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
Stopping Putin starts with holding the fossil fuel industry accountable
Purim is, among other things, a festival of blame. We gather as a community to publicly name and boo the bad guy. I have always hated this aspect of Purim; it feels wrong to revel in the evil of another human being. As a kid, I would cover my ears and shift uncomfortably in my…
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Opinion Israel set our daughter’s murderer free. We’re on a quest to hold her accountable
In an apartment some 65 miles from our Jerusalem home lives a woman who has impacted our lives profoundly. My wife Frimet and I have spent years trying to get her imprisoned for the rest of her life. On March 14, 2017, five years ago today, the Department of Justice in Washington charged Ahlam Aref…
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Letters The Jewish community needs to step-up its aid to Ukraine for the long haul
To the editor: I spent the first eight years of my life in Odessa, but lived most of my life in neighborhoods in South Brooklyn, with large populations of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine suffered greatly during World War II, and the identity of the region has been heavily shaped by the…
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Opinion ‘Everyone believes Ukraine will win – it’s just a question of the price we will pay’
I’m sorry for crying. Today is the hardest day. I don’t remember what it feels like not having the war. I remember that I used to have feelings and ambitions, but since the war began, it’s been very hard to make myself do anything or concentrate. I hate that I can’t feel anything when I…
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Opinion How is the Russia-Ukraine war different from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Let me count the ways
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. Perhaps you’ve seen the Twitter posts: paired photographs of a Ukrainian…
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Opinion I’m an American Jew who was born in Russia. Will my community demonize me?
“If anyone asks, you’re not Russian. You’re Moldovan.” That’s what my mother-in-law advised me a few days ago, as the world reacted with justified horror to the Russian military invading Ukraine. She wants to protect me. Originally from Moldova herself (as is my husband), she’s relieved to be able to tell people truthfully that she’s…
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Opinion Soviet Jews built the start-up nation. Israel should rush to welcome Ukrainian refugees today
Over 2 million Ukrainians have fled their country in the 14 days since the aggressive Russian invasion began, creating the fastest refugee crisis in modern history. Ukraine’s neighbors — such as Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Belarus — have been the first destination for most of these refugees, as the rest of the world watches in…
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Opinion My Jewish family is being bombed in Ukraine
Sometimes it feels like history is doing its best to prove to my family that there’s no safe place on earth. As an Israeli national born to Jewish Ukrainian parents, I often joke that I feel comfortable in Quebec, where I have lived for the past seven years, because here, too, there is a generations-old…
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Opinion ‘I’m terrified for him’: American Jews hearts are tied to Zelenskyy’s fate
When Stephanie Gold, a Los Angeles lawyer, read that Volodymyr Zelenskyy told European Union leaders, “this might be the last time you see me alive,” she broke down and cried. “I’m terrified for him,” she said. There’s something unique about the way that Zelenskyy has entered the hearts of American Jews. In a week, Ukraine’s…
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Opinion On dissonance: watching the war as a Ukrainian-American Jew
Before last week, my greatest concerns were avoiding Omicron and looking for a new job. Now I’m waiting for news on when the war in Ukraine, the country my parents and grandparents were born in, will stop. Over the past few days, my grandmother has made several calls to distant friends and relatives overseas, checking…
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Opinion I’m a cantor in Texas and parent of a trans child. My state’s assault on trans youth is terrifying
I am sickened by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recently announced nonbinding opinion regarding gender-affirming care, which states that medical treatments used in the transition process for transgender minors (ie: those whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth) ought to be defined as acts of child abuse. I…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Opinion The US is turning a blind eye to death and devastation — it isn’t the first time
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Opinion Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse
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Film & TV ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ sends The Thing to shul — and gives Jack Kirby credit
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Fast Forward As starvation mounts in Gaza, Jewish voices increasingly rise up in consternation
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