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
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
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…
-
Opinion No Jew should have to starve for Israeli citizenship. But I did
For eight days, I camped outside of Israel’s Ministry of the Interior on a hunger strike, protesting the injustice I have suffered at the hands of the Israeli state during my nearly 4-year journey toward citizenship. It was under 40 degrees most nights. I ate nothing, drank sips of water and only left to pray…
-
Opinion My home almost burned in Colorado wildfires. Jews have a special responsibility to fight back
On Dec. 30, 2021 my hometown of Louisville, Colorado burned. I had an appointment earlier that day at Avista Adventist Hospital, mere hours before it had to be evacuated because of approaching flames. I saw smoke to the west but didn’t give it much thought, though I was well aware of the high winds. As…
-
Books Think the goblins in Harry Potter are antisemitic? Try the rest of British literature
British literature is so full of antisemitic tropes that the goblins in Harry Potter are now the most obvious ones
-
Opinion I was Bob Saget’s rabbi. This is what made him special.
The hardest job he ever had, Bob Saget used to tell me, was serving as emcee of our annual synagogue gala. He could never just say the first thing that would pop into his mind, he explained, because it would inevitably be a joke that was too risqué for a synagogue event. He constantly had…
-
Opinion Soup is good food, and other thoughts about how to survive the Omicron surge
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. This column should be about New Year’s resolutions, but I haven’t…
-
Opinion My daughter is a new immigrant to Israel. The state has failed to support her during the pandemic
The past two years have been utterly exhausting. Between working from home, supervising children doing Zoom school, sitting through quarantines and more, COVID-19 has unquestionably upended our daily routines. And as the parent of a daughter who immigrated to Israel while the rest of her family remained in the United States, I had to contend…
-
Opinion What the Heritage Foundation gets wrong about DEI and antisemitism
A recent Heritage Foundation report claims that university Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices are so suffused with antisemitism that they might even be responsible for increased campus violence against Jews. Although the study has received some favorable coverage, it was so poorly executed that it reveals nothing more than how easily data can be manipulated…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Ashkenazi Jews, there’s 1,000 years of history you’ve been missing
- 2
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.
- 3
Fast Forward Hegseth says ‘no more beardos’ in the military. What about religious exemptions?
- 4
Fast Forward The ADL doesn’t speak for New York Jews’ concerns, says Zohran Mamdani
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion A crucial Yom Kippur reading holds a scathing lesson on Gaza
-
Fast Forward Trump withdraws nomination for economist who praised Nazi warship
-
Music ‘Kavalier and Clay’ could be a Jewish-American ‘Ring Cycle’ — what would Richard Wagner think of it?
-
Fast Forward New aid flotilla nears Gaza coast, with Greta Thunberg and a Jewish activist on board
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
