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
‘Tzedek, tzedek tirdof:’ The Derek Chauvin verdict isn’t justice, but it’s a start
In 2014, the murder of Eric Garner at the hands of a police officer was caught on camera, barely 10 minutes away from where my family lives on Staten Island. In the bystander-caught video, you can hear Garner gasping, “I can’t breathe” 11 times as he lies with his face pressed into the sun-baked concrete….
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Opinion Christian morality is why weed isn’t legal yet
It’s 2021, and the U.S. is still struggling to legalize marijuana, a drug with medical properties that is no more dangerous than legal vices such as alcohol and nicotine. Why? Because the U.S. is a Christian country, with a Christian morality. Not that Judaism promotes uncontrolled intoxication — the Bible contains limits and warnings against…
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Opinion France’s shame makes me a proud Israeli
On Israel’s Independence Day last week, I rushed with my 9-year-old son, Noam, to the Tel Aviv beach to watch the Israeli air force’s annual show. As we walked through a playground and past a busy road by a car-rental company, we heard people in the crowd chattering in at least seven different languages, most…
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Opinion A Jewish mom adopted me. The Supreme Court could make finding a home like mine much harder.
Nine years ago, just before my eighth birthday, I was placed in foster care. My birth mother was extremely ill; I did not expect to go home to her, and had no idea if I would ever see her again. There was a shortage of foster families in my rural county, and none who wanted…
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Opinion Biden’s Palestinian aid package is a start — but doesn’t go nearly far enough
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared the U.S. would restore financial assistance to the Palestinians with a first package totaling $235 million. The package comes as part of what the Biden administration described in a press release as its commitment “to advancing prosperity, security, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians in…
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Opinion ‘Shabbat is my time for figuring out the world’: a Q/A with Robin Washington, our new Editor-at-Large
This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent 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. Something different this week: a…
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Opinion Every reason to celebrate Israel this Yom Ha’atzmaut
The last century witnessed more than its fair share of horrors, but also its allotment of glories: man landing on the moon, breakthroughs in civil and women’s rights and the defeats of both fascism and communism, among other great steps forward. Perhaps two of its greatest stories of the triumph of life over death are…
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Opinion Rabbis weigh in: How should we respond to Bernie Madoff’s death?
On Wednesday, Bernie Madoff, made infamous by an enormous Ponzi scheme that caused devastation throughout the Jewish world, died in a federal prison at age 82. While Jewish tradition puts serious emphasis on honoring the deceased, the death of someone like Madoff, who caused tremendous pain within the Jewish community, is an emotionally fraught challenge…
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Opinion An elusive search for the whole truth in the Chauvin trial
Anyone searching for the truth — as in the whole truth — in the Derek Chauvin trial might be reminded of the Yiddish phrase: a halber emes iz a gantser lign — a half-truth is a whole lie. I’m not suggesting that witnesses have lied on the stand. But neither the prosecutors nor the defense…
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Opinion Derek Chauvin trial: 3 questions America needs to ask about seeking racial justice in a court of law
The following op-ed first appeared in The Conversation. There is a difference between enforcing the law and being the law. The world is now witnessing another in a long history of struggles for racial justice in which this distinction may be ignored. Derek Chauvin, a 45-year-old white former Minneapolis police officer, is on trial for…
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Opinion ‘A guy can be both’: Black and Jewish Like Jesus and Me
Editor’s Note: This is an adapted version of an essay originally published in the 1997 book “Multi-America: Essays on Cultural Wars and Cultural Piece,” edited by Ishmael Reed. We are republishing it now, as the author, Robin Washington, joins the Forward as Editor-at-Large. While some circumstances and facts may have changed — such as the…
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Sports First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Politics This politician refused to say ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ then blamed ‘political correctness’ for the backlash
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Culture We tried to fix Hallmark’s Hanukkah problem. Here’s the movie we made instead
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish יהודה גור-אריה און שירי שפּירא געווינען רובינליכט־פּריז פֿאַר ליטעראַטורYehuda Gur-Arye and Shiri Shapira win Rubinlicht Prize for Literature
די רובינליכט־פֿונדאַציע טיילט צו יערלעכע פּרעמיעס פֿאַר ליטעראַרישער און קולטורעלער טעטיקייט אויף ייִדיש און לטובֿת ייִדיש.
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Yiddish אַ בריוועלע דער מאַמען (אַ דערציילונג) A letter to my mother (story)
בעת אַ ייִדישער סאָלדאַט ליגט אין אַ סאָוועטישן מיליטערישן שפּיטאָל פֿאַרמעסט זיך זײַן מאַמע קעגן דעם ייִדישן הויפּט־דאָקטער
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Fast Forward 2 men found guilty in UK of plotting Islamic State-inspired antisemitic terror attack
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Fast Forward Self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia says he was denied entry at border
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