Opinion

• Opinion

  Setting the Standard for Kosher Industry

  In January, a special task force of the Rabbinical Council of America released guidelines to encourage ethical conduct in the kosher food industry. In his recent Forward opinion article, Moses Pava, a known expert in the field of business ethics, enumerated some specific areas where he feels our initiative falls short, and provided thoughtful suggestions…

  By Asher Meir

  3 min read
• Opinion

  What Actually Undermined the Kibbutz

  This April marks the kickoff of a worldwide series of events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first kibbutz, Degania. Fine words have been spoken in Degania and Tel Aviv, and many more will be spoken elsewhere in the months ahead in praise of Israel’s kibbutzim, the iconic farming communes once considered…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 7, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Abuse of Power

  The Roman Catholic Church’s defensive response to the cascading charges of clergy sexual abuse has unleashed an astonishing spectacle: the world’s most powerful church draping itself in the mantle of victimhood. In the process, the church has managed to draw Jews into this story, with an offensive comparison made by the preacher of the papal…

  Apr 7, 2010 | 2 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

  Faith-Based Fixes

  After much deliberation, an advisory council has presented the White House with a blueprint for reforming the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships, to ensure that the bright line separating the public’s money from support for private religious behavior is visible and honored. The recommendations suggest welcome improvements to a federal operation that too often…

  Apr 7, 2010 | 2 min read
• Letters

  April 16, 2010

  A Fire’s Legacy I was very interested in your April 9 article on the commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (“Triangle Fire Chalking Links a Shul to Its Past”). I am a grandmother of almost 71 years of age, who grew up hearing stories about that fire from my grandmother, Rose Kaufman, who as…

  Apr 7, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Let Freedom Ring: If It’s April in Va., It’s Confederate History Month

  Virginia’s Republican Governor Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell, not the sort to be outdone by a Democratic White House Passover seder, has raised the bar on honoring the Jewish festival of freedom: He’s declared the entire month of April to be “Confederate History Month.” Of course I’m kidding. Actually, the governor’s Confederate heritage proclamation doesn’t have…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 7, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Slaves We Were: How Brin’s Soviet Past Prompted Google’s China Exit

  No field of Judaic knowledge is more widely scorned than the humble but ever-popular Jewish Geography — otherwise known as “Guess Who’s Jewish?” After all, we’re told by our betters, it doesn’t really make a difference, does it? Well, no, it doesn’t. Until it does. Case in point: Google’s recently announced departure from China. The…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 2, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  An Israeli General Explains Why Stopping Iran Requires a Real Settlement Freeze

  Why should Israel have to freeze new Jewish housing construction in East Jerusalem, when it has already conceded so much and the Palestinians and their Arab patrons have given up so little? Well, for one thing, that Israel-gave-lots/Arabs-gave-little equation is not as cut and dry as it seems. But that’s a separate discussion for another…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 1, 2010 | 3 min read
• Letters

  April 9, 2010

  The Antisemites Are at Their Keyboards That Jerry Muller could not find much antisemitism during the recent financial crisis is probably a result of where he was looking (“Antisemitism and This Recession: The Dog That Didn’t Bark,” April 2). Consistent with today’s trend, the central address for antisemites often begins with the letters “www.” The…

  Mar 31, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  What Unites Shiloh and Jerusalem

  I have news for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Not only is Jerusalem not a “settlement” — as he correctly noted in his speech before the convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — but neither is my hometown of Shiloh. Since late November, and at Netanyahu’s initiative, Zionism has been in a stage of…

  By Yisrael Medad Mar 31, 2010 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Remember the Sabbath

  To love Judaism is to know how much the Sabbath matters. But neither knowledge nor love is quite enough to move many Jews, perhaps most Jews, to observance, or even to the level of observance they feel, deep in their hearts, commanded to achieve. This state of cognitive dissonance prevails even in Israel, where the…

  By Judith Shulevitz Mar 31, 2010 | 6 min read