Leonard Fein
By Leonard Fein
-
Opinion And in Other News, Darfur
Suddenly, overload. Here, the president permits spying on American citizens. In the West Bank, Hamas scores big in local elections. Here, the prospect of a major shift in the Supreme Court. In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls the Holocaust “a myth,” says that Israel is “a tumor” that “must be wiped off the map.” Here,…
-
Opinion Torturous Explanations
There’s a sometime sense that Condoleezza Rice is, well, different from the others. She’s not as malignant as Dick Cheney nor as arrogant as Donald Rumsfeld, not as mendacious as Alberto Gonzales nor as sinister as Karl Rove. Her patron, the cheerleader-in-chief, gives her room to run and she runs hard; she is a respectable…
-
Opinion Open a Secular Door to Judaism
When the bomb was thrown 22 years ago, many were aghast: Surely it would lead to an irreparable schism in the Jewish people. Even within the Reform Jewish movement, from which the explosive decision known as “patrilineal descent” had emanated, there were cautionary voices. The Reform rabbinate in Israel, as also Reform Hillel rabbis here…
-
Opinion Left, Right And Center
For about a millisecond, it seemed as if politics in Israel was experiencing a clarity bounce. The Labor Party, once the unchallenged engine of the system but lately suffering from mortis (yet without rigor), a flopping corpse suffering from terminal nostalgia, suddenly had chosen to face forward rather than back. Amir Peretz, its new leader,…
-
Opinion Peretz, the Next David (or Mitzna)
The Hebrew word for “periphery” is “periferiah.” Last week, in the stunning victory of Amir Peretz over Shimon Peres for the chairmanship of the Labor Party — or, as accurately, in the stunning loss of Shimon Peres to Amir Peretz — it was the periferiah that moved to Israel’s center political stage. The biggest revolution…
-
Opinion Poisoned Orchard
Here’s the scenario: You’re watching television, and suddenly, there’s the president of the United States saying, “We’ve received reports that the nine American soldiers kidnapped last week by terrorists in Iraq are being subjected to brutal torture. This outrage must stop, and it must stop immediately. It is a violation of international law, and it…
-
Opinion It Takes a Community
There’s been considerable coverage these last days of Rosa Parks, whose death a full half-century after the brief episode that rendered her an “icon” calls to mind a long-ago time. But there’s been little evocation of that time, the events and the circumstances that earned Parks iconic status. The year is 1955, the date is…
-
Opinion In the Wake of A Sinking Ship
In November 2004, just after the reelection of President Bush, I wrote that the Republicans are “off to such a furious start that their excess may presage their early demise. Simply stated, the likelihood is that the Republicans will over-reach. The early indications are that they have not merely been buoyed by their victories, but…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Dutch Jews grapple with ‘weaponization’ of their fear following attack on Israelis
- 2
Opinion Almost all voting groups shifted toward Trump, except American Jews. Why?
- 3
News What a Secretary of State Marco Rubio would mean for American Jews and Israel
- 4
Fast Forward ‘Antisemitic hit-and-run squads’: Amsterdam temporarily bans demonstrations after Israeli soccer fans attacked by street mobs
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco will close for a year, citing financial woes
-
Fast Forward Trump AG nominee Matt Gaetz has left a trail of antisemitic comments
-
Opinion As ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee could derail Trump’s plans for the Middle East
-
News Your complete guide to Trump’s Jewish advisers and pro-Israel cabinet
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
