Opinion

• Letters

  Look to History

  This reader wholeheartedly agrees with the March 30 editorial “What To Do?” with respect to the necessity of ending the Israeli occupation in order to safeguard Israel’s democratic Jewish nature, and to provide Palestinians with the self-determination they seek. However, we must understand that this worthy goal may in fact be sadly distinct from the…

  < 1 min read
• Letters

  Another Solution

  The April 6 story, “Patrilineal Jews Still Find Resistance” was a reminder that the patrilineal principle has not lived up to its promise. The major movements do not accept patrilineal Jews who, because of that, find themselves in an identity limbo. The principle has undermined efforts to encourage conversion to Judaism by making it unnecessary….

  Apr 5, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Debating Tikkun Olam

  In “Abusing Tikkun Olam,” (March 23) Joel Alperson writes that “Jewishly speaking, tikkun olam without God is impossible.” Quite the contrary. In its original usage in the Mishnah, tikkun olam was the rabbinic principle that allowed God’s decrees in the Torah to be set aside whenever they got in the way of maintaining a stable…

  Apr 5, 2012 | < 1 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

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  Opinion

  Trayvon Protesters Should Target System

  The death of Trayvon Martin has given new life to an old Bob Dylan protest song about a 1963 racial murder, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” At least three different takeoffs are circulating on the Internet, all identically titled “The Lonesome Death of Trayvon Martin.” And yet, they all miss Dylan’s point. And their…

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

  Centuries Later, Spinoza Back in the Fold

  After more than 350 years of enforced exile, Baruch Spinoza has been invited back into the Jewish community — at least by the people who participated in a mock trial and symposium at Theatre J in Washington D.C. earlier this month. The vote was 108 to 41. The controversial writ of excommunication was lifted by…

  By Jane Eisner Apr 4, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Poll: 81% of Jews Back Gay Marriage

  It isn’t news that American Jews overwhelmingly support legalizing gay marriage. But a new survey out today puts that level of support at 81%, a few notches higher than previous polls. An older survey conducted last May by the same polling group, the Public Religion Research Institute, pegged American Jewish support for same-sex marriage at…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Apr 3, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Romney Hedge Fund Mega-Donors Take Lumps

  An annual ranking of the top 25 hedge fund earners brings a bit of bad news for Mitt Romney’s super PAC: A few of the super PAC’s top donors have fallen from the list. A March Forward report counted a dozen Jews among those who had given $100,000 or more to Restore our Future, the…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Apr 2, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Slavery Flourishes in Modern Times

  During the Seder, some Jews have the custom of going around the table and imagining themselves as Hebrew slaves in Egypt during the Exodus. They describe their respective slave jobs — bricklayer, house slave, mortar mixer — and how they feel about their impending freedom. The game illuminates the Seder’s insistence that had God not…

  By Rachel Kahn-Troster Apr 2, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Where Does Kadima Go Without Tzipi?

  If Tzipi Livni’s defeat in the Kadima leadership contest results in her diminution in Israeli public life, then Shaul Mofaz’s victory will prove to be entirely Pyrrhic. If Livni merely heads towards the door marked exit and retires from public life, Israel’s domestic scene and the international community will be all the poorer for it,…

  By Liam Hoare Apr 2, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Remember Those Who Gave Us Hope

  This year, at Pesach time, we mark the 69th anniversary of the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto. For more than half a century, we have spoken of the uprising at our Seder table, recalling that it was on Pesach night in 1943 that the hateful enemy stormed the remnant of our people who had not…

  By Leonard Fein Apr 1, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  J Street’s Blind Spot Is Class

  I’m not one for political conventions. Good policy is subtle, but effective politics is broad — and I, for one, prefer the former. When friends of mine returned from the AIPAC conference in early March, inspired by (in the words of one of them) “thousands of Jews all united by a love of Israel,” I…

  By Jay Michaelson Apr 1, 2012 | 3 min read