welcome Halkin and Horn

  With a new year come new names and fresh ideas to the pages of the Forward. I am pleased to announce the addition of two columnists who join the estimable list of writers contributing monthly to our opinion section. For me, there’s a personal joy in announcing these new colleagues. I’ll explain. I remember reading…

  By Jane Eisner Jan 14, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Chuck vs. Chuck?

  It could come down to a tale of two Chucks. Chuck Hagel’s chances of getting confirmed as Pentagon chief could hinge on whether Sen. Chuck Schumer is satisfied with Hagel’s stance on Iran. Schumer, perhaps the most influential Jewish senator, is not pleased with Obama’s choice of Hagel for Secretary of Defense and has yet…

  By Nathan Guttman Jan 13, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Shimon Peres Talks with NYT About Iran and Bibi

  “There are two things that cannot be made without closing your eyes — love and peace. If you try to make them with open eyes, you won’t get anywhere,” Shimon Peres tells Ronen Bergman in an illuminating interview in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. While the 89-year-old President of Israel tells the journalist he…

  By Susan Armitage Jan 11, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Enduring Failures of Israel’s ‘Decision Makers’

  One of Israel’s worst-kept military secrets is the simmering tension between the country’s top security professionals and their civilian bosses, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The headlines surface regularly and tend to look the same, so it’s easy to miss the big picture. Ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan created a splash all…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 11, 2013 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  You Too Can Sign It Like Jack Lew

  You’ve seen it. President Obama has seen it. Now you get to try it out yourself. We at the Forward are proud to present the Jack Lew signature widget, which allows you to recreate the wonderful, amazing, crazy curlicues of the first Orthodox Jew to be nominated as treasury secretary. Go ahead, test it out…

  By Dave Goldiner Jan 10, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  An Israeli Ballot With No Good Options

  Israel doesn’t need to hold elections. It only needs to ask for whom I’d vote, because I’ve never voted for anyone but winners. I was for Golda in 1974, for Begin in 1977, for Rabin in 1992, for Netanyahu in ’96, for Barak in ’98, for the Sharon of the Likud in 2000 and the…

  By Hillel Halkin Jan 10, 2013 | 3 min read