Opinion

• Opinion

  The IHRA antisemitism definition is supposed to protect people like me. It won’t.

  “Fuck Israel!” yelled the man at the crosswalk. I’m very visibly an Orthodox Jew: I wear a kippah and sport a full beard. The man, who I’d never seen before, was looking straight at me. It was a sunny Friday afternoon in Washington, D.C. Thankfully, the light turned green, so I could quickly walk away….

  By Isaac Brooks Fishman

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Herman Wouk and my father-in-law: a very Jewish friendship

  Sometime in the 1980s, two middle-aged Jewish gentlemen met in the small Chabad synagogue in Palm Springs, California. One was American-born and clean-shaven. The other was a slim, more obviously Orthodox man with a moustache, a black hat, and the air and accent of an Eastern European Jew. In my imagination — I wasn’t present…

  Apr 21, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘I’ve seen this all before:’ Without meaningful reform, I won’t celebrate Chauvin’s conviction

  You will have to forgive me for not celebrating the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis last May. Of course I’m gratified by the three guilty verdicts meted out by the jury this week. But I know better than to breathe a sigh of relief until the judge…

  By Tamar Manasseh Apr 21, 2021 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman If war with Iran goes badly for the US, Jews will be the scapegoat

  

• Nora Berman Did Netanyahu coerce Trump into attacking Iran? No — but he tried with Obama

  

• Dan Perry The US and Israel could seek to topple Iran’s regime. They should choose negotiation instead

  

• Emily Tamkin Israeli leaders are using Holocaust comparisons to justify attacks on Iran. Is that kosher?

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Want real police reform after the Chauvin trial? Start with how they’re trained.

  If you’re hoping that Tuesday’s Derek Chauvin verdict will spark true reform in American policing, you may have been looking at the wrong trial. Not because the guilty verdict of the fired Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd last May doesn’t signal a sea change in the nation’s justice system. It does. And not…

  By Robin Washington Apr 21, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Tzedek, tzedek tirdof:’ The Derek Chauvin verdict isn’t justice, but it’s a start

  In 2014, the murder of Eric Garner at the hands of a police officer was caught on camera, barely 10 minutes away from where my family lives on Staten Island. In the bystander-caught video, you can hear Garner gasping, “I can’t breathe” 11 times as he lies with his face pressed into the sun-baked concrete….

  By Tema Smith Apr 21, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Christian morality is why weed isn’t legal yet

  It’s 2021, and the U.S. is still struggling to legalize marijuana, a drug with medical properties that is no more dangerous than legal vices such as alcohol and nicotine. Why? Because the U.S. is a Christian country, with a Christian morality. Not that Judaism promotes uncontrolled intoxication — the Bible contains limits and warnings against…

  By Mira Fox Apr 20, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  France’s shame makes me a proud Israeli

  On Israel’s Independence Day last week, I rushed with my 9-year-old son, Noam, to the Tel Aviv beach to watch the Israeli air force’s annual show. As we walked through a playground and past a busy road by a car-rental company, we heard people in the crowd chattering in at least seven different languages, most…

  By Ze’ev Avrahami Apr 19, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Jewish mom adopted me. The Supreme Court could make finding a home like mine much harder.

  Nine years ago, just before my eighth birthday, I was placed in foster care. My birth mother was extremely ill; I did not expect to go home to her, and had no idea if I would ever see her again. There was a shortage of foster families in my rural county, and none who wanted…

  By John Currie Apr 18, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Biden’s Palestinian aid package is a start — but doesn’t go nearly far enough

  Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared the U.S. would restore financial assistance to the Palestinians with a first package totaling $235 million. The package comes as part of what the Biden administration described in a press release as its commitment “to advancing prosperity, security, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians in…

  By Muhammad Shehada Apr 16, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Shabbat is my time for figuring out the world’: a Q/A with Robin Washington, our new Editor-at-Large

  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. And click here for a PDF of stories to savor over Shabbat and Sunday that you can download and print. Something different this week: a…

  By Jodi Rudoren Apr 16, 2021 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  Every reason to celebrate Israel this Yom Ha’atzmaut

  The last century witnessed more than its fair share of horrors, but also its allotment of glories: man landing on the moon, breakthroughs in civil and women’s rights and the defeats of both fascism and communism, among other great steps forward. Perhaps two of its greatest stories of the triumph of life over death are…

  By Ari Hoffman Apr 15, 2021 | 3 min read