In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Letters
It Takes Teamwork To Harness the Sun’s Energy
One of the great contributions of kibbutz life is the notion of collective struggle and accomplishment. Missing from your otherwise lovely December 10 article, “Solar Panels To Bloom in the Negev as Israel Embarks on a Green Revolution,” was any acknowledgment that the creation of the solar industry in Israel and the leadership of the…
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Opinion Britain’s Next Top Rabbi
The announcement last month that the British chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, will retire in 2013 immediately set off a flurry of speculation about potential successors. For Anglo-Jewry, this is a crucial moment. The chief rabbi is considered the leader of the community, setting its tone and priorities, and is its most prominent face to the…
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Opinion Katsav Loses, and Israelis Finally Win
Now that the euphoria that greeted the rape conviction of former Israeli president Moshe Katsav has started to subside, it is worthwhile to ask the question: Why was this such a big deal? Historically speaking, there are enough reasons to consider this a significant event: the worst crime for which an Israeli official has been…
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Opinion Mirror Image
The argument has long-since been familiar: If a two-state solution fails, dies from sheer exhaustion, then we’re looking either at a continuation of the status quo or at some form of one-state solution. The status quo is inherently noxious; it is also inherently unstable. It is folly to suppose that it can endure indefinitely, that…
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Opinion Disaffection Row: Pro-Israel Journalists Giving Up on Defending Israel
Now that we’ve all had a couple of days to enjoy the prospect of a sunny 2011, it’s time to get back to the worrying. In that spirit, here’s a thought to start us off: Some of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the American media are beginning to wonder openly how much longer they’ll be able…
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Opinion A Haredi Essayist on Finding Beauty Where You Least Expected It
Rabbi Avi Shafran is the public affairs director of Agudath Israel of America, the Haredi advocacy and social service organization. On the side he writes a weekly column that goes out by email and appears in various publications and websites. I get it in my mailbox and I almost always open it up to see…
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Opinion The Lieberman Question
What are Diaspora Jews to make of Avigdor Lieberman? In his latest outburst before 170 of Israel’s senior diplomats, the pugnacious, rebellious foreign minister called the Palestinian Authority illegitimate, the Turkish prime minister a liar, and ridiculed the central policy of his own government. This is nothing new, of course. In September, Lieberman delivered such…
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Letters Edgar Bronfman’s Tent
Edgar Bronfman’s December 17 opinion article, “Opening Our Tent,” perfectly reframes the issue of intermarriage. Jewish survivalists continually preach from a defensive and guilt-ridden posture that unless our Jewish children marry other Jews, Jewish identity is headed toward extinction. But Jewish outreach can no longer follow the old model because younger Jews are no longer…
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Letters When I Would Bless
Your December 10 article “Big Love, Jewish-Style: One Divorce, Two Marriages, Lots of Questions” quotes me incompletely and hence the result is somewhat misleading. I believe that it is unconstitutional 1) to compel a clergyman to serve as an officer of the state when he does not wish to do so, 2) to prohibit an…
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Opinion The Un-Jewish Assault on Richard Goldstone
Two years after Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s three-week assault against Hamas in Gaza, we are still grappling with the fallout. Much of the public reckoning has been channeled into an acrimonious debate over the report of a four-person investigative commission appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council and headed by Judge Richard Goldstone. Regrettably,…
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Opinion Beyond Excess: Finding Better Rewards for Our Leaders
‘Excessive! Outrageous! Obscene! Immoral!” and “Many of them deserve it. That is the only way to attract talent.” That was the range of comments I heard in response to the Forward’s recent survey of Jewish communal leaders’ salaries. These responses highlight that we, as a community, need to have a frank discussion about how we…
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