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
Readers respond to Sally Rooney’s boycott of Israel
We received a slew of responses after publishing an Opinion article on Monday by Gitit Levy-Paz about the novelist Sally Rooney’s decision not to have her latest book translated into Hebrew by an Israeli publisher. Rooney, a celebrated Irish author who was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2018, said in a statement on…
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Opinion Why won’t Sally Rooney allow her latest novel to be translated into Hebrew by an Israeli publisher?
Editor’s note: The headline and body of this opinion piece were updated on Tuesday, Oct. 12, after Sally Rooney released a statement clarifying her stance on translation of her latest novel into Hebrew. She said that she is boycotting Israeli publishing houses, not the Hebrew language — and would allow a Hebrew translation of her…
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Opinion Joan Rivers, the ultimate Jewish woman, taught us how to take back our power
What does the Jewish mother make for dinner? Reservations. And what did the server ask her table? Nothing; they never let a man finish a sentence. This was the image of the Jewish American woman when men were the only ones telling the jokes. She was materialistic, tacky and a charmless striver; she was domineering…
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Opinion New Hulu series ‘Dopesick’ reveals the evils of the Sackler family, but hides the real fight
I’ve lost too many people to opioids to be surprised by anything I saw in “Dopesick.” The eight episode miniseries by Hulu, premiering Oct. 13, dramatizes the criminally deceptive marketing behind OxyContin, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family and what led to a substance abuse crisis affecting millions of Americans. It is loosely based on…
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Opinion Stop comparing everything you hate to the Holocaust
A flier circulating in my home state this week depicts a Jewish politician seated at a table stacked high with gold coins. This incident is the third time in two months that candidates for the Virginia State Legislature have exploited antisemitic imagery for political purposes. In the first case, the candidate compared being a teacher…
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Opinion Josh Mandel wants to be the next Marjorie Taylor Greene. He’s obscuring his Jewishness to do it.
Josh Mandel, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, is an awful amalgam of Trumpism, neo-fascism and faux-nationalism all wrapped in one spiteful 5-foot-8-inch bundle. His own family can’t stand him. Most of that is just boiler-plate Republican politics at the moment. Sure, Mandel wants to be a clone of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor…
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Opinion Angela Merkel is on her way out. What’s next for Germany’s Jews and Israel?
Germany’s Jews had a strong ally in Angela Merkel, who confronted antisemitism head on throughout her 16 years leading the nation, and most recently during the May fighting between Israel and Hamas, when she condemned anti-Israel and antisemitic protests. This week’s federal elections have ushered in a new era for Germany. But it could take…
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Opinion Finally, muscular two-state U.S. legislation has been introduced. Biden must back it
“I support a two-state solution.” Great to hear! But unless the year is 1993, it’s hardly a bold statement. The two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has sadly become one of the many causes that politicians love to say they support but then do little or nothing to actively advance. Nowhere has this dynamic been…
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Opinion I reversed the genders of every person in the Torah — and it finally feels complete
Five years ago, I started rewriting the Torah by reversing the genders of all characters. All of the men became women and all of the women became men. Divine influence was now moving through a mother-daughter lineage. Why would I do such a massive act of chutzpah? I’m an Israeli-American artist. In my art practice,…
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Opinion The Inquisition decimated Sephardic Jewry. We still haven’t internalized its lessons
On a recent warm night in Madrid, a young woman shared that she had travelled over 3,000 miles, leaving her husband and two young children in Montreal, to claim Spanish citizenship. Over glasses of the local Alhambra brew, she told me that her grandparents spoke Ladino, and that whenever someone would mention Spain around her…
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Opinion Iron Dome’s funding was never in jeopardy. But to us Palestinians, that was never the point
A version of this article first appeared in Newsweek. Progressive House Democrats sparked a charged debate after they got their party to remove $1 billion of additional funding to Israel to replenish its defensive missile technology, Iron Dome, from a congressional bill earlier this week. Some praised the progressives for an act of resistance to…
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Opinion Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear
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News That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
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Film & TV How Jon Stewart evolved on Israel — at least on ‘The Daily Show’
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Opinion I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion A beloved peace activist was killed in the West Bank. Can his death finally teach us empathy?
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Opinion As an Israeli political scientist, I resisted thinking this war was a genocide. Here’s what changed my mind
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Opinion Israelis want out of the Gaza war. But all the exit routes feel like traps
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Fast Forward Antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein are proliferating — and entering the mainstream
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