Opinion

• Opinion

  AOC should honor Rabin. She should honor Arafat, too.

  Recently, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, star of the American left, announced that she would participate in an Americans for Peace Now event honoring Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister assassinated 25 years ago for his role trying to make peace with the Palestinians through the Oslo Accords. But the congresswoman was soon called out by activists…

  By Muhammad Shehada

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Jewish American pioneer who embraced both worlds

  On Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, we pause to remember those who passed in the prior year. Over the span of 5780, we lost so many giants and icons – Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Kirk Douglas, Katherine Johnson, Larry Kramer, Jim Lehrer, Rep. John Lewis,…

  By Jonathan A. Greenblatt Sep 25, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  We asked you to share your sins. Here’s what 127 readers said.

  This is an article version of our weekly Shabbat newsletter. Click here to sign up to get the Forward’s free newsletters in your inbox. And click here to download and print a PDF of Forward stories to savor over the weekend. When I was in college, I never went home for Yom Kippur. I tried…

  By Jodi Rudoren Sep 25, 2020 | 3 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

  What Jewish tradition offers the abortion debate: Some much needed nuance.

  Long before the political hyper-polarization currently plaguing American society, abortion was a divisive political issue. “Pro-lifers” punched the air in one corner of the ring; “pro-choicers” in the other. The latter won the match in 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade established women’s constitutional right to choose to end a pregnancy….

  Sep 25, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Open Letter to House Minority Leader from your Jewish colleagues: Jews are not a political football.

  Dear Leader McCarthy, As Jewish members of Congress, we write to you at a time of uncertainty and concern in the United States. Jewish communities have seen a rise in violence, property damage and harassment. Pittsburgh, Poway, Monsey, Jersey City, and Brooklyn are sadly new touchstones for the American Jewish community. We do not distinguish…

  By Jewish House Democrats Sep 24, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How can we pray when we have no hope? 2020’s Yom Kippur paradox

  “Even if a sharp sword rests upon a person’s neck, he should not cease praying for mercy.” -Talmud (Brachot 10b) How can we pray when we have no hope? Yom Kippur is a holiday predicated on hope. We come to this holy day with the promise that this year can be better, and that each…

  By Shira Telushkin Sep 24, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Among Jews, the young and highly educated bear COVID’s emotional and economic toll

  The Yamim Noraim, the days of awe bracketed by Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are a call to reflection about the past year and our fate in the coming year. The past year has been unlike any other. Whether or not we suffered illness, loss of a family member, or financial and emotional distress, the…

  By Janet Krasner Aronson and Leonard Saxe Sep 24, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Zoom said no to a Palestinian terrorist. Others must follow.

  A face-off this week pitted the video app Zoom against a public university on what should have been a simple question: Should college students be able to Zoom with a terrorist? The public university, San Francisco State University, said yes; it had scheduled a Zoom conversation with the Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled, who executed two…

  By Ari Hoffman Sep 23, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Seriously, liberals: Don’t bring up Amy Coney Barrett’s religion

  Whether or not Judge Amy Coney Barrett is named to the Supreme Court seat held by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the coming days, as many observers seem to expect, I want to propose a compromise: Questions and speculation about a nominee’s religious beliefs and affiliations should be off limits, while questions about their…

  By Benjamin Dueholm Sep 23, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  RBG vs. Bernie: Two types of American Jews

  These are difficult days for Jews. The stress of the pandemic and economic devastation it is wreaking, combined with High Holidays in quarantine and surging antisemitism finding new forms for the strange times we’re living in, create a perfect recipe for Jewish anxiety. But in at least two ways, this was also a year of…

  By Joel Swanson Sep 22, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Republicans abandoned Jewish students. The media blamed the Democrats.

  If you were online this week, you may have read that the Democrats don’t care about antisemitism. Tweets, posts, and articles told us that “162 House Dems Vote Against Measure to Combat Anti-Semitism,” “70 Percent of House Democrats Vote Against Anti-Semitism Measure,” “Antisemitism Clearly Isn’t a Priority for the House,” and “Measure to Fight Anti-Semitism…

  By Amanda Berman Sep 22, 2020 | 4 min read