Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.
Talya ZaxOpinion Editor
By Talya Zax
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Culture 123 years of election coverage: What the vote means to American Jews
This is the first installment of a special series exploring The Forward’s election coverage since 1897. To get next week’s edition delivered to your inbox, click here to subscribe to The Forward’s free newsletter. For American Jews, the vote has always been a potent symbol. Many of our families came as immigrants from countries where…
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Culture What would Ginsburg do? Move forward with hope.
Several weeks ago, my mother announced that she had a present for me: She’d ordered me a Ruth Bader Ginsburg face mask. It’s a funny little thing: Good, thick, cream-colored fabric patterned over with drawings of miniature RBGs. When it arrived, we agreed that I would save it to wear when I returned to my…
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Fast Forward Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Jewish and liberal icon, dead at 87
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a beloved Jewish figure who helped pioneer the feminist legal field and served on the Supreme Court for more than a quarter century, died from complications of cancer on Friday at the age of 87. Ginsburg had defiantly remained on the court as she battled five bouts of cancer and numerous recent…
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Culture America’s forced sterilization program inspired Hitler — and the new complaint against ICE
Dawn Wooten, a nurse who rocketed into national attention after filing a whistleblower report alleging that immigrant women detained by ICE at a private facility were being subjected to forced hysterectomies, looked straight at the camera. “I had several detained women on numerous occasions that would come to me and say, ‘Ms. Wooten, I had…
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Culture Profiting from genocide, Disney’s ‘Mulan’ ignores lessons from the Holocaust
In 1944, the Theresienstadt concentration camp underwent a beautification. Living quarters improved. Gardens appeared. A school was established. When representatives of the Danish and International Red Cross came to inspect the camp — a step the Nazis believed essential to securing Denmark and Sweden’s continued compliance — they were pleased. Maurice Rossel, the ICRC’s representative,…
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Books Out of a stereotype of beauty, Elena Ferrante has created something beautiful
Halfway through Elena Ferrante’s new novel, “The Lying Life of Adults,” the narrator, a teenage girl named Giovanna, runs into a priest. Don Giacomo has fallen into disfavor at his church. Previously buoyant, his skin has turned sallow, and a mysterious, violet rash is creeping over one of his hands. Giovanna, ever curious, asks Giacomo…
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Culture For National Book Lovers Day, join our next book club
It’s National Book Lovers Day, and there’s one great way to celebrate: Join the Forward’s book club! For our next set of meetings, we’re reading Fran Ross’s “Oreo.” The 1974 book, Ross’s only novel, has in recent years been hailed as an underappreciated masterpiece. Like Ross, its central character, Oreo — given name Christine Clark — is…
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Books Pete Hamill was New York’s last great storyteller
The summer before my freshman year of high school, I was required to read two books. The first was “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” And the second was “Snow in August” by Pete Hamill, who passed away on August 5 at 85. For most of my life, growing up in Denver, Colorado, I had only two Jewish…
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