Opinion

• Opinion

  I’m alone for the holidays at 78 — and looking forward to a whole new life

  Alone for the holidays for the first time in my life. At 78 years old. I contemplated that painful reality. My mind wandered back to past holidays, and, as my spirits began to sink, I heard my cellphone chime. It was an invitation from the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach, California, where I…

  By Lynn Brown Rosenberg

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Hanukkah gnomes have exploded in popularity, despite deeply antisemitic origins

  If you are a Jew living in the United States, you’re likely aware of Hanukkah’s slow creep toward becoming Jewish Christmas. There is Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf, ugly sweater sugar cookies, and Wayfair Santas wrapped in prayer shawls. This year, however, the latest Chrismukkah riff is … a Hanukkah gnome. Hanukkah gnomes are cute, and…

  By Ed Weinberg Dec 3, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Nazis used us during the 1936 Olympics. We cannot fall for the same propaganda tactics in China

  Editor’s Note: This article was written before President Biden’s decision to withhold U.S. diplomatic participation from the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Click here to read the author’s most recent analysis on this issue. In a recent telephone interview with Fox News, former President Donald Trump said he is opposed to a proposed boycott of the 2022…

  By Rafael Medoff Dec 3, 2021 | 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 Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  A religious minority faces a second genocide in Afghanistan. Jews must act now

  Every year for Hanukkah, my mother would gift me a book about the Holocaust. Every vacation we took, even within the continental United States, my mother insisted we carry our US passports, just in case we needed to flee at a moment’s notice. Those books and passports served as reminders of my Jewish ancestry —…

  By Justin Hefter Dec 1, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Toronto students walked out in support of Palestinian rights. The reality is more complex

  On Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, some two hundred students at Marc Garneau Collegiate staged a walkout in support of Palestinian rights to show their solidarity with Desmond Cole, a Toronto anti-racism educator, and Javier Davila, a teacher in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Earlier this year, Davila was suspended (and then reinstated without discipline)…

  By Daniel Koren Nov 30, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel uses new surveillance technology to distance itself from the occupation. It’s not working

  Up until a few months ago, Israeli Jews were convinced I was lying to them when I told them soldiers go into Palestinian homes to “map” the house and the people living in it. Every night, soldiers entered the homes of “uninvolved civilians” —meaning people who are suspected of nothing other than being Palestinian —not…

  By Amir Ziv Nov 30, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Charlottesville’s Jews have seen white supremacy up close. Our work is far from over

  My heart skipped a beat when the outcome was announced at the trial of the organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally here in Charlottesville. The white supremacists and their organizations were found guilty of conspiracy to commit violence, and are liable for over $25 million in damages to those who were directly wounded…

  By Tom Gutherz Nov 24, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Not all Jews hate Christmas. In fact, many of us celebrate it

  Editor’s note: The letter below comments on the original headline of Jodi Rudoren’s Nov. 19 “Looking Forward” column. That headline was changed shortly after publication, unrelated to this letter. To the editor: It is not easy being part of a religious minority in the United States, a country with European settler colonial origins and a…

  By Susan Katz Miller Nov 24, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Our Reform leaders sinned. Should we still sing songs they wrote?

  Reform synagogues across the nation are struggling to make sense of the damning report released earlier this month showing nearly unfettered patterns of unwanted sexual contact between male faculty and female students at Hebrew Union College over five decades. Released on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the report, conducted by an independent law firm, showed that…

  By Josh Katz Nov 23, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The kids are not all right — and Jewish educators on college campuses know it

  Reports about Jewish life on campus often focus either on our laudable collective successes or on experiences of antisemitism. After a decade of working on college campuses with leading Hillel foundations, I believe a lot of good things are happening on campus for Jewish students and that these positives outweigh the challenges. But if you…

  By Seth Winberg Nov 23, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A tragic murder in Jerusalem reminds us: Jewish Israelis face deadly antisemitism every day

  Israel is often reminded by its critics that its status quo is unsustainable. Like a procrastinator in shul at the end of Yom Kippur, time is running out for it to do the right thing: to withdraw from the territories, midwife a Palestinian state, dissolve itself into nonbeing. To figure out the problem of its…

  By Ari Hoffman Nov 22, 2021 | 3 min read