Opinion

• Opinion

  Drop ‘Silly’ Defamation Suit, Sheldon

  Editor’s note: Sheldon Adelson, the casino executive and Republican political donor, filed a defamation suit yesterday against the National Jewish Democratic Council and its leadership over an article posted on the Democratic group’s website repeating allegations that Adelson approved of prostitution at his casinos on the Chinese island of Macao. The $60 million suit, filed…

  By Marc R. Stanley

  3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Sheldon’s $60M Waste of Time

  Sheldon Adelson’s libel lawsuit against a Democratic Jewish group has little chance of success because the casino billionaire is a public figure and the claims in question appeared in court documents, two media law experts told the Forward. The $60 million lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in New York accuses the National Jewish Democratic…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Aug 9, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Terror on the Rue des Rosiers

  Thirty years ago today, a terrorist commando exploded into the famed Jewish restaurant Jo Goldenberg’s, located on the rue des Rosiers in the Marais district of Paris. Spraying machine gun fire and grenades, they killed six people, wounded nearly two dozen others and escaped by foot into the neighborhood’s dense warren of streets. None of…

  By Robert Zaretsky Aug 9, 2012 | 2 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 The challah that changed everything: Tracing Jewish baking back to Poland

  

• Nora Berman The Kennedy Center canceled all its ‘woke’ programming — so why is this Jewish musical OK?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Undeserved Stigma

  Your June 29 editorial “The Undeserving Poor?” argued that poverty in the Orthodox community is a “choice.” The premise is that Hasidic Jews refuse to go to work and earn an honest living. I beg to differ. I oversee a school where several hundred men and women are trained annually as junior accountants and about…

  Aug 9, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Not a Choice

  In the editorial of June 29, “The Undeserving Poor?” the source of Orthodox poverty seems primarily attributed to the “choice” of having large families. But perhaps a more accurate description should be that they are “programmed” for communal survival. Worried about the continued existence of their culturally rich community, Haredis fear and instinctually know what…

  Aug 9, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Forgotten Alaskan

  I’m surprised that the Forward, a Jewish newspaper, could have devoted a whole page to Alaska in its August 10 edition without once mentioning the great Ernest Gruening, who turned the territory into a state as one of the last territorial governors (1939-1953) and its first United States senator (1959-1969). The Vietnam War has faded…

  Aug 9, 2012 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Occupation, Not ‘Culture,’ Holds Back Palestinians

  As a Jew of Iraqi descent living in Israel, I was taught to take prideful note of the role that my ethnic group played in building the country. ”You see that bridge?” my uncle would ask me as we watched footage of a Tel Aviv sports event. “An Iraqi Jew built it.” And when the…

  By Sari Bashi Aug 9, 2012 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Mitt’s Big Fat Jewish Wedding Snafu

  Sometimes a candidate doesn’t have to chase after the Jewish vote. It chases him. That could be Mitt Romney’s conclusion from an unusual set of events he experienced in New Jersey today. Speeding from Newark Airport to Lake Terrace, N.J., Romney’s motorcade crossed paths with a Jewish Orthodox wedding party, posing for photos with the…

  By Nathan Guttman Aug 8, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Golden Gate Jumper Lives to Tell — and Pray

  Twelve years ago, Kevin Hines jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, suffering from bipolor disorder and wishing to end his life. As soon as he hit free-fall his first thought was, “What have I done? I don’t want to die! God, please save me.” After Hines, who is Catholic, hit the water, he struggled to…

  By Simi Lampert Aug 8, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Sheldon’s $60M Suit Over Hooker Claim

  Sheldon Adelson has filed a libel suit against the leadership of the National Jewish Democratic Council over a claim that Adelson condoned prostitution at his casinos, Bloomberg News reported today. The $60 million complaint, filed in federal court in New York, named the NJDC, CEO David Harris, and chairman Marc Stanley, according to Bloomberg. Adelson…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Aug 8, 2012 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Free Speech Movement Hits Back

  A group of California free speech advocates is urging University of California President Mark Yudof to reject a proposal to ban hate speech at UC campuses, saying that it runs counter to the spirit of the free speech movement, which started at Berkeley in the 1960s. “We hereby remind the university of its stand affirming…

  By Naomi Zeveloff Aug 8, 2012 | < 1 min read