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
The fights over Sheikh Jarrah reveal the folly of relitigating Israel’s founding
Defending the pending evictions of as many as 300 Palestinian residents from East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Aryeh King rhetorically asked: “If you are the owner of the property, and someone was squatting on your property, wouldn’t you have the right to take him from your property?” But the story is more…
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Opinion Israel’s new government won’t be perfect. But as a former Knesset leader, I know they can make progress on six key issues.
The unity government taking shape in Israel is complicated, but it is not doomed. New leadership means new opportunities to create real change. There is a chance that the new government — which includes diverse ideological groups, is younger and more liberal than previous governments, and is not committed to the grave mistakes of Netanyahu…
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Opinion Don’t blame tragedies like Mount Meron — or the Holocaust — on imperfect faith
Soon after the Lag B’Omer tragedy on Mount Meron, the prominent Haredi rabbi Chaim Kanievsky said that women needed to more strictly adhere to laws of modesty to help “rectify the divine decree.” His words shocked me. And they made me think about how my mother, Sala, would have grieved for the families of the…
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Opinion What I learned about Israeli politics from Yair Lapid
This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly newsletter 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. “I’m in no hurry,” Yair…
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Opinion The U.S. must fight for fair Palestinian elections — and Israel should, too
After years of hibernation due to internal conflict, Palestinians were expecting to head to the polls on May 22 to choose local representatives to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) — until those elections were (again) postponed indefinitely by President Mahmoud Abbas last week. Those who preach to Palestinians about democracy, including Americans and others in…
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Opinion I was an Army rabbi. The chaplaincy’s white, Christian leadership must diversify.
Imagine if there was a job in America — a government job — that was advertised with the condition that “Jews, Muslims, women, Mormons, LGBTQ people and Black people need not apply.“ We would be shocked. But without things spelled out so explicitly, in the Army Chaplain Corps, this kind of perspective is business as…
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Opinion Toxic leadership in the Jewish world goes beyond sexual misconduct. A reckoning must come.
We’re in the middle of yet another reckoning with abuse in the Jewish community. The Forward reported last week that a former senior leader of the Reform movement had sexually assaulted members of his congregation and may have committed other acts of abuse and harassment — and that the Reform movement may have kept details…
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Opinion My son was at the Mount Meron disaster
At least 15 people were initially reported dead and dozens injured after a stampede at a religious celebration in Israel
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Opinion Is ousting Netanyahu really worth elevating Naftali Bennett?
Israelis who wish to end the seemingly infinite tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have in recent days pinned their hopes on a new idea: the prospect of a national-unity government led by Naftali Bennett, a former defense minister who heads the right-wing Yamina party. In theory, this Bennett-led government would be non-ideological, and the…
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Opinion For George Floyd’s yahrzeit, say his name
If you do nothing else over Shabbat on May 14 and 15, whether you go to shul or not, say kaddish. And say it for George Floyd. Say his name. George Floyd was killed on May 25, or 2 Sivan, which corresponds to May 13 this year. If it is your tradition on the following…
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Opinion How to grapple with the Lag B’Omer tragedy? Remember fate is random.
Every tragedy seems to cry out for an explanation. Initial explanations are practical and outline the worldly reasons why a terrible event occurred. For believers there is an additional burden — the question of how God could allow such suffering. The deaths on Lag B’Omer at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount…
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