Opinion

• Opinion

  What the Civil War Meant for American Jews

  The 150th anniversary of the Civil War is upon us. April 12 is the anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter, the war’s opening shot. From then, through the sesquicentennial anniversary on April 9, 2015 of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House and five days later of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, every major event…

  By Jonathan D. Sarna

  3 min read
• Opinion

  More Scientists Weigh In on Climate, Hunger & N. African Unrest

  New climate research indicates that food shortages caused by climate change are creating a tide of “environmental refugees” heading northward, along with unrest in the stricken countries. The Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions are the latest indication of what’s to come. Yes, the yearning for democracy plays a role, but food and climate change are a…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 28, 2011 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  ‘Profiles of Our Fallen’: Readers Respond, With Gratitude and Prayer

  The Forward’s February 18 feature “Profiles of Our Fallen” looked at 37 American Jewish service members who lost their lives during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The feature generated an outpouring of responses from our readers. Here is a sampling. The Forward has performed a noble service by calling these men’s and women’s supreme…

  Feb 25, 2011 | 5 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 A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• Dan Perry Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Israeli Diplomacy’s Purim Shpiel

  I was shocked by your January 28 news article “Labor Unrest in Israel’s Foreign Service Is Felt in Capitals Around the Globe.” Israel’s chronically under-funded foreign service effectively on strike? Heads of state forced to cancel visits to Israel? Diplomatic missions not doing their work? Isn’t it still too early for your Purim issue? What…

  Feb 23, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Not Every Change Stems From a ‘Crisis’

  The February 18 article “Liberal Denominations Face Crisis as Rabbis Rebel, Numbers Shrink” consolidates a series of parallel changes happening in the institutions of the Reconstructionist, Reform and Conservative movements into a narrow reading that suggests a uniform dynamic of crisis, discontent and disarray. We cannot speak for our Reform and Conservative colleagues. We can…

  Feb 23, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Remembering a Personal and Political Tragedy

  For a list of events commemorating the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, click here. A century later, how do we remember the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire? Should the story be told largely through the heartbreaking testimony of descendants of the many victims, 146 in all, who burned or jumped to their deaths to escape a senseless…

  By Jane Eisner Feb 23, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Wisconsin Power Grab

  The assault on public-sector unions that began in Wisconsin and is spreading to other states prompts a key question: Should those who work in the private sector have a different set of rights and obligations than the teachers, sanitation workers, firefighters and office managers whose salaries are financed by taxpayers? “Government unions are not the…

  Feb 23, 2011 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  For Israel, a Lonely Day at Turtle Bay

  The way people carry on, you might think the United Nations Security Council was some sort of street gang waiting to beat us up on our way to school. Diplomats say that’s an unfair characterization; they speak of the council as though it were a gathering of tribal elders divining eternal truths. They’re both wrong….

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 23, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Incivility Toward Civil Servants

  A few weeks ago, I gave a talk about Jewish perspectives on workers and unions at a Connecticut synagogue. Afterward, a retiree thanked me for speaking positively about unions. “I worked in the public sector my whole career,” she said. “If it weren’t for my pension, I wouldn’t be able to survive right now.” In…

  By Jill Jacobs Feb 23, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  An Appeal to My Muslim Friends

  I need your help and your reassurance. This is, I know, a time of great uncertainty in large stretches of the Muslim world. The Middle East is in turmoil. Dictators have been toppled, others cling desperately to power, and demonstrators fill the streets and the squares of the Arab world to demand freedom. I am…

  By Eric Yoffie Feb 23, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Revisiting Auschwitz

  On an average day in 2010, nearly 3,800 people visited Auschwitz, up from about 1,200 a day in the year 2000. Such numbers jar me, since my vivid recollection of my own life-changing visit, in 1973, is that in addition to the 42 folks I was traveling with, there were no more than a hundred…

  By Leonard Fein Feb 23, 2011 | 3 min read