Opinion

• Letters

  October 29, 2010

  Pledging Our Troth As even your editorial (“An Unworthy Oath,” October 22) concedes, Israel’s self-definition as a Jewish state is hardly a new development. Israelis disagree as to whether that self-definition is a matter of religion, nationality or some combination of the two — but that’s not exactly breaking news, either. So why all the…

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Obama’s Still Popular With Ex-Generals

  Somewhere around midnight Eastern time on November 2 we should have a pretty good idea whether President Obama is about to turn into a swan or a pumpkin. If he holds onto one or both houses of Congress, he’s the ugly duckling that became a swan. If the Republicans sweep both houses and Obama ends…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 20, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Guest Editor: Morris J. Vogel

  This fall, eight guest editors are helping to shape the Forward Forum by commissioning opinion pieces. This week, it’s Morris J. Vogel, the president of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum since June 2008. He graduated from Brandeis University, received a doctorate in American social and urban history from the University of Chicago, and served…

  Oct 20, 2010 | < 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

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  Opinion

  For Jews, a Permanent Stake in the Immigration Debate

  American Jews instinctively understand their deep stake in the national conversation about immigration. While it would be hard to point to any policy consensus, it is clear that many Jews are troubled — even offended — by the anti-immigrant hysteria growing in the blogosphere and by the demagogic exploitation of the issue in the political…

  By Morris J. Vogel Oct 20, 2010 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Latest Lower East Side

  University Settlement, the first settlement house in this country, will soon be celebrating its 125th anniversary. Founded in 1886 to serve primarily Jewish immigrants to New York City from Eastern Europe, the Settlement has remained true to its original mission while adapting to the changing Lower East Side. The connection of past and present has…

  By Michael Zisser Oct 20, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Immigration Fairness for Gays

  The U.S. government forced Rabbi Gail Diamond to make aliyah. She and her family have a good life in Israel — she teaches at a yeshiva in Jerusalem and her children are happy in school. But she didn’t move to Israel entirely by choice. She had to leave the U.S., and her Massachusetts congregation, when…

  By Rachel B. Tiven Oct 20, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Watch the ’60 Minutes’ Segment on Silwan and the City of David

  CBS News ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Leslie Stahl reported Sunday night October 17 on the City of David archaeological dig under Silwan in East Jerusalem and the effort by the settler movement, the El-Ad organization and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to populate the congested Arab neighborhood with Jews. Watch it here.

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 18, 2010 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Angolan Lauds Banker Stan Fischer. Fischer Moves to Israel. Angolan’s Text Vanishes (or does it? my bad)

  Note: I’ve corrected this post in light of the comments below that produced the text I was unable to find. In my blog post the other day about the Netanyahu government’s moves toward regulating the Israeli finance industry, I meant to elaborate about the role of Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 17, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  What Bibi Could Teach Obama About Regulating Banks and Saving Democracy

  There was a little business story in today’s Haaretz that you probably overlooked. It’s a real eye-opener. It’s about steps being taken by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to reform the regulation of the finance industry. But what it’s really about is how a determined political system can stop bankers from taking over, wrecking the economy…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 14, 2010 | 3 min read
• Letters

  October 22, 2010

  The Belarus Jews’ Story Continues Judith Matloff’s article, “The Last Shtetl Jews of Belarus” in the October 15 issue, is a moving account of a genuine human tragedy. However, her conclusion that “[w]hen these last people pass on, so will 350 years of vibrant Jewish tradition in Belarus,” is unwarranted. In fact, alongside these individual…

  Oct 13, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Shedding Light on the Legacy of Ground Zero

  I am not presently a New Yorker — though as one who was raised in New York it pains me to say so — but I am a student of history, so I must address two issues that have come up in the debate over the proposed Park51 Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero. One,…

  By Michael Berenbaum Oct 13, 2010 | 4 min read