Opinion

• Opinion

  Sarah’s Gonna Help You Vote

  This year’s Great Schlep won’t just send young Jews to Florida — it’s gonna get them an ID, too. The group behind the 2008 effort to recruit young Jews to swing their Floridian grandparents to Obama has a new video out today calling on young Jews to make sure their grandparents have the identification they…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Something for Everyone in Florida Poll

  The American Jewish Committee’s poll of Jewish voters in Florida which was released on Thursday, had something for everyone. Democratic Jews hailed the findings as reaffirming Obama’s strong support among Jewish voters. The Republican Jewish Coalition, at the same time, issued a statement saying the AJC poll shows “continuing erosion” in support for Obama in…

  By Nathan Guttman Sep 21, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Fueling Rage Over Anti-Islam Film

  In the media’s coverage of the days of rage and violence against the United States that have swept the Muslim world, Jews and Israel have hardly been mentioned; yet they have a place in the beginning, the middle and, we can hope, the end of this story. The beginning: Already seemingly forgotten is that the…

  By Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Sep 21, 2012 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

  

• Rob Eshman The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump’s deal to free the last living American hostage

  

• Nora Berman How the Oct. 7 aftermath splintered the New York Dyke March

  

• Dan Perry It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump

  

• Emily Tamkin This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Proudly Secular and Jewish

  We were delighted to see the oped by Jacques Berlinerblau (“Untangling an Oxymoron: The Secular Jew,” September 14). For more than 110 years, The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring has been committed to a vision of a vibrant progressive, secular, social-action-oriented Jewish community steeped in the cultural heritage of the Jewish people. In this context, the author’s…

  Sep 20, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Honoring the Fallen

  Thank you for honoring the contributions and sacrifices of Jewish men and women who serve in the American military, as you did in your piece on those who have lost their lives in service to the United States (“Profiles of the Fallen,” September 14). It is way past time for that to be done by…

  Sep 20, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Our Economic Reality

  Noam Neusner’s effort to make Mitt Romney a greater champion of tikkun olam than Barack Obama (“Making the Jewish Case for Mitt Romney,” September 7) and therefore more worthy of Jewish support reminds me of what Davy Crockett is supposed to have said about the rhetoric of a political opponent: “It don’t even make good…

  Sep 20, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Arts and Culture?

  I have pondered, long and hard, this locution, used by our paper since the beginning of time to identify the arts pages — at least “time” as reckoned by readers of our paper. (As one of the Forward’s first reviewers, I go back to those early years.) Might I respectfully urge that our editors take…

  Sep 20, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Florida Jews Breaking for Obama: Poll

  Florida Jewish voters, viewed as crucial in determining the outcome of the November elections, will vote overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, according to a new survey of the state’s Jewish voters commissioned by the American Jewish Committee. The poll conducted between September 7-9 and released Thursday, found that support for Obama among Jewish voters is down…

  By Nathan Guttman Sep 20, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Dennis Ross on Mitt’s ‘Kick the Ball’ Policy

  The U.S.’s most experienced Mideast negotiator said Mitt Romney’s caught-on-camera admission that he sees little chance of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could lead to a dangerous sense of “hopelessness.” Dennis Ross, a former advisor to President Obama and a top mediator between the Israelis and the Palestinians for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton,…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Sep 20, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Acknowledging Our Gravest Sin

  A series of writers answer the question: Do we still know how to atone? Hardly anyone takes sin and atonement seriously anymore. Are we guilty of mistakes, errors, weaknesses and foibles? Sure. But sins? Hardly. We have come a long way from the world, which took a distinctly negative view of human nature — not…

  By Lawrence Hoffman Sep 20, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Words Do Matter

  The messy alteration of the party platform at the recent Democratic National Convention was a political embarrassment for Democrats and a rhetorical gift to Republicans. But did it mean anything? At a time when presidential candidates so powerfully shape their party’s personality, do these platforms even matter anymore? In the short term, the answer is…

  Sep 20, 2012 | 4 min read