Opinion

• Opinion

  Our yeshiva day schools have a binge-drinking problem. Here’s what we can do about it.

  (JTA) — Purim, which begins on Thursday night, is perhaps the happiest Jewish holiday of the year. It can also be distressing, as adults and young people use the spirit of relative abandon to indulge in binge drinking and other irresponsible behaviors. Make no mistake: Substance use and binge drinking are of great concern to…

  By Rivka Press Schwartz and Rabbi Tully Harcstzark

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Save a single life, save an entire world:’ Faith leaders must stop fighting COVID restrictions

  After a year marked by loss — of loved ones, community, a sense of normalcy — it takes no stretch of the imagination to understand why people of faith across the country yearn to return to houses of worship. I am among them. A Zoom call can never replace the experience of being in the…

  By Jack Moline Feb 23, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The California ethnic studies antisemitism firestorm is far from over

  In recent days, the national Jewish community has focused on the ethnic studies model curriculum making its way through the approval process in California. The curriculum created a furor in 2019, when its first draft promoted gratuitous and offensive antisemitic and anti-Israel biases. California is the most populous state in the country and often serves…

  By Seth Brysk Feb 22, 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Why all American Jews should care about New York’s mayoral election

  More than 30 people are running to be the next mayor of New York City, including a former Democratic presidential hopeful, several candidates with years of service in city government, and more than a few unknown longshots. Trying to follow the race, especially as it debuts a new experiment in ranked-choice voting, can be dizzying…

  By Ruth Messinger Feb 22, 2021 | 5 min read
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  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 Feb 19, 2021 | 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
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  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