Opinion

• Opinion

  Palin’s Unsettling Views

  What passes for punditry these days says that Sarah Palin must be taken seriously, not just as a potential talk-show host but a potential presidential candidate. We’re trying. So rather than dismiss her mystifying views on the expansion of Jewish settlements, we sought to understand them. “I disagree with the Obama administration on that,” she…

  < 1 min read
• Letters

  December 4, 2009

  In Discussing Mount’s Future, Remember Its Recent Past In discussing the recent tensions between Israelis and Arabs over the Temple Mount, Daniel Seidemann writes: “Regardless of one’s view on the political future of Jerusalem, Israel’s claims to be a responsible guardian of this complex and sensitive city require it to respect competing religious and national…

  Nov 25, 2009 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  When We Were the Vanguard

  Those were indeed the days my friend, and we truly thought they’d never end. We thought the nights would be for dancing and for stars, and the days — the days for making real the dreams, dreams learned from Isaiah and Amos and Walt Whitman and Camus. We loved being precocious and parading our precocity,…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 25, 2009 | 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 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 Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Adults, Who Happen To Be Young(er)

  Rabbi Steven Wernick, the new head of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, has made it clear that one of his priorities for the organization is outreach to Jews in their 20s and early 30s. As Conservative Jews gather for the USCJ’s biennial in Cherry Hill, N.J., December 6 — the first of Wernick’s tenure…

  By Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg Nov 25, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Returning to Reform

  Once upon a time, there was a young man, a third-generation American who was raised in a classical Reform temple, who in the Reform manner celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah and who was confirmed in the Reform rite. He was inspired by his temple’s rabbi to himself become a Reform rabbi. He held national office…

  By Jacob Neusner Nov 25, 2009 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  The People’s Army, or the Rabbis’ Army?

  At first it was little more than a cat-and-mouse game between a few soldiers and their officers, but Israel’s top government and military brass worry that it’s a sign of much worse to come. A handful of enlisted men were brandishing signs, vowing to disobey if they’re ordered to dismantle settlements and evacuate settlers. Now,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 25, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Religion Wars: Bishops vs. Congress, Rabbis vs. Israel Defense Force

  Confrontations between religious authority and electoral democracy continued to simmer on a number of sensitive fronts today (Sunday, November 22). Wherever you looked, no one was showing any sign of backing down. Item: In Rhode Island, the Providence Journal reported a claim by Representative Patrick Kennedy that he had been barred from receiving communion by…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 23, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Settlements Aren’t the Problem? Tell the Troops

  Israel’s military brass is mildly frantic over a spreading phenomenon of political protest within the infantry ranks by soldiers threatening to disobey if ordered to dismantle settlement structures. Efforts to stem the threats are generating tensions between the military command and a network of army-linked yeshivas. Twice in the past month soldiers in the West…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 19, 2009 | 3 min read
• Letters

  November 27, 2009

  The Gender Gap Isn’t Only at the Top The information contained in the November 13 article “Jewish Women Lag Behind Men in Promotion and Pay,” regarding the large discrepancy in pay and promotion between Jewish women and men in Jewish communal organizations, is not new. What is disgraceful is that there has been so little…

  Nov 18, 2009 | 6 min read
• Opinion

  Rubashkin’s Crimes

  Moments after Sholom Rubashkin, former vice president of the now-defunct Agriprocessors kosher meat company, was found guilty of 86 counts of felony fraud, his oldest daughter was interviewed by The Des Moines Register. “It’s unbelievable,” Roza Weiss was quoted as saying. “My only comment is, we’re Jewish and we’re proud of it.” Perhaps that’s the…

  Nov 18, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Wall for Us All

  The worn, mammoth stones tell a powerful story of Jewish spirituality, resistance, and allegiance. But today, the Kotel is speaking a language that most Jewish women and men cannot accept. An Israeli woman was arrested by the holy wall on November 18 for the alleged crime of wearing a prayer shawl, an act of devotion…

  Nov 18, 2009 | < 1 min read