Opinion

• Opinion

  Life With a Knife to the Neck

  Imagine every car on a main street suddenly screeching to a stop and all the passengers running out, with only a siren wailing in the background. When the first siren went off, we thought it was a test. It took us 10 seconds to realize that it was the real thing. We hurried to our…

  By Nava Semel

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Hamas, Hedonism and the Banality of Attack

  It was Woody Allen’s split screen in the 1977 classic “Annie Hall” that gave the world an inside look at Jewish family meals. I was attending such a meal Saturday, November 17, in Tel Aviv when, between my aunt’s gossip about her neighbor and my uncle’s analysis of his ulcer, sirens rang out warning of…

  By Ilan Manor Nov 23, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  When It Gets Hot, Go to the Beach

  Did the bubble burst when the rockets started falling on Tel Aviv on November 15? I think it didn’t. If “the bubble” means pretending to be New York or London — well, they also suffer from terror once in a while. And if it means the possibility to disengage yourself from the news and do…

  By Assaf Gavron Nov 23, 2012 | 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 ‘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 For Trump and Netanyahu, statecraft is now synonymous with stagecraft

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  A Low Fat Jewish Dream

  Tel Aviv is too often looked down on as a secular city empty of Jewish identity or values. I find this far from being true. Tel Aviv was founded on a Jewish spirit that is as relevant today as ever: on the dream of living a 100% Jewish life and at the same time living…

  By Ruth Calderon Nov 23, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Six Lessons of the Gaza Conflict

  There was no daylight between Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Israel and President Obama’s United States, not even a sliver. Most of the international community, including perfidious Europe, gave Jerusalem its unequivocal support. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood leadership played a pivotal and responsible role. The media coverage, as a general rule, was balanced, but only at it worst….

  By Chemi Shalev (Haaretz) Nov 22, 2012 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  The ‘If Only’ Man

  Ehud Olmert, Israel’s former Prime Minister and the center left’s “if only” man, is expected to confirm any moment that he won’t be running for Knesset. Soon after the January 22 election was announced, speculation has abounded that if Olmert made a comeback and pulled together a broad center-left alliance he could actually win and…

  By Nathan Jeffay Nov 22, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  70% of Israelis Oppose Truce

  After an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire kicked in last night, the Israel-Gaza border has been calm today. The residents of Southern Israel can once again go about their business without running for cover, and residents of Gaza no longer have Israeli planes overhead, striking terrorist targets but also scaring and sometimes killing or harming civilians. However, it…

  By Nathan Jeffay Nov 22, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Global Calculus of Horror and Destruction

  On Tuesday, November 20, while negotiators from at least six nations, two terrorist movements and the United Nations were working frantically in Cairo and Jerusalem to nail down the details of an Israeli-Hamas cease-fire, the violence in the field was continuing and reaching new heights. Rockets killed two Israelis that day, bringing Israel’s death toll…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 22, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Poetry Can Wait, the Siren Is Blaring

  In the middle of a class I was giving on Renaissance poetry, the students uncharacteristically started checking their phones all at once. Another siren, I learned afterwards, was warning of an incoming missile, this time one fired at Jerusalem. My day had passed at Bar Ilan, the university where I teach near Tel Aviv, surprisingly…

  By William Kolbrener Nov 21, 2012 | 4 min read
• Letters

  Next Steps

  You omitted key information about the role of NEXT: A Division of Birthright Israel Foundation as an igniter of systemic change in the field of Jewish young adult engagement (“Birthright Reshuffles Follow-up Effort,” November 9). Furthermore, what you present as a reduction in funding from Birthright Israel Foundation was a result of many donors giving…

  Nov 21, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Birthright More Than Freebie Trip?

  Taglit-Birthright Israel is transforming contemporary Jewish American culture. In its first 10 years alone, more than 200,000 young Jewish adults traveled to Israel for a free, 10-day experience. Many believe that Birthright is now becoming the new rite of passage for Jewish youth. Yet Birthright influences feelings about Israel and Judaism more than it inspires…

  By Jillian L. Powers Nov 21, 2012 | 3 min read