In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Opinion
Many Orthodox Americans feel more in common with Republicans than with fellow Jews
Generally speaking, American Jews are liberal and identify with the Democratic Party. That is, apparently, unless you are Orthodox. The new Pew study released this week found that 75% of Orthodox Jews identify as Republican, up from 57% in 2013, the last time a similar survey was conducted. None of this, I would venture, is…
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Opinion Israeli leaders should move for a ceasefire immediately
From my 12 years at Jewish Day School, I remember countless assemblies and programs showcasing videos of Israeli missile alert sirens, followed by civilians running to shelters and, often, the Iron Dome’s missile interceptions. Despite the fact that we were in America, we were taught to feel personally connected to Israelis being bombarded by missiles,…
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Opinion What do my children understand – and what should I tell them – about the Israeli-Palestinian violence?
It is with heartbreak and concern that so many American Jewish adults are gazing towards the Middle East. But what do American Jewish children know about the current violence in Israel and Gaza? And how ought the adults who love them—parents, grandparents, and teachers—talk with them about it? As a social scientist who studies Jewish…
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Opinion Hamas rocketed my hometown — and the White House is responsible
As I write, the sirens have stopped wailing, the Iron Dome has finished its dull thumping, and people have left the bomb shelters. Gaza’s rocketeers have switched their sights from my hometown Beit Shemesh, but the sky over Tel Aviv is now lit up with a murderous pyrotechnic display. Across Israel, tens of thousands of…
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Opinion ‘Let’s all get together:’ A backstory on this weekend’s online Shabbaton for Jews of Color
In suburban Boston during the 1990s, I once caught a glimpse of a Black man wearing a kippah as he exited a shop next to my daughter’s gymnastics class. After dropping her off, I doubled-back to approach him gingerly. Or maybe not so gingerly. “Hey you!” I yelled — startling him, but beginning what Rick…
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Opinion Modern Jewish families are interfaith— that’s something to embrace
Two months ago, the chair of a board for a national Jewish organization shared that intermarriage keeps him up at night. There was nothing new about his concern. Jewish worry around intermarriage is ancient, springing from the Torah itself and millennia of commentary. For centuries, when a Jew chose to “marry out,” families sat shiva….
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Opinion My father stood with Israel when it was under attack. Will we?
Every day, I read about our complicated world in the news. And I ask myself: what would my father think about this? And what would he have done? Many days, it’s not easy to know. But I’m relieved to know that the answer today is clear. Rockets have been launched at Ashdod, Ashkelon, Tel Aviv…
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Opinion If you’re asking American Jews if they’re religious, you don’t understand American Jews
(JTA) — In Sheldon Oberman’s children’s book “The Always Prayer Shawl,” a grandfather passes on his tallit to his grandson along with the sage advice, “Some things change and some things don’t.” At public readings, Oberman wore his grandfather’s tallit, which had inspired the story. When a non-Jewish author told him that she wished she…
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Opinion What the new Pew study missed by not asking about Yiddish
Read this article in Yiddish. When I heard that the Pew Research Center was releasing its new report on American Jewish identity, and that it had added more measures of expressing Jewishness than it did in its landmark 2013 study, I was sure that “learning Yiddish” or “engaging in Yiddish culture” would be included. After…
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Opinion Diverse families like mine are the Jewish future
As we move towards the 54th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized interracial marriage across the United States, I’m consistently reminded that, throughout American history, the fortunes of the multicultural and multiethnic family have been inextricably linked to legal definitions of race. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died…
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Opinion What does it mean to be a liberal Zionist in the era of Sheikh Jarrah?
Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) ended in tragedy as Hamas rockets struck the outskirts of the holy city and Israel responded with airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. This followed several days of violent clashes between Palestinians and police, as well as Jewish extremists. One of the recent flashpoints in Jerusalem involves the impending eviction of Palestinian…
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News What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Childhood
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News An audiobook narrator told Zionists to kill themselves. A popular romance novelist hired him anyway.
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Opinion The dark message behind Tucker Carlson’s attempt to drum up drama in Israel
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Opinion The ‘Hymietown’ affair degraded Black-Jewish relations. Jesse Jackson wasn’t the real culprit
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