Opinion

• Opinion

  Where Are the Egyptian Intellectuals?

  Yoram Kaniuk, one of Israel’s most prolific novelists a senior stateman of Israeli letters, writes in his Ynet column that artists, intellectuals and poets seem to be glaringly absent from the Arab democracy protests. This week an Egyptian writer was interviewed about the uprising. He was reserved, but he spoke. Up until Monday, throughout the…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Busting the Budget

  My inbox has been crowded these last days by requests that I sign on to this draft letter or that, all demanding that budgets cuts proposed by House Republicans be restored. AmeriCorps fears it will be eliminated entirely. Federal help to states to defray some of the costs of special education would take a significant…

  By Leonard Fein Feb 17, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Learning Egypt’s Lessons, Getting Whiplash

  The democratic revolution in Egypt has captured the world’s imagination and kept us riveted to our television screens for weeks. Only now are we beginning to realize how profoundly our world has been changed. Now that the streets of Cairo have calmed down a bit, it’s time to step back and take a longer view…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 16, 2011 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

  

• Rob Eshman How anti-Israel rhetoric led to the killing of two Jews in Washington, D.C. 

  

• Nora Berman How the Oct. 7 aftermath splintered the New York Dyke March

  

• Dan Perry It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump

  

• Emily Tamkin This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Watching the Revolution, Eyes Wide Open

  A strange debate has sprouted up here in France regarding the events in Tunisia and Egypt — especially in Egypt — which the press calls a “debate between intellectuals.” I would say instead that it is a debate between activists and intellectuals, though of course one can be both at the same time. As a…

  By Marek Halter Feb 16, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Interdependent Minyanim

  A saving grace of Jewish prayer is the way it is decentralized. It is not required to take place in a certain space or structure, nor is it dependent on a specific, sanctioned leader. Just 10 people (10 men, for the Orthodox) are really all that’s needed — a minyan, along with prayer books, a…

  Feb 16, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Theological Roots of Reform Judaism’s Woes

  For a brief moment, no longer than a decade, we Reform Jews have enjoyed repeating that we had become the largest American Jewish denomination. We reveled in the bad news emerging from the Conservative movement, as the children of many longtime members of Conservative synagogues joined Reform congregations, frequently after intermarrying. But today our triumphalism…

  By Dana Evan Kaplan Feb 16, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Patrilineal Promise and Pitfalls

  One of Reform Judaism’s bravest and most important policy decisions of the past century was the movement’s decision to welcome “patrilineal” Jews as full members of the Jewish people. Rooted in the biblical definition of Jewish lineage, the American Reform movement’s 1983 policy on patrilineal descent held that Jewish identity could be claimed whether one’s…

  By Andy Bachman Feb 16, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Beyond ‘Yes or No’ Jewishness

  Who “counts” as Jewish? Our community’s response to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords highlighted the complexity of this question. In Jewish newspapers and on blogs, discussions about her Jewishness multiplied. Born to a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father, she embraced Judaism only as an adult. Yet countless congregations recited mishebeirach prayers for her…

  By Susan P. Fendrick Feb 16, 2011 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Look to Damascus and Turtle Bay

  With revolutionary unrest sweeping the Arab Middle East, the focus is on democracy, not peace. Israel’s neighbors in Amman and Damascus are currently more worried about anti-regime unrest than they are about the failed peace process. The revelations about Israeli-Palestinian negotiating stances, revealed in detail by the Al Jazeera leaks a few weeks ago, have…

  By Yossi Alpher Feb 16, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Cairo Mob Yells ‘Jew! Jew!’ and Other Bad News

  Hints of clouds behind the silver linings: The Cairo mob that attacked CBS News correspondent Lara Logan last Friday was yelling “Jew! Jew!” the New York Post reports, citing CBS sources. ”60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, “Jew! Jew!” as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 16, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  An Israeli Progressive Wonders at the Silence of American Jewish Liberals

  If you’re not familiar with Coteret.com, you should be. It’s a must-read group blog by young Israeli progressives. Most of what they do is translating important news and analysis from the Hebrew press that doesn’t appear anywhere else in English. The blog also posts original musings. This one is a month old, but worth the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 16, 2011 | 2 min read