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
Can we bend the boundaries of Shabbat without breaking them?
Never did I imagine, before the pandemic hit a year ago that the Shabbat services I lead would become such a multimedia production. The cameras, the lighting, the monitors, Zoom, livestream, YouTube, Facebook, and most of all, the technicians who work behind the scenes to make it all happen. I am so incredibly proud of…
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Opinion What Jews should learn from the Amanda Gorman translation controversy
Joe Biden’s inauguration was supposed to be a relatively subdued affair, transpiring as it did during a raging pandemic and the aftermath of a violent insurrection at the Capitol. The much-vaunted peaceful transfer of power was less a victory lap than a survivors’ huddle. There were no balls, no galas. Against this backdrop of grey…
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Opinion I’m a Jewish teen exhausted by violence, and I can’t keep waiting for adults to fix it
When the Capitol was being stormed by insurrectionists, I was at home doing virtual high school and worrying about a tough history essay that I was writing. As a teenager growing up in Washington, D.C. — I live about a 30-minute walk from the Capitol — the attack felt very personal and close to home,…
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The Latest
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Opinion Israeli Arab life has gotten better — why aren’t we celebrating?
The mayor of Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel, announced on Feb. 11 that he was backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s March 23 election. Outside of Israel, this landmark development was only sparsely reported on in American media. In a Reuters’ article that highlighted Netanyahu’s anti-Arab history, Arab leaders disparaged the mayor,…
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Letters Letter | No, international law doesn’t require Israel to vaccinate Palestinians
To the editors: I write in response to an op-ed written by Sari Bashi in The Forward titled “Yes, Israel Should Vaccinate all Palestinians. Here’s Why.” Her op-ed creates a false impression that Israel is not vaccinating Palestinians, and appears during a time when antisemites around the world are propagating blood libels about Jews and…
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Letters Letter | Why haven’t the U.N. and Jordan stepped up to vaccinate Palestinians?
To the editors, I do not criticize you for publishing an op-ed advocating and pushing Israel to step up and help vaccinate the Palestinians on the West Bank. (“Yes, Israel should vaccinate all Palestinians. Here’s why.”) After all, who else would care to? The assumption that Israel should vaccinate Palestinians is based solely on the…
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Opinion A Jewish thing happened on the way to our NYC mayoral forum
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 for a PDF of stories to savor over Shabbat and Sunday that you can download and print. Andrew Yang had a “Jewish gentleman”…
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Opinion Why are the Ultra-Orthodox treated like extremists when we vote?
Finally! The Ultra-Orthodox bloc has been defeated! Well, no one put it quite that way — at least not publicly — in January, when a lawsuit brought by the NAACP in the upstate community of East Ramapo was successful, and federal appeals court ruled that the voting method that had elected a majority Orthodox Jewish…
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Letters Letter | Actually, the PA turned down Israeli help with vaccinations
To the editors, The Forward published an op-ed by Sari Bashi, a lawyer and research director at an Arab advocacy organization, that ignored reality while expounding the reasons why Israel should vaccinate all Palestinians. (“Yes, Israel should vaccinate all Palestinians. Here’s why.”) Her claim is based on the Geneva Convention’s Law of Occupation, which requires…
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Opinion Kathryn Garcia: Jewish New Yorkers want results, not political platitudes
In this moment of crisis, we can’t afford for our next mayor to need on-the-job training. With the economic fallout from the pandemic, a bungled vaccine rollout and hate crimes on the rise, too much is at stake. That’s why we need a leader that will get to work. I’m prepared. I am the only…
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Opinion The ICC probe of war crimes against Palestinians will deepen rifts between American Jews
Last Wednesday, the International Criminal Court announced it was opening an investigation into alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories. It was a significant development in a process that has seen countries clash over whether those territories even fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Fatou Bensouda, the court’s outgoing chief prosecutor, succeeded in convincing the…
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Fast Forward Jewish groups defend European media monitors banned for what State Dept. calls ‘censorship’
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Fast Forward British police drop case against Bob Vylan for ‘Death to the IDF’ chant, sparking outrage from Jewish groups
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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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