Opinion

• Opinion

  Maximizing Animal Welfare in Kosher Slaughter

  There are legislative attempts around the world to require stunning of animals prior to religious slaughter. I do not get involved in the politics of this issue, but the following discussion may help clarify where there are problem areas. Over the past 30 years I have worked closely with the kosher industry to ensure that…

  By Temple Grandin

  4 min read
• Letters

  State Tuition Aid for Rabbinical Students Is A Matter of Fairness

  Regarding your April 15 editorial “A Cynical Giveaway,” what is cynical is the editorial’s tone and substance. The New York State Legislature’s decision to finally make state tuition assistance available to students in undergraduate rabbinical colleges, on a par with other undergraduate colleges, is more than long overdue; it is an expression of elemental equity….

  Apr 27, 2011 | 2 min read
• Letters

  A Closed-Minded Cartoon

  It is disturbing that as 2011’s Festival of Freedom began, a Passover cartoon in the Forward by Eli Valley slammed StandWithUs and Israel (“The Four Sons,” April 22). Drawing on the four sons of the Haggadah, the cartoon implied that, like the son who doesn’t know enough to ask, StandWithUs supports Israel blindly, never raising…

  Apr 27, 2011 | < 1 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry Israelis have no idea where the Iran war is going. But they know it’s part of Netanyahu’s campaign

  

• Emily Tamkin Hungary is poised to topple an authoritarian leader. American Jews have something to learn

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  In the Eye of Jerusalem’s Archaeological Storm

  Archaeological activity in Jerusalem has been sucked into a whirlwind of conflicting political agendas, and the site commonly referred to as “the City of David” is in the eye of the storm. At issue is a place of seminal importance for the Jewish people and indeed for anyone who cherishes the heritage of Western civilization….

  By Israel Finkelstein Apr 27, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Refusing To Let Go of Tomorrow

  With my eyes closed, just listening to the singing, it is hard to imagine that I am not, in fact, at a Kabbalat Shabbat service at B’nai Jeshurun, the Upper West Side’s deservedly fabled synagogue. But on opening my eyes and glancing out the open door, the illusion is revealed. I am in fact in…

  By Leonard Fein Apr 26, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Ending the Culture of Silence

  At the Passover Seder, we are supposed to ask questions about why things are done the way they are. Recently I asked some questions about the government-funded social service agency that serves my Jewish community in Brooklyn, the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council. Specifically, I questioned the policy that only allows men to vote for…

  By Eliyahu Federman Apr 24, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  At Some Point During Shabbes I Apparently Became an Enemy of the Torah

  Well, here it is, Saturday night. Some time around 8:30 I observe that Shabbes is over, so I crank up the old laptop to see what’s new and catch up with my Forward fan mail. My latest column on Palestinian statehood had some pretty lively back-and-forth going on as of Friday evening, and I’m eager…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 24, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Pick Your Peril

  Passover is best known as the festival of freedom, but it has a second name that resonates just as deeply: the festival of spring. The two are not unrelated. Spring, the season of renewal, brings its own promise of freedom. It brings warmth and new growth, freeing us from the hardships of winter. More important,…

  Apr 20, 2011 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Real and the Virtual

  For those who are still skeptical of the power of the “virtual” world — and not just its power to mobilize people, but its power to change how we see and think, who we are — there’s this. For the more than 2,000 participants in this audacious experience, the line between the virtual and the…

  By Leonard Fein Apr 20, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  As the Palestinians Pursue Statehood, Israel Won’t Take ‘Yes’ for an Answer

  This is a bit complicated, but it’s very important, so try and keep up. We’ll take questions afterward. Israel faces a grave diplomatic crisis this fall. The Palestinians are planning to demand recognition from the United Nations General Assembly as a sovereign state within the 1949 armistice line or Green Line, on the territory governed…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 20, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Stand Firm Against Unilateral Statehood Push

  A Palestinian unilateral declaration of statehood, which could occur as soon as September, is rapidly becoming a source of profound Israeli anxiety. Israel clearly fears a situation in which, following a United Nations General Assembly resolution recognizing a Palestinian state, it would find itself accused daily of violating the rights of a fellow U.N. member…

  By Meyrav Wurmser Apr 20, 2011 | 4 min read