Opinion

• Opinion

  Israeli President Reuven Rivlin: In an era of divisons, Jews must emphasize our ties to one another

  A decade after the founding of the State of Israel, the country’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, approached some 50 of the world’s most renowned Jewish leaders and asked their opinion on one seemingly simple question: “Who is a Jew?” Among those he asked were scholars and the wisest students, all over the world. He…

  By Reuven Rivlin

  3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  I’ve been helping Orthodox Jews fight addiction and mental illness for decades. Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski made our work possible.

  (JTA) — On Sunday, the Jewish community lost one of the biggest forces fighting for those who are suffering the most. At Amudim, a crisis intervention organization serving the Orthodox Jewish community, we have been humbled by the increasing number of community members who have come to accept the realities of mental health challenges in…

  By Rabbi Zvi Gluck Feb 8, 2021 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The bad faith behind Zionist activists’ latest try to win the left

  On Monday, Rudy Rochman, a bombastic, keffiyeh-wearing Zionist activist, will debate famed academic Noam Chomsky. It’s a mismatched and bizarre pairing: a world-renowned linguist whose ideas on Zionism and the state of Israel have shaped leftist discourse for decades versus a glorified college activist whose works include the YouTube videos “Avatar Jewish Connection” and “Breaking…

  By Jonah Goldman Kay and Sylvie Rosen Feb 7, 2021 | 4 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

• 
  Opinion

  What’s a Snow Day? Another conundrum of our new normal

  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 One of the most memorable things…

  By Jodi Rudoren Feb 5, 2021 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  ‘My Birthright trip was super radicalizing:’ A conversation with IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger

  In the last decade, Max Berger has had his hands in some of the most prominent and disruptive left-wing campaigns, ranging from IfNotNow, Occupy Wall Street and Justice Democrats — a group that supports primary challengers to centrist Democrats — to Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign. Berger, 35, whose activism is rooted in his opposition…

  By Zachariah Sippy Feb 3, 2021 | 7 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Don’t compare antisemitism on the left and right. Marjorie Taylor Greene proves it’s not the same.

  After a long year of American crises, 2021 began with a violent insurrection incited by Donald Trump. The events of Jan. 6 represented an unprecedented attack on our democracy, culminating in domestic terrorists infiltrating and desecrating the U.S. Capitol at the urging of the President of the United States. Today, it’s clear that while Trump…

  By Halie Soifer Feb 3, 2021 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Don’t laugh at Marjorie Taylor Greene — her Jewish constituents must live with her hate

  Disturbed, exhausted, frightened, frustrated, hurt — these are only a few words members of the Rome, Ga. synagogue Rodeph Sholom have used to describe their reactions to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Within the last week, Greene, a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory, was revealed to have publicly called for the execution of top…

  By Zoe Katz Feb 3, 2021 | 5 min read
• 
  Letters

  Letter | Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto Museum should be celebrated, not attacked

  Editor: On Jan. 27, 2021 G. Paulson, M. Dobkowski and S. Munn “objected,” in these pages, to the work of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, which I direct. They claimed that as “sons and grandsons of survivors” they should have a right to define the museum’s vision and content. But they overlooked the fact that the…

  By Albert Stankowski Feb 1, 2021 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Jewish Space Laser Agency responds: We didn’t start the fire

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE From the Office of the Jewish Space Laser Agency We have witnessed some outlandish claims this week from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene about the Jewish people and our space laser. The Jewish Space Laser Agency is the main body responsible for the Jewish Space Laser, and should be the first stop for…

  By Emil Stern, and Sigmund Stern, and Yoni Weinberg Jan 31, 2021 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Biden has taken the first steps on reproductive justice. Jews must push him further.

  On Thursday, the Biden administration took action to expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion. These steps include rescinding the global gag rule and restoring federal funding to organizations abroad that provide abortion services or do related work, and directing the Department of Health and Human Services to review Title X, the first step…

  By Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and Sheila Katz Jan 29, 2021 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Andrew Yang’s $1000-a-month stipend reminds me of a time-honored Jewish tradition

  Read this article in Yiddish. Imagine a world in the not-so-distant future when most jobs in our economy will be replaced by machines; not just blue-collar workers like truck drivers and garbage collectors, but also accountants, bookkeepers, teachers, even doctors and lawyers. Let’s face it, the rapid transition to automation is going to happen because…

  By Rukhl Schaechter Jan 28, 2021 | 3 min read