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
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…
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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
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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…
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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…
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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
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Opinion Want more Reform rabbis? Stop turning away Jews in interfaith relationships
The board of Hebrew Union College will soon vote on a proposal to stop enrolling rabbinic students at its Cincinnati campus, one of the Reform movement’s three North American rabbinical college locations. As revealed in publicly available papers and the proposal itself, enrollment across HUC’s three campuses is down 37% over the past 15 years….
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Opinion I am a Ukrainian Jew. I have lost my mother to Russian disinformation
My mother has been brainwashed by Russian propaganda. Aside from a brief phone call during the first week of the war, I haven’t been communicating with her. It’s too painful to expend energy on reasoning with her while my people are getting killed at the front lines. I choose to spend that time and energy…
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Looking Forward An umbrella with holes, Israeli clowns, and other tales from my trip to Ukraine’s border with Poland
"My heart was so full just standing next to them," a lawyer from Tampa said.
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Culture Great news! The rapture is coming on Rosh Hashanah
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Culture Ashkenazi Jews, there’s 1,000 years of history you’ve been missing
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News Who was Horst Wessel, and why are people comparing Charlie Kirk to him?
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Fast Forward 142 countries have voted for a path to Israeli-Palestinian peace, why are these 10 countries opposed?
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Fast Forward Israel’s secret ‘Esther Project’: DOJ filings reveal paid US influencer campaign amid AI-powered PR blitz
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Culture Gary Shteyngart reflects on his botched bris in a new short film
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Fast Forward Before his death, Charlie Kirk told Netanyahu that Israel faced a ‘5-alarm fire’ over PR strategy
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Fast Forward Americans now sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis, poll finds
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