Opinion

• 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

  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

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• 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

  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
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  Opinion

  American Jews craving revolution: Move to Israel and be its leaders

  President Trump recently offended many Jews (including this Israeli-American one) when he told American Jewish leaders in a pre-Rosh Hashanah call, “We love your country also.” America, not Israel, is the country of American Jews. Israel may be the spiritual homeland for Jews around the world, like the Vatican for Catholics or Mecca for Muslims….

  By Yoni Leviatan Sep 22, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Uighurs are today’s Marranos. This year, Kol Nidre is about them.

  “From this Yom Kippur until the next, may [all vows] be deemed absolved, annulled, and abandoned.” Within Jewish communities, there has always been some reticence towards the Kol Nidrei prayer. The ninth century sage Rav Amram Gaon deemed Kol Nidrei a “mistaken custom,” and 10th century sage Rav Saadia Gaon declared that it gave no…

  By Jonah Kaye Sep 22, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A rushed confirmation would be a travesty. Ruth Bader Ginsburg taught us how to fight it.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a daughter of Brooklyn, fixture in Washington, and no-doubt-about-it entrant into any list of all time greatest American jurist, held on for as long as she could. Like Civil Rights hero John Lewis, her nearly nine decades seemed not nearly enough, and she exits just when we might need her the most….

  By Ari Hoffman Sep 21, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Tragic Mistake

  The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves a hole in the heart and soul of America that feels, for the moment at least, so vast that the angels themselves could not fill it. What’s worse, it is a hole big enough for the devil to walk through. Her departure, just as the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 21, 2020 | 4 min read