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
Bruce Springsteen’s Super Bowl ad offered a powerful vision of American unity — for Christians
(JTA) — The two-minute advertisement, for Jeep, appeared late in Sunday’s Super Bowl. “The Middle,” narrated by Bruce Springsteen, is a meditation on the theme of national unity. In the wake of President Biden’s call to honor unity, bipartisanship and civility, the words should have been compelling: “The middle has been a hard place to…
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Opinion The Myanmar coup puts genocide victims in new peril. We must not sit by.
The military coup in Myanmar on Sunday was shocking but hardly surprising. After generals seized a democratically-elected leader and troops cut off telecommunications, we must ask: How can we protect Myanmar’s most vulnerable, who are already suffering a genocide? The Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, seized power following a decade-long experiment in democracy. Although…
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Opinion We’re running out of time to preserve endangered Jewish languages. Here’s how we can stop them from being lost forever.
(JTA) — I can’t stop thinking about Flory Jagoda, Joseph Sassoon and Kitty Sassoon – three American Jews in their 90s who died last week. As an Ashkenazi Jew, I do not share their family backgrounds. But their deaths hit home for me, as they were among the last native speakers of endangered Jewish languages…
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Opinion Israeli President Reuven Rivlin: In an era of divisons, Jews must emphasize our ties to one another
A decade after the founding of the State of Israel, the country’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, approached some 50 of the world’s most renowned Jewish leaders and asked their opinion on one seemingly simple question: “Who is a Jew?” Among those he asked were scholars and the wisest students, all over the world. He…
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Opinion I’ve been helping Orthodox Jews fight addiction and mental illness for decades. Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski made our work possible.
(JTA) — On Sunday, the Jewish community lost one of the biggest forces fighting for those who are suffering the most. At Amudim, a crisis intervention organization serving the Orthodox Jewish community, we have been humbled by the increasing number of community members who have come to accept the realities of mental health challenges in…
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Opinion The bad faith behind Zionist activists’ latest try to win the left
On Monday, Rudy Rochman, a bombastic, keffiyeh-wearing Zionist activist, will debate famed academic Noam Chomsky. It’s a mismatched and bizarre pairing: a world-renowned linguist whose ideas on Zionism and the state of Israel have shaped leftist discourse for decades versus a glorified college activist whose works include the YouTube videos “Avatar Jewish Connection” and “Breaking…
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Opinion What’s a Snow Day? Another conundrum of our new normal
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 One of the most memorable things…
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Opinion ‘My Birthright trip was super radicalizing:’ A conversation with IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger
In the last decade, Max Berger has had his hands in some of the most prominent and disruptive left-wing campaigns, ranging from IfNotNow, Occupy Wall Street and Justice Democrats — a group that supports primary challengers to centrist Democrats — to Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign. Berger, 35, whose activism is rooted in his opposition…
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Opinion Don’t compare antisemitism on the left and right. Marjorie Taylor Greene proves it’s not the same.
After a long year of American crises, 2021 began with a violent insurrection incited by Donald Trump. The events of Jan. 6 represented an unprecedented attack on our democracy, culminating in domestic terrorists infiltrating and desecrating the U.S. Capitol at the urging of the President of the United States. Today, it’s clear that while Trump…
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Opinion Don’t laugh at Marjorie Taylor Greene — her Jewish constituents must live with her hate
Disturbed, exhausted, frightened, frustrated, hurt — these are only a few words members of the Rome, Ga. synagogue Rodeph Sholom have used to describe their reactions to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Within the last week, Greene, a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory, was revealed to have publicly called for the execution of top…
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Letters Letter | Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto Museum should be celebrated, not attacked
Editor: On Jan. 27, 2021 G. Paulson, M. Dobkowski and S. Munn “objected,” in these pages, to the work of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, which I direct. They claimed that as “sons and grandsons of survivors” they should have a right to define the museum’s vision and content. But they overlooked the fact that the…
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Sports First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Culture Why do Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas?
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Politics This politician refused to say ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ then blamed ‘political correctness’ for the backlash
In Case You Missed It
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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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