Opinion

• Opinion

  A new declaration aims to fight antisemitism without curtailing free speech

  Antisemitism is on the rise, with powerful instigators behind it, but the struggle against it is at risk of being derailed by acrimonious divisions among Jews and others over its very meaning. The drive for adoption of a single, fixed definition of antisemitism has devolved into a polemical political debate on Israel and Palestine with…

  By Elissa Bemporad & Alon Confino & Derek Penslar

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  This year, I learned the pain and beauty of praying outside

  This essay originally appeared in the New York Jewish Week. Friday night. We are standing in a paved plaza beside Riverside Drive; the air is crisp, the fresh snow is sparkling like diamond dust in the setting sun. We are 6 feet apart and masked (I can’t wait for this combined phrase to become obsolete)….

  By Esther Sperber Mar 24, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The world is in pain this Passover. These rabbis have wisdom to help us embrace it.

  (JTA) — This Passover, redemption feels so close — yet so far away. Nearly 50 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19; at least 543,000 have died from the disease. Some of us are able to safely gather with others for the Seder this year; many of us are still separated from loved ones….

  By Laura E. Adkins Mar 24, 2021 | 5 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 Netanyahu’s new Gaza plan is a disaster. But it contains a tiny kernel of wisdom

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Israelis hold liberal views. Why do they vote right-wing?

  “Polls are like perfume, you can smell, but never taste” said the late Shimon Peres — meaning that while polls prevent politicians from being blindsided by events, they are not a certain predictor of election results. Today’s polls indicate that the power of the Israeli Zionist left has been in serious decline. From a peak…

  By Kobi Cohen Mar 23, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Biden’s COVID relief plan is a balm for Orthodox Jews

  It’s highly unlikely that members of Congress had Jewish education, advanced Torah study or even Orthodox Jews in their minds when forging the ambitious American Rescue Plan that, after being signed into law by President Biden last week, will infuse nearly $2 trillion into the economy to counter the effects of the past year’s COVID…

  Mar 22, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why the Arab Joint List is the party that best represents my Jewish values

  I am one of the millions of Israelis who are planning to vote in Israel’s national election on Tuesday — the country’s fourth in less than two years. This time around, 13 parties are competing; 11 are Jewish parties that span the political spectrum, and two are Palestinian-led: Ra’am and the Joint List, a coalition…

  By Abby Seitz Mar 22, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Naftali Bennett Israel’s Ted Cruz? Comparisons to help you make sense of the Israeli election.

  Keeping track of the myriad players in Israel’s election on Tuesday can be dizzying, even though we’ve seen this movie before, as this is the Jewish state’s fourth balloting in less than two years. For confused Americans who want to follow along but are unsure how to understand all of the major players — what’s…

  By Joel Swanson Mar 22, 2021 | 8 min read
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  Opinion

  Isolating our grandparents – medically necessary, but devastating for Jewish continuity

  Read this article in Yiddish It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed us all. During this time, more than half a million people in the United States have died of the virus. You’d think that a devastation of this kind would have thrown our society into shock. Last spring and summer,…

  By Rukhl Schaechter Mar 22, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Yes, really: Hamas and the PA want to see Netanyahu win

  As we inch closer to Israel’s fourth election in two years, there’s understandable fatigue and indifference overwhelming Israelis. It’s overwhelming Palestinians, too: unfortunately, we see no glimmer of hope in most of the competing parties. The differences among Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gideon Sa’ar, Naftali Bennet, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman are largely irrelevant. Dehumanizing…

  By Muhammad Shehada Mar 22, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘We simply feel forgotten about:’ 9 Asian American Jews speak

  The United States is in the middle of a devastating spike in hate crimes against Asian-Americans, with nearly 3,800 incidents of hate reported to the organization Stop AAPI Hate in the last year. (AAPI refers to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.) Between broad under-reporting of hate crimes against Asian Americans and the lack of a…

  By Talya Zax and Zachariah Sippy Mar 20, 2021 | 10 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | My fellow Jews: It’s time to stop heaping blame on Tamika Mallory

  To the editors: The Forward’s coverage of the Recording Academy’s award show, “The Grammys Highlighted Jews of Color But Picked a Strange Champion for Racial Justice,” was not only disappointingly condescending, it was also an extraordinary demonstration of presumption and entitlement. What gives The Forward the right to tell Black people who is the best…

  By Barat Ellman Mar 19, 2021 | 3 min read