Opinion

• Opinion

  Disaffection Row: Pro-Israel Journalists Giving Up on Defending Israel

  Now that we’ve all had a couple of days to enjoy the prospect of a sunny 2011, it’s time to get back to the worrying. In that spirit, here’s a thought to start us off: Some of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the American media are beginning to wonder openly how much longer they’ll be able…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
• Opinion

  A Haredi Essayist on Finding Beauty Where You Least Expected It

  Rabbi Avi Shafran is the public affairs director of Agudath Israel of America, the Haredi advocacy and social service organization. On the side he writes a weekly column that goes out by email and appears in various publications and websites. I get it in my mailbox and I almost always open it up to see…

  By J.J. Goldberg Dec 30, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Lieberman Question

  What are Diaspora Jews to make of Avigdor Lieberman? In his latest outburst before 170 of Israel’s senior diplomats, the pugnacious, rebellious foreign minister called the Palestinian Authority illegitimate, the Turkish prime minister a liar, and ridiculed the central policy of his own government. This is nothing new, of course. In September, Lieberman delivered such…

  Dec 29, 2010 | 2 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 2 in Washington, DC

  

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

  

• Dan Perry It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump

  

• Emily Tamkin Even if the Capital Jewish Museum shooter ‘did it for Gaza,’ his actions were antisemitic

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Edgar Bronfman’s Tent

  Edgar Bronfman’s December 17 opinion article, “Opening Our Tent,” perfectly reframes the issue of intermarriage. Jewish survivalists continually preach from a defensive and guilt-ridden posture that unless our Jewish children marry other Jews, Jewish identity is headed toward extinction. But Jewish outreach can no longer follow the old model because younger Jews are no longer…

  Dec 29, 2010 | 2 min read
• Letters

  When I Would Bless

  Your December 10 article “Big Love, Jewish-Style: One Divorce, Two Marriages, Lots of Questions” quotes me incompletely and hence the result is somewhat misleading. I believe that it is unconstitutional 1) to compel a clergyman to serve as an officer of the state when he does not wish to do so, 2) to prohibit an…

  Dec 29, 2010 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Un-Jewish Assault on Richard Goldstone

  Two years after Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s three-week assault against Hamas in Gaza, we are still grappling with the fallout. Much of the public reckoning has been channeled into an acrimonious debate over the report of a four-person investigative commission appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council and headed by Judge Richard Goldstone. Regrettably,…

  By Letty Cottin Pogrebin Dec 29, 2010 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Beyond Excess: Finding Better Rewards for Our Leaders

  ‘Excessive! Outrageous! Obscene! Immoral!” and “Many of them deserve it. That is the only way to attract talent.” That was the range of comments I heard in response to the Forward’s recent survey of Jewish communal leaders’ salaries. These responses highlight that we, as a community, need to have a frank discussion about how we…

  By Mordechai Liebling Dec 29, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Limits of Clarity, and Benefits of Ambiguity

  It has been nearly two years since the Obama administration set out to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, yet virtually no progress has been made. One thing, however, that the process has not lacked is clarity. Americans, Israelis and Palestinians have been very clear in articulating their demands. Yet this very clarity has often turned…

  By Allan Gerson Dec 29, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  More Jews Mean a More Liberal Community

  Well, the news is out. If you haven’t heard yet, you’ll want to be sitting down for this. A brand-new Jewish population study has just come out, courtesy of Brandeis University. Who couldn’t use another Jewish population study? And get this: The study concludes, as the Forward reported last week, that there are more Jews…

  By J.J. Goldberg Dec 29, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Gaza Doctor’s Story: A Painful Legacy Of Occupation

  The public pain suffered by Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Gaza doctor who lost three of his daughters and a niece when their house was bombed by the Israel Defense Forces in the closing days of Operation Cast Lead two years ago, is by now well known, his horrifying cries — broadcast live on Israeli television —…

  By Jane Eisner Dec 29, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Theater of the Absurd

  Act I: In September, some dozens of prominent Israeli rabbis signed a religious opinion calling on Jews not to rent or sell real estate to Arabs. Among the signers, many were municipal chief rabbis, meaning they are state employees. Their stated rationale? According to Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, of the Beit El settlement, “We don’t need…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 29, 2010 | 4 min read