Opinion

• Opinion

  Fiasco at Sea, Failed Strategy

  Three very negative strategic trends came together to produce a fiasco-at-sea when Israel intercepted the civilian flotilla that was seeking to breach the blockade of Gaza. First, Turkey’s Islamist leadership saw an opportunity to champion the Palestinian cause and Hamas in particular through sponsorship of the six-ship flotilla by IHH, a humanitarian organization that functions…

  By Yossi Alpher

  3 min read
• Opinion

  The Flotilla Was a Killer

  Israel got suckered, the same way it gets suckered over and over. It walks into situations where it will inevitably come out looking like a bully, arouses worldwide anger and then gets indignant when it’s condemned. It’s like watching Charlie Brown charge the football, knowing that Lucy will snatch it away as she always does….

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 1, 2010 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Way We Aid

  For more than half a century, North America’s Jewish federation system has divided its overseas allocations between the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The Jewish Agency has been dedicated to building up Israel and encouraging aliyah, while the Joint has focused on aiding Jewish communities in need around the…

  May 26, 2010 | 4 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Carrots, Sticks and Iranian Uranium

  Diplomacy as a rule occurs out of sight. Messages are delivered in hushed conversations in U.N. corridors, through back channels or in tightly choreographed discussions on the sidelines of summit meetings. The language is subtle and the tone well-mannered, but the message is usually clear. Recently, however, in the span of only two days, the…

  By Jacqueline Shire May 26, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Goodbye Wissenschaft, Hello Relevance

  The Jewish Theological Seminary’s chancellor, Arnold Eisen, recently unveiled a bold new strategic plan aimed at transforming the school’s curriculum, redefining its purpose and setting forth its future direction. The plan called to mind a story that my late father used to tell about a modest change that he proposed to the JTS curriculum as…

  By Jonathan D. Sarna May 26, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  What To Do With Bar Mitzvah Crashers

  We evidently need a new system. I am referring to the traditional method for deciding who shall be invited to attend a bar or bat mitzvah. In olden times, when nature and nurture combined to indicate the ripeness of the child, the invitation list almost composed itself: family, friends, perhaps colleagues. But, as the saying…

  By Leonard Fein May 26, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Faith at Ground Zero

  It takes faith to do this. We may as well be honest and acknowledge that it takes a bucket-load of faith in the human capacity for tolerance and forgiveness to do what is surely the right thing to do, but the difficult thing to do, and allow construction of a towering mosque and Islamic community…

  May 26, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  A Bitter Tea Party

  Americans have railed against the power of the federal government even before we had one, so the recent, ridiculous remarks by GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul about the Civil Rights Act unfortunately find an echo in history. Worse has been said, and done. Besides, every generation needs to be reminded to guard against government tyranny,…

  May 26, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Whither Liberal Zionism?

  Can you be a liberal and a Zionist today? In a long and thoughtful essay in the New York Review of Books, Peter Beinart accurately describes how and why so many young American Jews are becoming alienated from Israel and blames the American Jewish establishment for its lock-step support of the Israeli government’s current policies…

  May 19, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Shouting but Not Hearing

  Yoram Tehar Lev, a songwriter from Kibbutz Yagur, tells the story of a rabbi who was hired by an old-line congregation. Upon arriving, he was mystified: During the recitation of the Sh’ma, half the worshippers stood while the other half remained seated. Those who were standing would shout to those who were sitting, “You are…

  By Leonard Fein May 19, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Rebellious Child

  No doubt, Terrance Graham was a wayward, rebellious child. At 16, he helped rob a restaurant in Florida and was sentenced to a year in jail and three years’ probation. But Graham violated that probation when he was 17, and, with two older accomplices, burst into a man’s home and robbed him at gunpoint. For…

  May 19, 2010 | 2 min read