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
Don’t be distracted by the Ben & Jerry’s mishigas— the real challenge is the occupation
Ben and Jerry’s decision to stop selling their ice cream in the settlements caught the new Israeli government by surprise. After years of the Netanyahu-Trump quite effectively shelving the Palestinian issue and the (very welcomed) signing of normalization treaties between Israel and four Arab countries for the first time in over 25 years, the movement…
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Opinion What was lost in the Ben & Jerry’s Israel meltdown
Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop distributing its products in West Bank settlements has unleashed a head-swirling discourse about BDS, ice cream and antisemitism that is quite disproportionate to the effect the Vermont-based company will actually have. But all this Chunky Monkey is hiding a more a concerning story: Despite the anger of some pro-Israel…
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Opinion I played Israeli professional baseball. Here’s why this year’s Olympic team gives me hope.
As Israel’s Olympic baseball team makes its way to Tokyo, they might capture more hearts here in America than back home. After all, it feels like there are more baseball diamonds in my town of Maple Glen, Penn., than there are in the entire country of Israel. But while baseball may not be at the…
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Opinion How to be sad on Tisha B’av
Here are nine strategies to get in the right headspace on the saddest day of the Jewish calendar.
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Opinion Debate | Should supporting Israel be a litmus test for participation in a rally against antisemitism?
Last Sunday, thousands gathered in the nation’s capital to protest a rise in antisemitism. The “No Fear: A Rally In Solidarity With The Jewish People” event was organized in response to the global uptick in antisemitic attacks during the last round of violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in May. The rally brought…
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Opinion Having a miscarriage made me realize how badly we are failing Jewish women
The most shocking thing was how quickly it happened. One moment I was full of hope, and the next I was crying in a hospital bed while my husband held my hand. “Don’t worry,” cooed the nurse. “You are young and healthy. You’ll have another baby soon.” After leaving the hospital, my husband drove me…
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Opinion Israeli occupied West Bank has two legal systems— one for Jews, one for Palestinians
For decades, Israeli governments have publicly preferred to leave the status of the West Bank — home to nearly three million Palestinians and half a million Jewish settlers — shrouded in ambiguous terms like “administered” or “disputed” territory. But these ambiguous terms conceal a troubling reality: the West Bank is governed by a double legal…
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Opinion How a forgotten Brooklyn Congressman helped start the US-Israel relationship
A letter signed by 73 House Democrats on June 23 urged President Joe Biden to abandon his predecessor’s tilt toward Israel and to return to a “longstanding, bipartisan United States policy” on Israeli-Palestinian relations. While it may seem like a drastic change in American foreign policy following four years of President Trump, it actually invokes…
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Opinion Dropping my kids off at Jewish summer camp taught me how to let go
For many, our slow-motion exodus from the pandemic has yielded a harvest of mundane yet miraculous firsts — handshakes, hugs, houseguests, days back in the office, unmasked cappuccinos at our favorite cafes and many more. I have savored these reunions with life as I once knew it, yet none of them prepared me for dropping…
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Opinion What the Surfside tragedy teaches us about ‘critical maintenance’
While driving my daughter to her viola lesson this week, we heard a radio story about the condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla. — an event as absurd as it is agonizing. As one resident in the neighboring tower put it, these things are not supposed to happen in this country. As a structural engineer being…
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Opinion YOUR TURN: Reader stories of vaccine-dilemmas at hair salons and beyond
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. It’s happening in hair salons…
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