Opinion

• Opinion

  Where Is Israel of the Campfire Songs?

  Several months before my 18th birthday, hoping to avoid military service in Vietnam, I went to see a rabbi known for counseling conscientious objectors. The conversation proved brief. He asked me if I would be willing to go and fight if Israel were in danger. Of course, I replied. Well then, he said, you’re not…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Can Mitt Swing Florida Jews?

  During my 35 years at the University of Miami, I have asked hundreds of Jews why they moved to Florida. The most common answer has been that they came here to join friends or relatives. Some came to retire, others for employment. Some wanted a place with a large Jewish community. Many mentioned the climate….

  By Ira M. Sheskin Sep 23, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Unilateral Statehood, The Sequel

  In Take 2 of its push for unilateral statehood the Palestinian Authority has announced it will ask the United Nations to upgrade its status from “observer entity” to “observer state.” “After the U.N. vote … Palestine will become a country under occupation. Israel will not be able to say that this is a disputed area,”…

  By Nathan Jeffay Sep 22, 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 If war with Iran goes badly for the US, Jews will be the scapegoat

  

• 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

  Marshall Wittmann’s Long, Strange Trip to AIPAC

  AIPAC’s new spokesman Marshall Wittmann has a wandering eye, at least when it comes to politics. Wittmann was once a lobbyist for Ralph Reed’s Christian Coalition. He’s also a onetime Trotskyite who has served as a spokesman for labor unions – as well as for Republican Sen. John McCain. In 2006, the New York Times…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Sep 21, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  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 Sep 21, 2012 | < 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
• 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