Opinion

• Opinion

  Act To Prevent Deaths of Children

  Two images of children have stayed with me throughout my life. One is a photograph of little boys and girls rounded up in a ghetto for deportation and likely death, displayed at the children’s museum at Yad Vashem, in Israel. From the first time I saw it, I have been haunted by this question: “How…

  By Caryl Stern

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Hitching a Ride on the ‘Flytilla’

  Having retired from the Passover-cleaning and Seder-making business, my in-laws have, in recent years, chosen to spend the holiday at a hotel abroad, every year at a different destination. My husband and I packed up our three kids this year and joined them for 10 days of matzoh-eating and sightseeing in Provence. Since the holiday…

  By Allison Kaplan Sommer Apr 18, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Being a Jew in Palestine

  The first people I told were Safa and Imad. Good friends, they lived near me in the Aida Refugee Camp and invited me for lunch every Friday. I knew they were religious Muslims. Imad had told me that Israeli soldiers had killed his brother during the second intifada. But the topic of religion and politics…

  By Beth Miller Apr 18, 2012 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry Viktor Orbán may fall. Netanyahu should be next

  

• Emily Tamkin Hungary is poised to topple an authoritarian leader. American Jews have something to learn

  

• Jay Michaelson Passover’s 4 cups of meaning

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  ‘Salon’ Preview: A Feminist Icon Goes There

  Leave it to feminist icon Letty Cottin Pogrebin to spice things up. On the new episode of The Jewish Channel series “The Salon,” a conversation about the so-called “war on women” leads Pogrebin to discuss the power of the female orgasm: And in another show highlight, fellow panelist Deborah Feldman, the author of the best-selling…

  By The Sisterhood Apr 17, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  What would you call me?

  I have always been a Jew — and after a cursory dunk, the Conservative movement agrees.

  By David A.M. Wilensky Apr 17, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Press on Trial

  As investigative stories go, it doesn’t read like a blockbuster, hardly in the league of a Watergate scandal or the groundbreaking constitutional challenge ignited by the publication of the Pentagon Papers. The January 30 story appeared in the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, written by Yousef al-Shayeb, and it described the kind of government corruption that, frankly,…

  Apr 16, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews Are Not as Liberal as It Seems

  Perhaps you’ve heard about that new survey of Jews and social values. Released just before Passover, it has Jewish liberals high-fiving each other all the way from West End Avenue to West Hollywood. The results show Jewish liberalism at peak strength. Legal abortion (in “most” or “all” cases) is backed by 93% of respondents. Same-sex…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 15, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Eyewitness to Slavery and Freedom

  At our Seder, before we tackle the Haggadah itself, there are words — they change each year — that are intended to frame the proceedings. Here were some of this year’s introductory words: Any serious consideration of the freedom we celebrate at the Seder table is inherently political (as, obviously, was our rebellion against Pharaoh)….

  By Leonard Fein Apr 14, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Forward Wins Five Ippies for Multimedia and Print

  The Forward took home three awards for multimedia as well as honors for best overall print design Thursday night in the Ippies contest sponsored by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The annual Ippies competition pays tribute to excellence in journalism in the ethnic and community press in the New York City area. Nate Lavey,…

  By Lillian Swanson Apr 13, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Have Some Empathy for the Entrepreneur

  Jewish professionals, including rabbis, are increasingly taking the food stamp challenge. For a week or even a month, these individuals spend no more than what the federal government gives the needy in food stamps — $5 a day — for all their nutritional needs. As exercises in empathy go, it’s impressive. I have known several…

  By Noam Neusner Apr 13, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Backer of Settlements Gives to Rove’s Super PAC

  Irving Moskowitz, a major donor to Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, has given $1 million to the Karl Rove-linked Republican super PAC American Crossroads. The donation, made in mid-February, was the subject of a lengthy Huffington Post report published April 12. Moskowitz, 83, is best known for funding efforts to establish…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Apr 13, 2012 | < 1 min read