Opinion

• Opinion

  Abbas Extends a Hand

  President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority have opened a new front in the Middle East conflict: a charm offensive. One can wonder why it has taken so long, yet welcome the move just the same. Truth is, American Jewish leaders have long been in some sort of dialogue with Palestinian officials. “I met with…

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Guests in our Sukkah

  When Daniel Treiman, the Forward’s opinion editor, asked for a leave of absence for a couple of months this fall, we decided to mix things up on our Forum page. In a season when it’s traditional to invite guests into a sukkah, why not invite guests to edit our pages? So starting today, an illustrious…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 22, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Week in Fratricide: Miliband v. Miliband, Manning v. Manning

  ’Tis the season of family drama. The three-week holiday season opened last week on Rosh Hashanah with the reading in synagogue of the biblical story of Abraham attempting to butcher his son Isaac. The season will close next week on the holiday of Simchat Torah, the Rejoicing in the Law, with the reading of the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 20, 2010 | 3 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

• Opinion

  Tunes for Atonement II: Who Shall Live, Who Shall Die, Who Shall Get Eaten by a Big Fish

  Now we’re coming into the home stretch. Coming up are Leonard Cohen, Hasidic crooner Mordecai Ben-David, Abbott and Costello, Louis Armstrong, Barbra Streisand, Meir Banai and The Band getting us, finally, released. Berosh Hashana: On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the fast day of Kippur it is sealed, who shall live and who…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 16, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Tunes for Atonement I: Kol Nidre and Father of Night

  We’re back for Week 2 of our High Holy Day songfest as promised, this time in two parts. Part One includes Bob Dylan, Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and Joe Cocker, plus the legendary Cantor Moishe Oysher, Jerry Lewis (in a serious moment, sort of), Larry David and the Red Army Chorus performing with the Leningrad Cowboys….

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 16, 2010 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Shades of Algeria on the West Bank

  A right-wing government that settlers believed would look after their interests instead enters into negotiations with an organization that established its position through terrorism. Outraged by the prospect of concessions, the angry settlers openly defy their government’s authority. Despite the onset of peace talks, bloodshed continues — and it is unclear how an agreement can…

  By Jacob Savage Sep 15, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  How History Will Judge Boycotters of the Theater in Ariel

  What shall we make of the recent refusal by dozens of Israeli actors and artists to perform in the newly built cultural center in Ariel, a city of 17,000 deep in the West Bank? By now, their voices have been augmented by those of some 150 American peers, including Broadway producer Harold Prince, performers Eve…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 15, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Case For Shaping Civil Society With Jewish Law

  The poster took my breath away: “The divine throne will not be complete until the idolatry of Zionism is uprooted. May it be Your will that we will soon be able to say, ‘Blessed is the One who has uprooted idolatry.’” I was not in Ramallah, but in Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox enclave of West…

  By Jill Jacobs Sep 15, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  For Open Minds, Allies Are Everywhere

  Edible fowl everywhere were breathing easier this Yom Kippur, after a leading Israeli rabbi called on sinners to atone this year by donating to the poor rather than twirling a chicken over their heads and then slaughtering it. Ritual chicken-twirling, known as kapparot or kappores, is merely a tradition or minhag, said the rabbi, Shlomo…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 15, 2010 | 4 min read
• Letters

  September 24, 2010

  Conversion Before Sanctification As a Reform rabbi, I am proud to be part of a movement that wholeheartedly welcomes converts into our midst. Celebrating converts has a long and revered tradition in Judaism going back to the Book of Ruth, which makes the loyal daughter-in-law of Naomi a direct ancestor of King David. But lacking…

  Sep 15, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Lessons from Haiti

  Lubert Jean-Pierre is a 48-year-old Haitian father of six who used to sell charcoal in a makeshift roadside stand before the earthquake. At about 4:30 in the afternoon on January 12, he had gone to a small prayer meeting at a church in his neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. At 4:53, the building began to shake, the…

  Sep 15, 2010 | 4 min read