In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
East Coast Jews defined the last century of Jewish life. West Coast Jews have the next
This essay was adapted from a section of the book “Why Do Jewish? A Manifesto for 21st Century Jewish Peoplehood,” published by Gefen Publishing in Nov. 2021. If the last century of Jewish American life was built by the Jews of the East Coast, then it’s quite possible the next hundred years of Jewish life…
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Opinion I’ve experienced plenty of antisemitism — and know confirming Deborah Lipstadt will help us fight back
I will accompany Dr. Deborah Lipstadt into the Dirksen Senate Office Building for her Senate confirmation hearing to become the State Department Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism on Feb. 8. I will most likely sit silently behind her as a reminder and witness to the problem of antisemitism in our country and the…
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Opinion The Beijing Olympics looks a lot like Nazi Germany’s
For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Olympics represent an opportunity to turn the world’s attention away from the Uyghur genocide.
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Opinion My secret life as a Mossad operative
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. The husband nearly fell off his recliner a couple of weeks…
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Opinion Here’s what to say about Israel and apartheid
The report from Amnesty Internationalthis week accusing Israel of “committing the crime of apartheid” against Palestinians within and outside Israel’s 1967 borders set off a storm of controversy. It also sent me to reread my new go-to response to Israel and the A-word, Danny Sokatch’s 2021 book, “Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for…
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Opinion An Orthodox dad and a biker with Nazi tattoos walk into a hardware store
I was shopping at Lowe’s Hardware last Sunday to pick up some things for our new home in Austin, Texas, having just moved back after 26 years in greater Chicago. I was with my son, who had turned four a few days before and is already interested in tools and building materials (and cars and…
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Opinion We can’t fail the Uyghurs as the world failed us
As the Olympics begin, what is at stake is not medals, but the world’s commitment to Never Again. It is hard to fathom that 77 years after the end of the Holocaust, a potentially genocidal state is hosting the Olympic Games. As the athletes parade into the Beijing stadium for the opening ceremonies, the Chinese…
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Letters Jews are just as confused about our race as Whoopi Goldberg is
To the editor: Like Nora Berman, I also felt that Whoopi Goldberg’s Holocaust remarks were a teachable moment — but I’m a teacher, so to me most moments are. Fifty-plus years as a Jewish educator have taught me that hardly anyone, including many Jews, really understands antisemitism. We have long denied that we are a…
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Opinion Amidst conflict, Ukrainian Jewish women are thriving — and preparing for whatever happens next
As tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to mount, a chorus of male voices from the Soviet Jewish Diaspora, and an older generation of Jewish Ukrainian leaders, are telling us what to think about it. It is common to see panels of Jewish life in Ukraine with no women represented, hosting Ukrainian leaders who have…
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Opinion What did Whoopi do wrong? Let’s break it down — and really talk about Jews and race
Before anything else, let me say that I have no intention of “canceling” Whoopi Goldberg. I think she adds an interesting perspective to ABC’s “The View.” That said, I definitely do not agree with everything she does or says, just as I don’t agree with most celebrities who opine on serious subjects in popular media….
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Opinion My family’s worst moment is captured in ‘Maus.’ Its ban gravely disappoints me
Have you ever discovered an incident from your own family’s history in a famous work of art? I have. As a child, my mother would tell me stories about our family’s experiences during the Holocaust. Some of them had happened to her parents, Chaya and Mendel, who had fled to the Soviet Union after the…
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Culture Ashkenazi Jews, there’s 1,000 years of history you’ve been missing
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News Hundreds of Northwestern students can’t register for class because they won’t watch an antisemitism training video. Here’s what’s in it.
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Fast Forward The ADL doesn’t speak for New York Jews’ concerns, says Zohran Mamdani
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News Why was Netanyahu wearing a QR code at the UN, and where did it lead?
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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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