Opinion

• Opinion

  What the current crisis shows about Haredi leadership and politics

  The protests against COVID-19 restrictions by Haredi Jews in Brooklyn last week, which included burning masks and an attack on a Haredi journalist, were shocking. They seemed to represent a blatant defiance of public-health norms and plain old common sense. And they mark a new stage in the evolution of the Haredi community in the…

  By David N. Myers

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Message from an Israeli Jew: Please don’t re-elect Trump

  I have a simple message for Americans: Please don’t reelect Donald Trump. But first, an apology: I am not an American. I am an Israeli, a Jew, a Zionist, a father and a grandfather. In my twenties, I spent six years in the U.S., studying, teaching and working, but I was born and grew up…

  By Shlomo Cohen Oct 12, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Do not let Gretchen Whitmer become the next Rabin

  On Nov. 4, we will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin’s transformation from hard-nosed military leader to peacemaking premier culminated first in the Oslo Peace Accords — and then in his own demise. That the historic effort to end the conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinians…

  By Noah Arbit Oct 10, 2020 | 4 min read

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• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  What smoked fish and Haredi Jews don’t have in common — 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. Shortly after I first moved to New York City in 1998, my dad…

  By Jodi Rudoren Oct 9, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Protip for journalists covering Haredi protests: Your job is not to judge but to understand us.

  The images and videos coming out of Brooklyn this week of Haredi Jews protesting new Covid strictures are striking: Streets crowded with protesters, fires set in the middle of the street, loud chanting and jeering at those in “power,” journalists driven from the street. This was hardly the first time New York has seen something…

  By Eli Steinberg Oct 8, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What Trump can teach us about the Haredi Covid spike – and vice versa

  We’ll probably all remember where we were on Friday morning, October 2, when we first learned that Donald Trump had tested positive for Coronavirus. Fewer of us may have noted that on that same day, the virus also struck another leader: Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. The two figures are more similar than they may initially appear….

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 8, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews must stand up for the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

  A proud people, many the descendants of genocide survivors, occupy a small patch of territory in an unfriendly region. They’re attacked by their neighbors, longtime antagonists, who fire long-range artillery and armed drones. Global powers call for a ceasefire, but otherwise do not intervene. The attacks continue. No, this is not Israel; it is Nagorno-Karabakh,…

  By Stephen D. Smith Oct 8, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  My shul did everything right and the government still shut us down. They’re right.

  We’ve done everything right. We closed in March while other synagogues were waffling. When allowed to reopen, we adhered strictly to limits on numbers of worshippers. We masked, measured, and distanced, in contradistinction to other congregations in our area. But we have the mazel to be in a red area, so now we must limit…

  By Moshe Rosenberg Oct 8, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t believe Trump’s cynical lies: He is not the protector of Jews but our greatest threat.

  On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York announced sweeping new restrictions on parts of New York City with rapidly rising rates of coronavirus cases, placing a particular focus on neighborhoods with large proportions of Orthodox Jews. The news came just days after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio specifically asked the state to…

  By Joel Swanson Oct 7, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  By treating Orthodox Jews as the enemy, Governor Cuomo made himself one.

  On Tuesday morning, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with a group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis and community leaders. The meeting was intended to be, as Cuomo put it, a “good conversation” about the reasons he was placing restrictions on several New York City neighborhoods experiencing an uptick in positive cases of COVID-19. The governor…

  Oct 7, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Mike Pence, a proud Christian, represents me, an Orthodox Jew

  On Wednesday night, Vice President Mike Pence will face off against Sen. Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s running mate, in the 2020 vice presidential debate. And I for one am looking forward to it. It’s not that I’m an undecided voter. I’ve already made up my mind that I will vote for the Trump-Pence 2020 ticket,…

  By Eliezer Brand Oct 7, 2020 | 3 min read