Opinion

• Opinion

  Victory!

  The letter has been liberated. We’ve been waiting to write that for a long time, ever since our Paul Berger went on a national search for George Washington’s original, iconic 1790 letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, the one famously promising a new United States government that would give “to bigotry no sanction,…

  3 min read
• Letters

  Who Cares?

  I rarely find myself disagreeing with Leonard Fein, but in his April 13 column, “American Jews Are Different, Not ‘Partial,’” his criticism of the Israeli writer A.B. Yehoshua’s distinction between “complete” and “partial” Jews (that is, between Israelis like Yehoshua and all American Jews) misses the point. Fein objects that Yehoshua “disrespects” Jews who do…

  May 10, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  The Little Guy

  I think most people respect the real job creators who deal with all the stress that goes into making pay roll each week. Yet it seems like the little guy has something to complain about in America today. Pay for top management has gone up many times the past decades, while pay for most people…

  May 10, 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 A US official just made history in the West Bank — did he imperil prospects for peace?

  

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

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Getting a ‘Get’

  Rachel Levmore’s May 11 op-ed, “Should the Government ‘Get’ Involved,” raises a multitude of questions. Let me address just two points. Levmore errs in stating that the proposed Maryland “barriers to remarriage” law would have protected Tamar Epstein from becoming an agunah. Epstein filed for the civil divorce and has done all she can to…

  May 10, 2012 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Real Winner in Israel Deal? Not Bibi.

  There are two ways to read the grand coalition deal that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cooked up with Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz on May 8. One is that the wily Netanyahu has once again outwitted his rivals, bought another year as grandmaster of Israeli politics, neutralized the plodding Mofaz and gained almost wall-to-wall backing…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 10, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Three Reasons Obama’s Right on Gay Marriage

  President Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriage is good for the Jews. Why? Here are three reasons. First is the “who.” Obama’s support of same-sex marriage signals that he’s not going to let a noisy religious minority dictate public policy. This is important for all religious minorities, including the Jewish one, because that same group of…

  By Jay Michaelson May 9, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Should Rubashkin Case Head to Supreme Court?

  Supporters of jailed kosher meat CEO Sholom Rubashkin received a boost this week in the form of a blog post by a senior editor for the online magazine Slate. The post, by Slate’s Emily Bazelon, provides rare secular media backing for Rubashkin, who enjoys overwhelming sympathy among Orthodox Jews. A former top executive of the…

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

  Hollande Faces Challenge of Winning Over Jews

  “I’m not criticizing, but simply making an observation” — “Je ne critique pas, je constate” — is a favorite rhetorical dagger of the French. It was unsheathed on Monday when CRIF, the Council of Representative Jewish Institutions in France, acknowledged Francois Hollande’s victory over Nicolas Sarkozy in a press release. Under the (awkward) title, “In…

  By Robert Zaretsky May 9, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Bibi-Kadima Unity Deal Saves the Peace Camp

  The Likud-Kadima agreement to form a unity government and cancel the early election makes all the sense in the world for Kadima. It’s arguably the smartest move by any Israeli peace advocate in a long time. Newly minted Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz, who ousted Tzipi Livni in a primary upset just two weeks ago, inherited…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 8, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Weak Link on the Kibbutz

  The Second Aliyah, though necessitated by the resumption of hostilities by the Slavic populace against Russian Jewry, was carried on a wave of ideological fervor. In addition to establishing Tel Aviv and aiding the revival of the Hebrew language, those imbibed with the new European collectivist ideologies sought to establish a more equitable form of…

  By Liam Hoare May 7, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Why Bibi Called Vote: ‘AIPAC Saw Obama Win’

  Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to call early elections in September followed a “discreet” meeting with leaders of AIPAC, who told him that polls show President Obama heading for reelection in November—so writes Maariv chief diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit, as reported by Noam Sheizaf on the left-wing, English-language Israeli site 972mag.com blog. Here’s Caspit, as translated…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 7, 2012 | 2 min read