Opinion

• Opinion

  When Orthodoxy Goes Too Far

  Jewish reaction to President Obama’s declaration of support for same-sex marriage was swift. Liberal Jewish groups, including Hadassah and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, praised the president’s statement, and the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center declared, “History will regard the president’s affirmation of this core right for the LGBT community as a key moment…

  By Michah Gottlieb

  4 min read
• Opinion

  The Brothers’ Crusade

  June 21, 1964, Father’s Day. Stephen Schwerner was in Provincetown, Mass., on vacation with his wife. Ben Chaney was at a meeting at his church in Meridian, Miss. David Goodman was a teenager with a summer job, living in his family’s apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Their lives were about to change forever because…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 3, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Isn’t Israel Already a ‘Jewish State’?

  A leading Palestinian negotiator says that for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state would “adversely impact the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel.” Not at all, say Yosef Kuperwasser, director general of Israel’s ministry of strategic affairs and Shalom Lipner, special coordinator for public diplomacy in the Prime Minister’s Office. This, they…

  By Leonard Fein Jun 3, 2012 | 3 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

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  Opinion

  Losing Mark Zuckerberg

  The disastrous recent Facebook IPO may have deepened investor distrust of stocks. Hilary Kramer, a stock analyst, told me, “The investors thought they’d be able to make a quick round-trip like in the Internet days, when stocks would rise 100% within seconds of commencing trading.” While I sympathize with their plight, my concern lies elsewhere….

  By Dana Evan Kaplan Jun 1, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  All the News on Jews’ Views: Comparing 3 Polls

  There’s good news and bad news for President Obama in a new survey of American Jewish opinion released Thursday by the Workmen’s Circle. First, the bad news: Jewish voters favor Obama over Mitt Romney by about two to one — 59% to 27%, with 14% undecided. If undecideds follow the same 2-to-1 split, the result…

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

  Censorship at the 14th Street Y!

  As reported in these pages last week, the 14th Street Y pulled the plug on a controversial Shavuot event sponsored by the left-wing advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). The Y did so at the eleventh hour, and on the pretext that the Y was concerned about large crowds of attendees and media. Which…

  By Jay Michaelson May 31, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Bloody Syria

  What is to be done about Syria? The Houla Massacre, as it has become known, has pushed the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime into new territory. On May 25, 108 civilians were killed in a village on the outskirts of Homs. Nearly 50 of them were children. And according to the United Nations Human Rights…

  May 31, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish Innovation Needs New Push

  Over the past year, with examples like the now moribund but once cutting-edge Jewish record company JDub on people’s minds, the Jewish community has spent significant time reflecting on how to make these types of innovative startups more sustainable. Funders, in particular, have tried to figure out how to transition them safely on to the…

  By Dana Raucher May 30, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Crowd Sourcing Charity

  Mazel tov to Congregation Beth Elohim, the hip Brooklyn synagogue that likes to call itself “the little congregation that could.” After the ceiling in its century-old building collapsed in 2009, CBE has been scrambling for funds to make repairs, especially to its 400-square-feet of stained-glass windows. Now, salvation is around the corner, thanks to a…

  May 29, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Is the Internet the Enemy?

  It’s easy to look on in amusement as 40,000 Hasidic men recently gathered in a New York stadium to listen to their rabbis implore them to use the Internet sparingly, if at all. But within their zealous attempt to hold back modernity lies a serious conundrum: How should parents guard their children from the dangerous…

  By Jane Eisner May 28, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  U.N.’s Much-Reviled But Helpful Agency

  On a recent Sunday morning, I paid a visit to a women’s community center in Zeitun, an outlying neighborhood in Gaza City that is run by United Nations Relief and Works Agency. It was packed. Behind one curtain, several middle school girls were getting an English lesson to supplement their formal instruction. In another room,…

  By Nathan J. Brown May 28, 2012 | 5 min read