Opinion

• Opinion

  Toxic leadership in the Jewish world goes beyond sexual misconduct. A reckoning must come.

  We’re in the middle of yet another reckoning with abuse in the Jewish community. The Forward reported last week that a former senior leader of the Reform movement had sexually assaulted members of his congregation and may have committed other acts of abuse and harassment — and that the Reform movement may have kept details…

  By Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  My son was at the Mount Meron disaster

  At least 15 people were initially reported dead and dozens injured after a stampede at a religious celebration in Israel

  By Rabbi Robyn Frisch May 4, 2021 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Is ousting Netanyahu really worth elevating Naftali Bennett?

  Israelis who wish to end the seemingly infinite tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have in recent days pinned their hopes on a new idea: the prospect of a national-unity government led by Naftali Bennett, a former defense minister who heads the right-wing Yamina party. In theory, this Bennett-led government would be non-ideological, and the…

  By Abe Silberstein May 4, 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry A US official just made history in the West Bank — did he imperil prospects for peace?

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  For George Floyd’s yahrzeit, say his name

  If you do nothing else over Shabbat on May 14 and 15, whether you go to shul or not, say kaddish. And say it for George Floyd. Say his name. George Floyd was killed on May 25, or 2 Sivan, which corresponds to May 13 this year. If it is your tradition on the following…

  By Robin Washington May 2, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How to grapple with the Lag B’Omer tragedy? Remember fate is random.

  Every tragedy seems to cry out for an explanation. Initial explanations are practical and outline the worldly reasons why a terrible event occurred. For believers there is an additional burden — the question of how God could allow such suffering. The deaths on Lag B’Omer at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount…

  By David Wolpe May 1, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | My beloved rabbi was accused of sexual abuse. Now what?

  To the editor, My heart is breaking, because Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, this week accused of “sexually predatory behavior,” is my beloved rabbi and teacher, a mentor who helped me on the road to my career as a rabbi. (“Reform Rabbinic giant disciplined for inappropriate relationships now accused of ‘sexually predatory behavior.’”) As a congregant at…

  By Jo David Apr 30, 2021 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  We’re Jewish advocates for refugees. Biden’s inertia means Congress must act.

  While President Biden made mention of immigration reform in his first address to Congress this week, the fate of refugees was conspicuously absent. After weeks of whiplash for refugees and their advocates, we’re still waiting for clarity on a path forward. On April 16, President Biden announced he would maintain the limit on the number…

  By Mark Hetfield Apr 30, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  It may not seem like it, but justice was done in the Sarah Halimi case

  What happened in Paris on April 4, 2017 was unspeakable. Kobili Traoré, an immigrant from Mali, burst into the apartment of his neighbor, Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old retired doctor. Shouting antisemitic invective, Traoré battered Halimi and then threw her to her death from the window of her third-story apartment, exclaiming “Allahu akhbar” and that he…

  By Robert Zaretsky Apr 30, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  We are all Lag B’Omer pilgrims on Mount Meron

  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. My daughter nudged me as…

  By Jodi Rudoren Apr 30, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  They’re Palestinians facing eviction in east Jerusalem. They may have helped save my family.

  I heard the story countless times. My great-grandfather Raphael, an Arab Jew who was born in Jerusalem, died when my grandfather was 13. Raphael had two business partners. One partner, who was a European Jew, took advantage of the bereft widow, and stole our family’s livelihood. The other partner, an Arab and fellow Jerusalemite, saved…

  By Julia Elyachar Apr 29, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Even ‘apartheid’ doesn’t capture fullness of our Palestinian suffering. But it helps.

  In a recent meeting with a representative of the United Nations, I was asked to suggest concepts that would capture the suffering my family and loved ones in Gaza endure. I froze for a moment, not only because of the surprise of a legal scholar unsuccessfully looking for a concept that would precisely capture Gaza’s…

  By Muhammad Shehada Apr 28, 2021 | 4 min read