Opinion

• Opinion

  Zelenskyy is a Jewish hero. That doesn’t erase Ukraine’s complicated past

  Ukrainian President Volodoymyr Zelenskyy has led a courageous and unexpectedly strong resistance to the brutal and murderous invasion by Russia, rising to the challenge of the moment in a heroic and extraordinary way. I am proud that he is Jewish. But despite his fearlessness and eloquence in support of Ukraine, I still find myself troubled…

  By Lincoln Mitchell

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  A frat Seder on a party boat taught me the true meaning of Passover

  “I hate religion,” the college student told my brother-in-law, Shlomo. “Such chutzpah,” I fumed silently. I had flown down to Nashville to help my sister, Nechama, as she and her husband ran Passover services for the throngs of Jewish students who came to their nonprofit organization for Jewish students on Vanderbilt’s campus, the Rohr Chabad…

  By Rabbi Levi Welton Apr 8, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop trying to get Jews to date each other and start focusing on nurturing friendships

  An Atlantic article about people who prioritize friendship over romance went viral a few years ago. “Intimate friendships,” wrote Rhaina Cohen, “can be models for how we as a society might expand our conceptions of intimacy and care.” As someone who has spent 15 years helping people connect more deeply to one another and to…

  By Rachel Gildiner Apr 7, 2022 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

  

• Rob Eshman The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump’s deal to free the last living American hostage

  

• Nora Berman How the Oct. 7 aftermath splintered the New York Dyke March

  

• Dan Perry It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump

  

• Emily Tamkin This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Despite 10 years of promises, Jewish leaders have failed to make space for Jews of color

  I always wanted for my family what I observe in so many other Jewish families: that feeling of deep connection that comes from being part of a Jewish community. To build bonds, I said “yes” when asked to teach a Yom Kippur study session at a local synagogue. I said “yes” when asked to provide…

  By Ilana Kaufman Apr 7, 2022 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Matzo at 18,000 feet — what it’s like to lead a Seder on Mount Everest

  The 40 years of wandering in the desert were full of unknowns, and like my ancestors, I was in the wilderness

  By Mimi Zieman Apr 7, 2022 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  In three funerals, the real spirit of Israel is exemplified

  During my years in public office, I attended many shivas for fallen soldiers of Israel. Each of them was emotionally draining. One, though, left an especially profound impression. Hadas Malka, a police officer, was stabbed to death outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate in 2017. She had refused to accept a safe desk job in the Israeli…

  By Michael Oren Apr 6, 2022 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Hate crimes and antisemitism are rising in NYC. The governor’s plan will make things worse

  Rikers Island, New York City’s jail complex, is in a humanitarian crisis. Mired by dysfunction, unsanitary conditions and two deaths in the past month, the situation is dire. Both the current and previous mayor vowed to close the complex, given decades of violence and mismanagement. Despite this, instead of looking for real solutions to the…

  By Alana Sivin Apr 6, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Our house is your house’: Meet the Florida rabbi hosting a family of Ukrainian refugees

  “Seamless” is how Rabbi Watstein described the transition for both families

  By Jodi Rudoren Apr 1, 2022 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Activists are calling to ‘globalize the intifada.’ It’s a call for death, not peace

  In the span of one week, three separate terror attacks in Israel have claimed the lives of 11 innocent people. Those killed included Arab, Druze, Jewish and Christian citizens of Israel, and two Ukrainian nationals. A young father who was taking his infant son for an evening stroll died protecting his child from bullets in…

  By Nora Berman Apr 1, 2022 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The long, sad echo of applause for Will Smith

  If, as the Talmud tells us, silence is akin to complicity, what about … applause? The guests at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre for the 94th Academy Awards Sunday night weren’t required to wear masks, but with both Purim and the worst of the pandemic in the rear-view mirror, we finally got to see who they really…

  By Rob Eshman Mar 31, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  My family was murdered in Austria during the Holocaust. Now they’re offering me citizenship. Should I accept?

  My mother and I discovered my grandmother Erika’s faded birth certificate on a trip to Austria in 2019. It was in an administrative office building adjacent to the Stadttempel synagogue, the only synagogue built before 1938 that was not burned by the Nazis — and only because it was too close to the Nazi headquarters…

  By Erik Sommer Mar 30, 2022 | 4 min read