Opinion

• Opinion

  The ‘Footsteps’ of Those Leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy

  At a party for ex-Orthodox Jews last night, celebration was tempered with anxiety for those still leaving Orthodoxy, and sadness for some who hadn’t quite made it. The crowd that packed a downtown loft for Footsteps, a not-for-profit that provides services to people leaving ultra-Orthodox communities, looked from afar like those at any other Manhattan…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Rabbis Aren’t Always the Enemy

  All competent rabbinic authorities are in agreement that cases of sexual abuse should be reported to law enforcement. Agudath Israel of America nevertheless requires parents to obtain rabbinic permission before reporting abuse to authorities. Although in the overwhelming majority of cases, abuse allegations turn out to be accurate, there has been a minority of cases…

  By Yaacov Behrman Jun 8, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Sheldon’s Back

  Remember Sheldon Adelson? Well, he’s back. The Las Vegas casino billionaire was the biggest backer of Newt Gingrich’s failed presidential run, dumping a total of $21 million into a pro-Gingrich super PAC. Gingrich’s campaign is history now, but Adelson’s checkbook is very much in play, thanks in part to his hugely successful gambling developments in…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jun 7, 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

• Letters

  A Change in the Climate

  Kudos to J.J. Goldberg for pointing out in his June 1 column, “Biggest Election Issue? Planet’s Survival,” how critical climate change is for the future of the world, and that this should be a major issue in the presidential campaign. The view that we are rapidly approaching a climate catastrophe is reinforced by a strong…

  Jun 7, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  On the Right Side

  Michah Gottlieb’s equation of contemporary efforts to redefine marriage with the efforts to emancipate American slaves in the 19th Century (“When Orthodoxy Goes Too Far,” June 8) is, to be gentle, unimpressive. While the Torah, recognizing the reality of slavery throughout most of history (including in many lands to this day), provides rules governing that…

  Jun 7, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Respect the Living

  Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips was right to broach the taboo topic of cremation among Jews (“Confronting Cremation,” May 25). The horror of cremation is driven by the obsession of religious Jews. In Israel, nothing riles them up more than autopsies, archaeological diggings at doubtful Jewish graves and organ donations from the dead. They have held many…

  Jun 7, 2012 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why Stop at the Big Gulp?

  When it comes to traditional food, Jews know only one portion size: large. Have you ever seen a small bowl of chicken soup? A mini-matzo ball? A seder table that wasn’t groaning with extra dishes? Like the cultures of others who have known periods of deprivation, Jews tend to associate good with plenty. The proverbial…

  Jun 6, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop Worrying About Yordim

  Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, acquiesced wearily to a recent question posed by Time magazine, one that was stated as fact: “One million Israelis live abroad. It’s not as if Jews are flocking there.” Peres admitted warily: “We’re swimming upstream….” But this picture is not new. In fact, for most of Peres’s 60 years of political…

  By Pini Herman Jun 6, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Obama Gets Copy of Washington Letter

  Weeks before George Washington’s historic letter to the Jewish community goes on display at the National Museum of American Jewish History, President Obama received a copy of the document from a delegation of Orthodox rabbis and communal leaders visiting the White House. The letter, in which President Washington promises America would give “to bigotry no…

  By Nathan Guttman Jun 6, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Silencing of the Liberal American Jew

  When Miami’s Temple Israel canceled a scheduled Memorial Day talk by local Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, following a protest by a wealthy Republican donor, it did more than just insult an elected official. It laid down a significant new marker in the gradual silencing of American Jewry as a moral voice in the broader…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 5, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  India’s Jewish War Legend Looks Back

  Aimee Ginsburg has a wonderful, startling, moving interview-profile of General Jack Jacob, the Calcutta-born Jewish war hero of modern India, in the current issue of OpenTheMagazine.com. A taste: I first saw Gen Jack Jacob ten years ago, during the Sabbath services at the Judah Hyam synagogue, Delhi’s only Jewish temple. When he walked through the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 5, 2012 | < 1 min read