In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Opinion
‘Lost’ In Plain Sight: An Israeli Plan To Rescue American Jews
One of the most spectacularly knuckle-headed advertising campaigns in modern Jewish history was unveiled in Israel September 2 by an international organization devoted to strengthening Diaspora Jews’ attachment to Israel. The organization, Masa (“Journey”), promotes long-term gap-year and junior-year study programs in Israel for Diaspora young adults. Its latest recruitment strategy involves a new Hebrew-language…
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Opinion Celebrating Shabbat With the Frozen Chosen
Services start at 7:30 p.m. I usually don’t open the door until 7:15 p.m. Until that time on Friday the synagogue is still my home, and I am showering, getting ready and mentally preparing for leading services. At 7 p.m. I get a knock on the door. Alaskan Jews are not prompt, so I know…
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Opinion A Health Care Solution, but Dare We Speak Its Name?
Take away the loonies, the ones shouting comparisons of President Obama to Hitler, the ones talking about “death panels” and all the other stuff. Imagine a reasoned discussion of the pros and cons of the health care reforms now before us. The health care reforms now before us? Excuse me, but what are they? We…
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Opinion In Iraq, a Mess That Knows No Borders
As the Obama administration leads America out of Iraq, mayhem may be galloping in. The American public, however, does not seem perturbed: Afghanistan is now the controversial conflict du jour. Yet it is increasingly clear with every passing day that the underlying assumption of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the Bush administration —…
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Opinion The Zionist Melting Pot Boils Over
The September 1 opening of Israel’s new school year was fairly uneventful as Israeli school years go: no nationwide teachers’ strike over salaries, no student protests against tuition hikes, hardly any violent opening-day riots. Compared to the storms of recent years, the back-to-school flare-ups this fall seemed at first glance to be little more than…
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Opinion Birth-responsibility
Taglit-Birthright Israel is widely regarded as the most successful attempt yet to strengthen the religious identity and connection to Israel of the demographic that is hardest to reach: Jews in their 20s. In less than 10 years, 200,000 Jews aged 18 to 26 have availed themselves of the free, 10-day trip to Israel, and many…
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Letters September 11, 2009
‘Crazy Eddie’ Cousin Slurs Syrian Jews We at the Sephardic Community Federation were shocked and appalled by the Forward’s decision to print Sam Antar’s slanderous comments about our Sephardic community without any substantiation (“‘Crazy’ Eddie’s Cousin, a Former Fraudster, Speaks Out on Syrian ‘Subculture of Crime,’” September 4). To run a prominent article alleging in…
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Opinion N.J. Town’s In-tents Battle With Libyan Dictator
Folks in the leafy New York suburb of Englewood, N.J., are up in arms, according to news reports, over plans by the Libyan government to pitch a tent on a Libyan-owned property in their town. The pavilion is supposed to house strongman Muammar Gadhafi while he attends the opening of the United Nations General Assembly…
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Opinion Toppling Saddam, Unleashing Iran and Anticipating the Unanticipated
Every day, it seems, something else happens somewhere to prove again, if any more proof were needed, just who is the big winner from America’s six-year adventure in Iraq. We refer, of course, to the Islamic Republic of Iran. America’s successful toppling of Iran’s nemesis, Saddam Hussein, accidentally ushered in a golden age for Iranian…
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Opinion Bringing Our Labor Legacy to Life
On November 22, 1909, thousands of shirtwaist workers gathered at Cooper Union’s Great Hall on the Lower East Side. The workers were mostly girls in their teens and early 20s, the bulk of them Eastern European Jewish immigrants. They had convened to discuss how to address the inhumane conditions they faced in their factories. Before…
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Opinion With Mary Robinson Fracas, Picking the Wrong Battle
The Jewish community has good reason to be disappointed by President Obama awarding the presidential medal of freedom to Mary Robinson. But our communal response to the award has unfortunately done more harm than good. Robinson, a former president of Ireland, forfeited any claim to accolades by presiding over the 2001 Durban World Conference Against…
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