Opinion

• Opinion

  Penn State: A Modern-Day Akeda

  This essay is closely adapted from a *d’var Torah that the author delivered on the Sabbath of November 12 at Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue in Manhattan.* The text of parsha Vayera is as familiar as any in the Torah. It includes the Akeda, the passage we read not only in the annual cycle, but…

  By Samuel G. Freedman

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi and Abu Mazen Kiss

  One can always dream, right? This photo(shopped) image has been making the rounds and it’s hard to tear your eyes away from that pucker. It’s one of a series from a new ad campaign from Benetton that harkens back to the days when they were regularly producing wonderfully subversive ads that demanded a double take…

  By Gal Beckerman Nov 17, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  The Real FDR

  Thanks to Henry Morgenthau, Jr., (father of Robert Morgenthau) in 1944, President Roosevelt acted to save Jews by creating the War Refugee Board. Other than that, whatever FDR did to save Jews between 1939 and 1945 was merely accidental. The reasoning of Robert Morgenthau in his October 21 op-ed, “How FDR’s Political Risk Helped Save…

  Nov 16, 2011 | < 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

  Bad Choices

  I have always enjoyed looking through the “Forward 50” and finding many people who I respect and admire recognized for their good work. So I was surprised and disappointed to see David Yerushalmi and Jennifer Rubin included in this year’s list. Yerushalmi’s fear-mongering campaign against Islamic law — Shariah — should be an embarrassment to…

  Nov 16, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Vatican Must Repent

  I was stunned to read in your November 11 article that Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Vatican’s emissary, said the cross should be viewed as the definitive Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is about reminding and insisting that individuals need to take responsibility for their behavior. The cross is about avoiding responsibility by having Jesus take responsibility…

  Nov 16, 2011 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  After Raid, Occupy’s Ideas Live On

  Occupy Wall Street is in exile. Her benches, once bountiful, lay barren. Her sidewalks — a wasteland. Where there were tents bustling with life, there is breeze. As the Book of Lamentations wonders, “How does the city sit solitary that was full of people?” Under cover of night, eschewing the eye of moral scrutiny, Titus…

  By Daniel Sieradski Nov 16, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Gaza’s ‘Tunnel Economy’ Is Booming

  In early November, Muhammad Al Qotati, a worker at the smuggling tunnels in Rafah, Gaza, welcomed my friend, journalist Nick Pelham, and me to a walk-around. The area he showed us is less than half a mile from the town of Rafah and about the distance of a football field from Egypt; it looks a…

  By Kathleen Peratis Nov 16, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Orthodox Rabbi on the Dangers of State Religion

  Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, the charismatic ex-New Yorker and outspokenly moderate settler leader, offers some startlingly bold criticisms of Israeli Orthodoxy in a Jerusalem Post column titled “Has the Chief Rabbinate outlived its usefulness?” His bottom line is that it hasn’t—at least, he hopes it hasn’t—but he hints that it’s teetering on the edge…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 14, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish Vote Not a Problem for Obama

  As the 2012 election approaches and Republican presidential candidates continue to attack President Obama on his Middle East policies, we can expect to hear increasing chatter and anecdotes about a “Jewish problem for Obama and Democrats.” These claims may capture headlines, but they ignore the data that demonstrate how Obama’s only problem with Jewish voters…

  By Jim Gerstein Nov 14, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Predicting Jewish Vote More Complicated

  Understanding the Jewish vote requires appreciating at least four realities: 1. Impelled by our history and tradition, American Jews remain deeply devoted to the values of the Democratic Party and repelled by those of the Republicans. Like Democrats, Jews are committed to a pluralistic society that respects the rights of all; to creating opportunity while…

  By Mark Mellman and Michael Bloomfield Nov 14, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews Just One Piece of Obama Puzzle

  American Jews have historically been a critical base for the Democratic Party. This has not changed. Jewish voters’ affinity for the Democratic Party is deeply rooted in both the faith’s core tenets, such as tzedakah and tikkun olam,, and in the particular evolution of a post-New Deal Democratic Party championing civil rights and liberties, separation…

  By Amy Cohen and Anna Greenberg Nov 14, 2011 | 2 min read