Opinion

• Letters

  Rabbi Charlie is a hero, and that’s all we need to know

  Dear Jodi and the Forward Family: I am writing to express my disappointment in your story about Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s contract. In my opinion, it is a feeble attempt at a salacious and irrelevant angle to what was a moment of fright and ultimately, Jewish unity. Clergy people change jobs. Some often. They do so…

  By Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m a pulpit rabbi. This is the true cost of keeping synagogues safe

  In the aftermath of the hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas, every Jewish institution in America, no matter the size, is once again reckoning with the overwhelming financial, material and spiritual costs of keeping our communities safe in a country where weapons of mass murder are available off the shelf at Walmart. I’m a…

  By Rabbi Daniel Bogard Jan 20, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Conspiracy theories are at the root of anti-Jewish violence

  In the days that followed the hostage crisis at the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, TX, reports came out about how the hostage-taker repeatedly espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories, believing that Jews could exert their power and sway over the U.S. government to free an imprisoned Al Qaeda terrorist. These revelations are likely surprising to many,…

  By Ken Jacobson Jan 20, 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

  I have been racially profiled by the police. I still want them protecting our synagogues

  Like millions of Jews, the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel affected me deeply. Even here in Canada, my concern was with the hostages, but I also dreaded the conversation of security would soon emerge. After every antisemitic attack on a synagogue, we have a communal conversation about increased security and armed guards at synagogues,…

  By Tyler Samuels Jan 19, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  My husband survived the Tree of Life shooting. The Texas synagogue attack reopened our wounds

  I found out that Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three others had been taken hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Tex. when many other observant Jews did: after the end of Shabbat. There was a knock on our door. It was someone from the 10.27 Healing Partnership, a grant-funded organization that provides resources and support…

  By Beth Kissileff Jan 18, 2022 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How many Jews have to die for our allies to acknowledge the antisemitism Jews face?

  If the circumstances weren’t so terrifying, the mental gymnastics of the last few days could almost be considered comedic. FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno described the nearly 11-hour hostage crisis that had unfolded at Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Colleyville, Tex. as “not specifically related to the Jewish community.” Even President…

  By Nora Berman Jan 18, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Can we make our synagogues secure without causing the vulnerable to suffer?

  “I can see they’re good guys,” Malik Faisal Akram said of the rabbi and three congregants he held hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Texas. “They let me in, I said ‘is this a night shelter?’ and they let me in …” His words pierced me. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, whose bravery empowered his congregants to…

  By Hannah Lebovits Jan 18, 2022 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  From generation to generation: King’s legacy endures in families’ movement stories

  Several communities across the country are observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day with multigenerational activities, in which grandparents, parents and children reflect, and act, on the legacy of King’s work. The Forward asked three individuals from the Black Jewish community whose families had different experiences in the Civil Rights Movement to write about one of…

  By Akedah Eze, and Lewis R. Gordon, and Shekhiynah Larks Jan 17, 2022 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  What a civil-rights rabbi taught me about dying with dignity — and living with purpose

  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. Rabbi Sy Dresner, a civil-rights pioneer with a photographic memory, was…

  Jan 14, 2022 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  I was in a movie with Zelenskyy. His Jewish optimism will help him beat Russia

  “Hey, do you know you were in a movie with the new Ukrainian president?” my brother texted me in the Spring of 2019. He included a screenshot of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s IMDb page. “Who me?” I wrote back, adding a perplexed hands-up emoji that perfectly represented the haggard suburban mom I now was. I’d gotten used…

  By Jessie Asya Kanzer Jan 14, 2022 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  I am a rabbi in a hospital ICU. This is what the COVID surge looks like to our exhausted staff.

  (JTA) — As a rabbi who works as a chaplain at a hospital in Indianapolis, I’ve held my tongue a lot when it comes to COVID-19 and the emotional strain it puts on medical staff. But now — as my team at Indiana University Health is responsible for pastoral care in the Medical ICU and…

  By Rabbi Mike Harvey Jan 12, 2022 | 5 min read