Editorial & Opinion | Opinion

Appreciation: Rabbi David Forman - An Orthodox Reform Jew

05/12/2010 | Steve Lipman | Staff Writer | Opinion

Over lunch several years ago, across a table at a Manhattan kosher restaurant from a middle-aged rabbi with a graying beard, large knit kipa and critical opinions about the spiritual life of most American Jews, I told my guest to ‘fess up.

“You can tell me the truth,” I said to Rabbi David Forman. “You’re really an Orthodox rabbi.”

Liberal Slide Away From Israel Will Continue

05/11/2010 | Brett Cohen | Special To The Jewish Week | Opinion

President Obama’s recent public willingness to apply pressure on Israel is the latest step down a long road of increasing ideological discomfort for America’s Jewish community. Once upon a time, you could be a typical liberal Jew and be a Zionist without much internal conflict. Israel was the socialist underdog. While Jews still overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic ticket — 78 percent of them voted for Obama — Israel has increasingly become anathema in liberal circles.

Women Rabbis: A Conservative View Of An Orthodox Decision

05/11/2010 | Francine Klagsbrun | Special To The Jewish Week | Opinion

In the book of Genesis, God allows Adam to create names for all the beasts and birds in existence. With that powerful act, the first man establishes the identity of every earthly creature. From then on the image and function of a whale or a dove would always be tied to its name.

Cracking the UJA-Federation Shell

05/11/2010 | Stuart Tauber | Special to the Jewish Week | Opinion

Thousands of tweets. Hundreds of thousands of hits. Millions watching the video clips.

The earthquake in Haiti? No.

Innovation Is Not A Synonym For ‘New’

05/04/2010 | Aaron Bisman And Rochelle Shoretz | Special To The Jewish Week | Opinion

In late 2002, when our Joshua Venture Group (JVG) cohort was announced, the term “Jewish social entrepreneur” did not yet roll easily off the tongue. There was no “innovation ecosystem” to speak of, few incubators interested in helping us grow our ventures, and little confidence that Jewish life could or should blossom outside of existing institutional frameworks. JVG was founded to help emerging leaders change the Jewish world with their ideas.

Jerusalem, The Mundane City

05/04/2010 | Martin Raffel | Special To The Jewish Week | Opinion

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu received a standing ovation at the recent AIPAC conference when he declared, “Jerusalem is not a settlement. It’s our capital.” Pronouncements about Jerusalem as the united, eternal capital of Israel have long served as guaranteed applause lines in virtually every Jewish audience. Israel and world Jewry devote a great deal of attention to the city’s current and future political status.