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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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Opinion The real reason so many Orthodox Jews voted for Trump
President-elect Biden received the most votes ever cast in a presidential election, surpassing the previous record set by Barack Obama in 2008. But soon-to-be-ex-President Donald Trump also won more votes than Obama ever did. Close to half the Americans who voted in the election did so for Donald Trump. Why? It’s something many Democrats are…
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Opinion Pro-union conservatives are trying to take over the Republican Party. Oren Cass is leading the way.
Oren Cass is a pro-union conservative. If such a thing sounds strange to you, you’re not alone. We’re used to thinking about the Democratic Party as representing the working class, while Republicans are better known for tax cuts for the wealthy and free-market economic policies that hurt laborers. But the data suggest a more complicated…
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Opinion A Yom Kippur confessional for 2025
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Fast Forward Hamas says it’s ready to release all Israeli hostages but does not offer clear ‘yes’ to Trump’s plan
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Fast Forward In Saudi Arabia, Dave Chappelle jokes that ‘I stand with Israel’ would be his code for censorship
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Opinion Two years after Oct. 7, even Israelis are losing faith in Israel
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Fast Forward Israel to spend up to $4.1 million on Christian PR campaign in western U.S., filings show
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