Opinion

• Opinion

  What David Sedaris’ failed joke exposed about liberals after Trump

  This week, a satirical monologue by famed humorist David Sedaris went viral — in the bad way. During the two-minute bit which appeared on the CBS Sunday Morning program, Sedaris suggested the idea of a “citizen’s dismissal” that would allow people to fire retail and service sector employees for delivering poor service. A social media…

  By Shant Mesrobian

  4 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | It’s naive to expect that politics wont come up in synagogue

  Dear Editor, In a recent Forward article, Adrienne Skolnik accused her former congregation of being unwelcome to Republicans. As a member of that same synagogue, I strongly disagree with her characterization of my community. While Skolnik claims that “for not conforming to a specific political groupthink, [she] was censored, silenced and squeezed out of a…

  By Leonard Koenick Dec 8, 2020 | < 1 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | Is a deli that serves so much bacon really ‘Jewish’ or just ‘Jew-ISH’?

  Dear Editor, I enjoyed Arno Rosenfeld’s December 4 article in these pages entitled “The owner of my favorite bagel shop is… Biden’s new COVID-19 czar?” about Jeff Zients, owner of the “Call Your Mother” bagel shop. I ate takeout from there just last week. Arno described it very fairly, I think, as a Jewish deli,…

  By Steve Rabinowitz Dec 7, 2020 | < 1 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

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  Opinion

  Who’s afraid of ‘Critical Race Theory’? Jews should embrace the right’s latest bogeyman

  Critical Race Theory has become the latest misunderstood academic bogeyman in politics. From Donald Trump to Senator Josh Hawley to Jewish publications across the nation, everyone seems to think that the greatest threat facing our nation is a rather obscure academic discipline that examines systemic racial inequality in America. It’s no surprise that conservative politicians…

  By Mia Brett Dec 7, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s silence about the Uighur genocide is a shanda

  What responsibility does Israel have to the world to intervene in a genocide? Does “Never Again” apply as a post-Holocaust lesson to the world, or does it only apply to the Jewish people? While refusal to act in such dire circumstances is surely an abrogation of basic moral principles, Israel’s particular history also makes silence…

  By B. Lana Guggenheim Dec 4, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Yes, Palestinians have the right to speak about antisemitism

  Earlier this week, a group of 122 prominent Palestinian and Arab scholars and intellectuals signed a petition about antisemitism. In it, they took on the question of whether anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic, taking aim at the definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Among other things, the IHRA working definition holds that…

  By David N. Myers Dec 4, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Let’s say yes!’ and other lessons from our Zoom Mitzvah

  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 to download and print a PDF of Your Weekend Reads. We were invited to not one but three Bnei Mitzvah on March 21,…

  By Jodi Rudoren Dec 4, 2020 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  China is committing a genocide. Silence is not an option.

  The Chinese government’s persecution of the majority Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang takes many forms.

  By Stephen D. Smith Dec 4, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The secret to Birthright’s success fighting intermarriage? It doesn’t fight intermarriage.

  Brandeis University’s Jewish Futures Project just released a blockbuster report following-up on Birthright Israel’s first decade of applicants that should have had Jews united in celebration. Long-term tracking of Birthright alumni shows that judging by eighteen key criteria of positive Jewish involvement, from feeling connected to Israel to attending religious services to having Jewish friends…

  By Gil Troy Dec 3, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Debate | Is Biden’s Obama throwback cabinet good or bad for millennial Jews?

  This week, President-elect Joe Biden announced many of his cabinet picks. And to some, they were eerily familiar, names of people who had served under President Obama or who were adjacent to Obama’s cabinet. Is some good old fashioned stability just what the doctor ordered? Or are we overdue for some serious change? We asked…

  By Ari Hoffman and Joel Swanson Dec 2, 2020 | 8 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop comparing my relationship to Kamala’s. Not all interracial marriages are the same.

  Recently, a Jewish writer friend told me I should write about being “a Jewish guy married to a woman of color.” Supposedly, an essay on the topic would be of interest because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is married to an Ashkenazi gentleman. I had to disagree. The idea that I am joined to Harris and…

  By Jay Deitcher Dec 2, 2020 | 3 min read