Opinion

• Opinion

  Despite shuttered shuls, members say they feel less lonely

  Rosh Hashanah is just a few weeks away and our synagogues remain closed with no real sense of when COVID-19 will be sufficiently controlled for them to reopen. The situation has caused many in the Jewish community, from rabbis to young families to lay leaders, to question whether synagogues — physical spaces where we fulfill…

  By Samuel J. Abrams

  4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Jews were once kept out of Harvard and Yale. Now Asians are. We must stand by them.

  In the early years of the Roaring 20’s, Harvard’s President A. Lawrence Lowell was worried about the Jews. And the truth is, there were a lot of them to worry about in Harvard Yard. In 1900, just 7% of Harvard undergraduates were Jewish. By 1922, that number had tripled to 22%. Lowell reasoned that this…

  By Ari Hoffman Aug 17, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Letter | No, American Jewish Congress did not hire a white nationalist

  Dear Editor, Your recent article concerning a former employee of the American Jewish Congress is highly misleading and grossly misrepresentative of the facts. While it appears that an individual with radical, far-right views was briefly employed at the American Jewish Congress, we were unaware of his beliefs until after his departure. Your article unfairly implies…

  By Jack Rosen Aug 17, 2020 | < 1 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 Trump wants to control the Israeli judiciary. Uh, good luck

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  I grew up with anti-Semitism in the UAE. Peace with Israel is a dream come true.

  Never in a million years did I believe there would be a deal in my lifetime where an Arab Gulf state would recognize the Jewish state. Watching the news this week of Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalizing relations was something of a dream come true. From the age of eight until adulthood, I…

  By Mujahed Kobbe Aug 14, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why we Palestinians are not celebrating the suspension of annexation

  For the last few months, Palestinians have been living under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to formally annex of large swathes of the West Bank. The pledge has, admittedly, been going nowhere, turning into a blame game between Bibi, his coalition partner Benny Gantz, and the Trump administration. What had seemed like the promise…

  By Muhammad Shehada Aug 14, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Netanyahu just (accidentally) made his greatest contribution to a Jewish and democratic Israel

  Two terrible ideas took a severe beating today with the announcement of a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates: annexation, and the Arab refusal to acknowledge Israel’s existence. Annexation of the West Bank, at least if annexation is understood as encompassing a large chunk of territory rather than a (hopefully agreed upon)…

  By Shany Mor Aug 13, 2020 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  They told us the sky would fall if Trump stood by Israel. They were wrong.

  Look up. That’s right, look up. The sky is still there. When President Donald Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, the old-guard Washington foreign policy community said the sky would fall. When President Trump approved the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights to formalize Israel’s northern border, those same…

  By Norm Coleman Aug 13, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Annexation was never a real threat. The UAE-Israel deal proves it.

  The abrupt announcement from the White House on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates would begin normalizing ties with Israel in exchange for Israel “suspending” plans to annex parts of the West Bank came as an unexpected shock. While a subsequent statement from the UAE was considerably more toned down and merely spoke of a…

  By Abe Silberstein Aug 13, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  America’s Holocaust museums should mobilize for racial truth and reconciliation

  When I was 19 years old, the small Holocaust museum in my hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana was firebombed. The arsonist spray-painted on the brick exterior the words “Remember Timmy McVeigh” — an homage to the perpetrator of the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history. That museum was rebuilt, and a few years later…

  By Kiel Majewski Aug 13, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  When Kamala Came for Shabbat Dinner

  They walked in like so many other Shabbat guests who we’ve had the pleasure of hosting. Our home in Jerusalem before Corona was always buzzing with great Shabbat conversations, our table more often than not surrounded by local friends, African dignitaries, and American politicians. While we’ve hosted many Members of Congress, Kamala Harris was our…

  By Yosef I. Abramowitz Aug 12, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  For me, Kamala Harris is the hope that America will love my mixed race family

  My daughter and I are dancing. We are screaming. We are full of joy. I am throwing my daughter in the air as she laughs hysterically and chants “KAMALA!!! KAMALA!!!” My husband comes in, bemused by the scene. What in this bleak summer of pandemic panic and canceled plans could spark such a burst of…

  By Carly Pildis Aug 12, 2020 | 3 min read