Opinion

• Opinion

  Dear President Biden: ‘Chase justice,’ and other messages from religious scholars

  Prof. Marc Brettler started writing his letter to Joe Biden before he actually became president, optimistic for what the future held. But after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, Brettler said in an interview, he went back and edited the letter to emphasize “the urgency to call for justice.” “There was this sense that…

  By Zachariah Sippy

  6 min read
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  Opinion

  Our synagogue’s Big Idea: shakshuka, scones, maybe a little singing

  This is an adaptation of our weekly Shabbat newsletter, sent by our editor-in-chief 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. The president of our synagogue called…

  By Jodi Rudoren Feb 19, 2021 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Why it’s essential that Hamas run in the next Palestinian election

  The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has called on the U.S. and the international community in recent weeeks to push against the participation of an “unreformed Hamas” in the upcoming Palestinian elections. AIPAC argues that Hamas, an Islamist group that the State Department counts as terrorist, should not be allowed to participate in the balloting…

  By Muhammad Shehada Feb 18, 2021 | 4 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

• 
  Opinion

  The fight against QAnon in government is only just beginning

  Over the course of our long history, the Jewish people have seen, with devastating frequency, what happens when antisemitism is granted a foothold. Dangerous on the fringes, it swiftly becomes deadly when granted legitimacy. There is no middle ground with an ideology that seeks the elimination of an entire people. Today the American people —…

  By Joshua Lesser Feb 18, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump was acquitted — now the hard work of leaving him behind begins

  The results of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial are in, and they are likely to satisfy nobody. As expected, the final tally of votes fell well short of the supermajority needed for a conviction, disappointing Democrats who had hoped to finally land a knockout blow on Trump’s future political prospects. Less expected was that seven…

  By Ari Hoffman Feb 17, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Christian tone of Bruce Springsteen’s Super Bowl ad was meaningful, not exclusionary

  Two recent pieces in The Forward, and a lot of commentary on social media, expressed serious discomfort with Jeep’s Super Bowl ad titled “The Middle,” featuring Bruce Springsteen. The ad, which spoke eloquently about the urgent need to overcome our national polarization, was set in Lebanon, Kansas, the site of the geographic center of the…

  By Perry Dane Feb 17, 2021 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  3 years after Parkland, only education can battle resurgent conspiracy theories

  If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. That’s what QAnon adherents are trying to do with their conspiracy theories about pedophile cults and satanic worship — claims so outlandish as to seem laughable, except that, for some people, they have become enshrined as truth. One of those true believers is sitting…

  By Stephen D. Smith Feb 14, 2021 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The world faces new antisemitic threats, and Biden must adopt new tools to fight them

  As seditionists attacked our Capitol building with antisemitic symbols adorned to their tactical vests, emblazoned on their shirts and scrawled on flags they waved, America witnessed the latest results of a growing global crisis of antisemitism our nation can no longer afford to ignore. In the past five years, we have observed a dramatic change…

  By Sharon Nazarian Feb 13, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump has not done teshuva — so the Senate must convict him

  Even for those of us whose hearts are hardened and who have tragically come to expect a certain degree of political violence in our system, the video was still hard to watch. Footage shown for the first time this week during the second impeachment trial of former President Trump reveals just how close the events…

  By Joel Swanson Feb 13, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t an excuse to minimize Ilhan Omar’s rhetoric

  Editor: The Jewish Democratic Council of America’s CEO, Haile Soifer, in these pages, attempted to minimize Ilhan Omar’s antisemitism. Soifer’s op-ed, “Don’t Compare antisemitism on the left and right. Marjorie Taylor Greene proves it’s not the same” is a classic case of left-wing revisionism. Soifer suggests that the only moment of note when Omar expressed…

  By Richard Sherman Feb 12, 2021 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  How Springsteen’s Super Bowl ad and David Schoen’s yarmulke are connected

  This is an adaptation of our weekly Shabbat newsletter, sent by our editor-in-chief 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 I spent a lot of this…

  By Jodi Rudoren Feb 12, 2021 | 4 min read