Opinion

• Opinion

  I lost my dad to COVID. Opening up to a stranger helped me heal — and appreciate my Jewish community even more.

  To Denise, I was an open book. For almost a year, through the endless blur that followed the first COVID shutdown, I shared with her the intimate details of my life. No, she wasn’t my psychologist, rabbi or spouse. She’s a sociologist running an oral history project. In April 2020, my dad died from COVID….

  By Barry Joseph

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Compassion, courage, patience, joy: Four (new) Questions to ask ourselves this Passover

  This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. Download and print our free magazine of stories to savor over Shabbat and Sunday. On the way to the Women’s Seder at our synagogue last…

  By Jodi Rudoren Apr 8, 2022 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  People actually prefer live Jews, really

  Horn’s focus on all the ways society has failed Jews may be electrifying, but ignores a more complicated truth

  By Rob Eshman Apr 8, 2022 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• Dan Perry Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  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 Apr 8, 2022 | 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
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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