Opinion

• Opinion

  U.S.-Israel Ties: Pressure Doing Business With You

  Judging by appearances, relations between Obama’s Washington and Netanyahu’s Jerusalem are getting a mite testy as pressure grows for movement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, or what’s left of it. The administration wants the sides to agree on a formula to allow reopening negotiations. Israel has partially frozen settlement construction, but with some big exceptions…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Vatican and the Jews: The Pius Spat, The Pious Spit

  A new blog post by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, routinely described as the most authoritative English-language journalist covering the Vatican, reports on a seldom-discussed irritant in Catholic-Jewish relations: Haredi youth spitting on robed Catholic clerics on the streets of Jerusalem. Here’s an excerpt: Jews move to halt spitting at Christians in Jerusalem…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 8, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Return Conversion to the Rabbis

  For centuries, rabbis steeped in Torah and Halacha have served as the gatekeepers of the Jewish people. They have determined which non-Jews may join the Jewish people as converts. Halachic literature provides a wide array of opinions and attitudes relating to conversion. In recent years, however, the more extreme views espoused by the Haredi rabbinic…

  By Marc D. Angel Jan 6, 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 is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Making King’s Dream a Reality

  The morning after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, my high school history teacher asked, “How many of you think Dr. King’s work for civil rights was important?” Most of us raised our hands. “If you really believe that, then why weren’t you working with him yesterday?” he challenged. I had no answer….

  By Kenneth Stern Jan 6, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  No Escaping the News From Israel — Not Even in Israel

  I come to Israel in significant part to escape the news from Israel. Back home in Boston, between the Israeli papers and the many other online sources of information and opinion, the news relentlessly caroms between the scandalous and the unbearable: record poverty, educational decline, political ineptitude, national fatigue, only rarely relieved by a feel-good…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 6, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Welcome to the Jewish Tea Party

  Approaching the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the upscale New York Synagogue (yes, that’s its actual name) announced that Sabbath services would feature a distinguished guest: Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, the storied civil rights group. Morial’s appearance isn’t happenstance: The synagogue’s Rabbi Marc Schneier has made a virtual second career…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 6, 2010 | 3 min read
• Letters

  January 15, 2010

  Mideast Myth-Busting Missed Some Things Some of the myth-busting in J. J. Goldberg’s December 25 column “Four Myths About the Mideast and Real Estate” bears closer examination. Goldberg claims that Israel, in violation of its commitments under the Bush administration’s 2003 road map, has increased settlement expansion, while the Palestinians have, in accord with the…

  Jan 6, 2010 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Liberating the Wall

  Imagine, if you will, a group of devout Jews who regularly gather to pray at an ancient synagogue. Sometimes they are left alone, but other times they are verbally and physically harassed, spit at, cursed. If this were taking place in a country unfriendly to Jews, we would admire the worshippers’ dedication and perseverance, perhaps…

  Jan 6, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Is Bibi Ready for ’67 Lines? So Says Maariv Report on New U.S. Peace Bid

  Maariv published a story (in Hebrew – my translation is below) on Monday, January 4, by its top political correspondent, Ben Caspit outlining what is described as a detailed American initiative to reconvene Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and reach a permanent agreement in two years. What is particularly surprising is the clear implication that Washington has Netanyahu’s…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 5, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Year After Cast Lead: On One Hand, on the Other

  This past week marked the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli incursion into Gaza last year. Here are two ways of looking at it. One says it marked a turning point in the moral vision of Israeli society. The other says it was successful in reducing terrorism and saving Israeli lives. The first one…

  By J.J. Goldberg Dec 31, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Michael Oren’s Incredible Shrinking Tent

  Here we go again. This is about two people, a man and a woman, who both live, not incidentally, in Washington, D.C., but who apparently inhabit very different planets. One is named Michael Oren. He is the current ambassador of the State of Israel to the United States. Oren has a fine scholarly reputation and…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 30, 2009 | 4 min read