Opinion

• Opinion

  Rabin’s legacy is not peace. It’s occupation.

  This essay is part of a collection of essays commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. The collection was produced in partnership with BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change. For many, Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy is one of peace. For me, living in the West Bank under occupation without basic human and civil rights, it is the…

  By Issa Amro

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Yitzhak Rabin: Inspiration for Israel’s youth.

  This essay is part of a collection of essays commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. The collection was produced in partnership with BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change. Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated 25 years ago this week, was an unlikely hero for young people. He was a 73-year-old man with a gruff military style who spoke…

  By Kenneth Bob Nov 3, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  As a child of Israel’s periphery, I learned from Rabin we must be equal – and we must be one

  This essay is part of a collection of essays commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. The collection was produced in partnership with BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change. Every November, when the State of Israel comes together to remember Yitzhak Rabin of blessed memory, a number of personal flashbacks rush through my mind. The year…

  By Michael Biton Nov 3, 2020 | 5 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement

  

• Rob Eshman ‘Israel is seen as violent’ — and Israeli chefs, once global culinary icons, are feeling the heat

  

• Nora Berman Did Netanyahu coerce Trump into attacking Iran? No — but he tried with Obama

  

• Dan Perry For Trump and Netanyahu, statecraft is now synonymous with stagecraft

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Editorial | If your guy wins, please don’t gloat.

  Enough name-calling. Enough demonization of the opposition. Enough defining people out of the debate. We’ve had more than enough gloating these last few years. Gloating is easy. Empathy is hard. But empathy is Jewish: Hillel summed up the whole Torah as “what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” And empathy is…

  By Jodi Rudoren Nov 3, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m a professor of human rights. My students taught me the danger posed by Trump.

  My father, a Holocaust survivor and Hungarian refugee, knew oppression when he saw it, and were he alive, he would surely have joined the majority of Jews in voting for Joe Biden during this election. But it is actually the experiences of my current students that have demonstrated to me the gravest dangers of our…

  By Susan Banki Nov 2, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  In 2016, I couldn’t imagine voting for Trump. In 2020, he has my vote.

  Four years ago, I couldn’t imagine voting for Donald Trump. Though my politics were always more conservative on social and fiscal issues, pulling the lever for Trump was unimaginable. While all politicians are flawed and many tend to bend the truth, Trump was unique in his blatant disregard for honesty. So you will not be…

  By Eliezer Brand Nov 2, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Call it by its name: The lesson for US Jews from the UK antisemitism debacle

  American Jews have a lot to learn from their British relatives. As the UK Labour Party antisemitism scandal came to a close this week, the lesson from across the pond was clear: If Jews call antisemitism by its name, others will follow their lead. If they do not, Jews will be left behind. History helps…

  By Ari Hoffman Oct 30, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  We need to take back our Judaism and save our democracy

  The Jewish people are an ideological people. The Jewish State is an ideological state. For as long as the State of Israel aspires to be a Jewish and democratic state, those who control the Judaism will control the democracy. This is not a religious statement. This is a political statement. Yitzhak Rabin, who devoted his…

  By Terry Newman Oct 30, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Voting is important, but it’s far from the most important thing you can do today.

  In the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election, social media is saturated with articles imploring us to vote. Jewish social media is not different; my feeds are awash in articles and posts telling me what Judaism says about voting, or even about who to vote for. “It is time for Jews to wake…

  By Eliezer Zalmanov Oct 30, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why haredi rabbis, famous for their pragmatism, just backed a losing candidate

  On Sunday, with just over a week to go until the 2020 election, rabbinic leaders of American haredi Judaism made clear that they want to see four more years of President Donald Trump. In an open letter addressed to Trump, thirteen leading rabbis commended the president for his defense of “religious liberty” and for designating…

  By Judah Isseroff Oct 29, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  This election summed up in 2 numbers — and your weekend reads

  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. Who knew democracy would require this much math? As the hours tick down…

  By Jodi Rudoren Oct 29, 2020 | 5 min read