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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Opinion
Old antisemitic tropes found new life in Phoenix
On Oct. 29, a video emerged of an anti-vaxxer ranting at a local school board meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, where she used a public comment period to espouse hateful conspiracies about Jews, whom she accused of controlling the pharmaceutical industry. Her accusations dripped with many of the classic conspiratorial tropes that have dogged Jews for…
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Opinion The ‘tomahawk chop’ is racist. So why are my fellow Jews still supporting it?
At Shabbat dinner Frank LaMere, a HoChunk Nation Elder and lifelong Native American Rights Activist, implored those gathered to “do something about those Braves.” I hosted this particular Shabbat dinner in Atlanta in 2016 at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. The event featured Native and Jewish leaders as well as elected officials….
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Opinion Divorcing your husband is tough. Separating from your synagogue is harder
For me, family and synagogue have always been intertwined. Growing up with unhappy parents, shul became a refuge where I felt contained and coddled by ancient stories and unchanging rituals. I looked forward to raising my own children with a close connection to a congregation. However, when I married a resolutely secular Israeli, he made…
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Opinion Sunrise DC hurts Jewish progressives like us — but not in the way you think
“You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” This quote from Pirkei Avot is recited so often among Jewish activists that it can feel like a cliche. Many of us have heard it in moments of exhaustion, pessimism or despondence. Last month, Sunrise DC, a local…
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Opinion Conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism erases the violence Orthodox Jews like me face
A lot of antisemitism — perhaps even most — has little or nothing to do with the State of Israel. While anti-Zionism often serves as a helpful cover for overt bigots, conflating the two not only misunderstands and misstates the problem, but is also dangerous. Last week, the American Jewish Committee published a survey about…
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Opinion Henry Kissinger wasn’t bad for Israel — he helped save it
Kissinger was a skilled statesman whose diplomatic strategy helped Israel in fundamental ways
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Opinion Sunrise DC was wrong. But liberal Jewish groups remain complicit in occupation
From the moment the statement dropped on Twitter, it was entirely predictable what would happen next. After Sunrise DC announced they were withdrawing from a voting rights coalition because of the participation of three major Jewish organizations on Tuesday, Oct. 19, many leaders in the Jewish community labeled Sunrise DC’s behavior as antisemitic, which major…
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Opinion We are Jews from Pittsburgh. Please don’t use the Tree of Life tragedy for political gain
On Oct. 27, 2018, a white supremacist opened fire in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh during Shabbat services, killing eleven people and injuring two. Three years later, in the beginning of October, Pittsburgh hosted the three-day Eradicate Hate Global Summit, presented in honor of the members of our community murdered and wounded in…
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Opinion How to lie with statistics, antisemitism edition
If 174,000 American Jews had been physically attacked in the past year, you’d think we’d all have heard about it. That’s roughly five times the number of Jews who were assaulted, had their businesses vandalized or were sent to concentration camps during Kristallnacht, the worst pogrom of the 20th century. Yet that’s the tsunami of…
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Opinion Growing up Jewish in Mexico, Dia De Los Muertos was forbidden to me. Here’s why I now proudly celebrate it
This essay originally appeared in Hey Alma. Growing up with one foot in Mexico and one foot in the United States, I am no stranger to the idea of straddling two cultures. In religious studies, we call this idea liminality. Vampires, centaurs, even Jesus Christ (as both divine and human) are all liminal beings. To…
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Opinion My Serbian grandfather was killed during the Holocaust. How he died remained a secret — until now
My grandfather Alexander Brill was murdered in Belgrade, Yugoslavia 80 years ago this November. My family only learned the date — Nov. 13, 1941 — in 2017 when we received documents from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. When you think of the Holocaust, you likely think of massive death camps, gas chambers, cattle cars, prisoner…
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News Joe Kent, Trump official with white supremacist ties, resigns over Iran war and blames Israel
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish װער מעג שפּילן אַ ייִד? אַ סיכסוך אין דײַטשלאַנדWho can play a Jew — A debate in Germany
אין בערלין דעבאַטירט מען פּאָליטישע ענינים דװקא אין טעאַטער — און דאָס הײַפֿל ייִדן אין לאַנד געפֿינט זיך אין צענטער
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Books In three centuries of Southern Jewish life in the Big Easy, no easy way to be Jewish
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Yiddish „קיין שוועדיש רעדט מען נישט!“ — אַ ייִדיש־טאָג בײַם לונדער אוניװערסיטעט ‘No speaking Swedish here!’ — Yiddish Day in Lund University
די 30 אָנטייל־נעמערס זענען געקומען פֿון גאַנץ שװעדן, נאָרװעגיע, פֿינלאַנד און אַנדערע אייראָפּעיִשע לענדער.
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Opinion We’re forgetting the lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
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