Opinion

• 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

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jack Lew’s Really Bad John Hancock

  Does Jack Lew need to tighten up his penmanship if he’s going to be treasury secretary? The Orthodox Jew whose signature is going to be on every single dollar bill in the land has a pretty weird — actually, an incredibly, startingly weird — signature. And it seems to be the main thing the world…

  By Renee Ghert-Zand Jan 9, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Chuck Hagel Failure May Haunt Hawks

  Hawkish groups that sought to pre-emptively sink Chuck Hagel’s candidacy for secretary of defense may have been trying to teach President Obama and his supporters a lesson — but it seems they’re the ones who may look back at this episode as a cautionary tale. “You don’t want to wound the king,” Joseph Cirincione, president…

  By Laura Rozen Jan 9, 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

  The $1 Trillion Debt Ceiling Solution

  Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) wants the government to mint a platinum coin worth…a cool $1 trillion.. Nadler, a Jewish Upper West Sider, thinks the minting of a ridiculously valuable coin could foil GOP attempts to hold Democrats hostage in debt ceiling negotiations. It would allow the government to pay its debts without going through Congress,…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 9, 2013 | 2 min read
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  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 Jan 9, 2013 | 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
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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