Opinion

• Opinion

  Biggest Election Issue? Planet’s Survival

  Many smart folks I know are having trouble deciding how they’re going to vote this November. They list the pros and cons on each side and find the uncertainties canceling each other out. How do we keep Iran from going nuclear? Will the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade? Whom do you trust to protect…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Troubled Birthplace of the Torah

  The Sinai, where fire once shot into the heavens while Moses vanished in a thicket of clouds, is once again ablaze. This Shavuot, the wilderness where morality was made law, is a fountainhead of lawlessness and strife, a microcosm of the Arab world’s ailments and a source of Israeli perplexity. We Israelis know the Sinai…

  By Amotz Asa-El May 25, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Mandel Takes on Foreign Aid

  A new ad by Republican Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, whom the Forward profiled a couple of weeks ago, slams incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown for his support for foreign aid in a new ad. That could raise questions for some backers of Mandel, who has made much of his pro-Israel credentials. Israel advocates have traditionally…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 24, 2012 | < 1 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

  Limits of Race

  At a time when many Jews (particularly younger ones) are rejecting blood-based definitions of nationality, I was disappointed with the Jon Entine’s favorable May 11 review of Harry Ostrer’s “Legacies: Genetic History of the Jewish People.” No doubt, ethnicity has played a large role in who we are as Jews, yet from the prophetic perspective,…

  May 24, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Family Fight

  As I attended the exceedingly raucous Jerusalem Post Conference, I read J.J. Goldberg’s column on the event with interest (“How a Policy Conference Became a Political Brawl,” May 11). While capturing the rancor, the piece distorted two key facts. Alan Dershowitz’s plea to “not ever, ever boo a president of the United States” was not…

  May 24, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Restoring Dignity

  As one who has worked with persons coping with Alzheimer’s disease and their families for over twenty years, I found Jane Eisner’s May 18 review of Sarah Leavitt’s book, “Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me,” to be nothing short of tragic. Of course, the episodes chronicling Midge Leavitt’s loss of memory, loss…

  May 24, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Victim’s Voice

  Last year, the Berkeley Media Studies Group analyzed news coverage of child sexual abuse and concluded that one reason such abuse is underreported and misunderstood is that the media employs vague and inconsistent language in its stories. “Such imprecise language limits the public’s understanding of the issue and disguises its severity,” said the authors, who…

  May 24, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Warily, They Conquered East Jerusalem

  Israel’s ministers had a lot on their minds when they woke, 45 years ago, on June 5, 1967. Jerusalem’s Old City, however, was not even a passing thought. The day before, at the regular Sunday Cabinet meeting, they had approved the launching of a pre-emptive air strike against Egypt within 24 hours — “To do…

  By Abraham Rabinovich May 23, 2012 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Death of Tamara Brooks, 70, Robs Theodore Bikel of Treasured Companion

  Sunrise, sunset. On May 2, Turner Classic Movies celebrated Theodore (Theo) Bikel’s 88th birthday by airing six of his films – by and large, as it happens, not the most memorable among them. Not counting television roles, Bikel – or Theo, since I write as his friend – has appeared in more than 40 films,…

  By Leonard Fein May 22, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When Rabbis Start Educating the Soldiers

  As Israel approaches an August 1 court deadline to scale back army exemptions for yeshiva students, the government’s top watchdog is warning of an emerging problem that confronts the army from the opposite direction. It seems the senior command is increasingly concerned about growing Orthodox rabbinic influence within the ranks. According to the annual report…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 22, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  On the Train Back to Williamsburg

  On the G train home from the ultra-Orthodox rally at Citifield last night, I talked Zionism with a passel of Hasidim headed for Williamsburg. A rabbi named Yechiel Meir Katz had drawn an implicit historical parallel in his address earlier in the evening between the rejection of Zionism by the Orthodox and the need to…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 21, 2012 | 3 min read