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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Letters
Extending daylight savings does not conflict with halacha
To the editor: The Forward reports that some Orthodox rabbis oppose extending daylight saving time throughout the year because “a 9 a.m. sunrise” would require them to attend to their morning prayers late and delay their arrival at work. Let’s first take a look at Jewish law. The 20 volume Babylonian Talmud begins with a…
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Opinion An unlikely rap battle: How this Israeli-Palestinian duo forged a friendship and a movement
Sameh: When Uriya came to meet me 20 months ago at the bar I was managing in Jaffa, I suspected he was another patronizing Israeli looking for a token Arab for his project. I have always been an outspoken artist over my 20-year career as a leading performer in the Palestinian rap scene. I have…
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Opinion What would Judy do? 100 years after first bat mitzvah, a meditation on female firsthood
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. A news release that hit my inbox late Thursday afternoon made…
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Opinion AIPAC’s far-right endorsements show how out of touch they are with American Jews
As the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I’ll never forget seeing insurrectionists with Nazi regalia marching 20 feet from my home during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. I’ll never forget locking myself in my apartment with my wife and dog, unsure whether we’d have to flee the city. My wife did not leave the…
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Opinion The bat mitzvah turns 100 — a history of the female trailblazers who paved the way
Two years before my bat mitzvah, I dressed up as a bar mitzvah boy. It was the holiday of Purim, when costumed revelers celebrate biblical Esther’s derring-do. I wore a red blouse with an oversized collar tucked into chocolate brown Levi’s corduroys, a wrinkled yarmulke borrowed from my father, and a blue-striped magic-markered muslin “prayer…
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Opinion Queen Esther is a Jewish hero, but Queen Vashti is the feminist icon we need right now
This Purim, let’s take a moment to appreciate one of the great reputational rehabilitations in my Jewish lifetime: Queen Vashti. We know how the story goes: King Ahashuerus, partying with his friends and “merry with wine,” called for Queen Vashti to display her beauty. Vashti refused to obey her husband and was never to be…
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Opinion Getting drunk on Purim is dangerous, not a mitzvah
The most dangerous physical threat to our children and grandchildren on university campuses may not be COVID or antisemitism, but something well-intentioned leaders don’t even consider. In the United States, alcohol is a significant factor in deaths and injuries of college students and young professionals, making drinking one of the most dangerous parts of college….
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Opinion Stopping Putin starts with holding the fossil fuel industry accountable
Purim is, among other things, a festival of blame. We gather as a community to publicly name and boo the bad guy. I have always hated this aspect of Purim; it feels wrong to revel in the evil of another human being. As a kid, I would cover my ears and shift uncomfortably in my…
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Opinion Israel set our daughter’s murderer free. We’re on a quest to hold her accountable
In an apartment some 65 miles from our Jerusalem home lives a woman who has impacted our lives profoundly. My wife Frimet and I have spent years trying to get her imprisoned for the rest of her life. On March 14, 2017, five years ago today, the Department of Justice in Washington charged Ahlam Aref…
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Letters The Jewish community needs to step-up its aid to Ukraine for the long haul
To the editor: I spent the first eight years of my life in Odessa, but lived most of my life in neighborhoods in South Brooklyn, with large populations of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine suffered greatly during World War II, and the identity of the region has been heavily shaped by the…
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Opinion ‘Everyone believes Ukraine will win – it’s just a question of the price we will pay’
I’m sorry for crying. Today is the hardest day. I don’t remember what it feels like not having the war. I remember that I used to have feelings and ambitions, but since the war began, it’s been very hard to make myself do anything or concentrate. I hate that I can’t feel anything when I…
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News What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Childhood
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News This Jewish Olympian prays with her mom before every race
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News An audiobook narrator told Zionists to kill themselves. A popular romance novelist hired him anyway.
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Opinion The dark message behind Tucker Carlson’s attempt to drum up drama in Israel
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Fast Forward Robin Kelly, running for Senate in Illinois, says Israel committed ‘genocide’
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Fast Forward Isaiah Zagar, renowned Jewish mosaic artist who created Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, dies at 86
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Fast Forward South Africa pulls out of Venice Biennale — because its selected artist wanted to focus on Gaza
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Film & TV Dear internet: Having Jews in movies isn’t ‘Zionist propaganda’
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