Opinion

• Opinion

  I was set to vote for Biden. Then Trump made peace in the Middle East.

  It was supposed to be a simple election. Deep into July, or “month four” on the new COVID-19 calendar, I thought the choice had become clear: This would be a referendum on President Trump’s atrocious handling of a devastating pandemic and a chance for Joe Biden to show that he can return the country to…

  By Michael Weiner

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Care about the future of Judaism? It’s time to start listening to millennials.

  Every Jewish person knows that this is going to be a High Holiday season like no other in recent memory. Most of us won’t be able to attend services in synagogue in person, and many of us won’t even be able to visit our families. We’re all going to become very familiar with all of…

  By Joel Swanson Sep 14, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop calling these peace deals ‘historic.’ It’s the Arabs who are waiting for peace.

  In the wake of the recent announcements that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would be normalizing relations with Israel, there seemed to be breathless if begrudging coverage of what many called “historic” peace achievements between Israel and the sovereign Arab states who have opposed normalizing relations with Israel. The truth is this opposition has…

  By Daoud Kuttab Sep 14, 2020 | 3 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

  Why Iranian American Jews Love Trump

  As the presidential election draws nearer, American Jews, like all Americans, are making their choice about who to vote for. By and large, American Jews are Democrats. But there are pockets in the community where support for President Trump is not just strong but effusive. My own community, Iranian American Jews, is one such pocket…

  By Philip Mehdipour Sep 14, 2020 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  This year, Rosh Hashanah is a time of mourning

  Yesterday, the sun did not rise in my Bay Area home. My toddler who usually wakes at dawn, slept until 9am and woke up confused, pointing to a dark umber colored sky, obliterated by clouds of smoke from wildfires billowing all over the West Coast. Even the hummingbirds and bees in my backyard were disoriented….

  By Elliot Kukla Sep 14, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Dear Facebook: Please don’t adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism

  A coordinated public pressure campaign is attempting to induce Facebook to adopt the controversial definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and to use it to police content published on its platform. On August 7, 128 organizations sent an open letter to Facebook’s Board of Directors, calling on them “to fully adopt…

  By Amos Goldberg Sep 13, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Let’s roll!’: The daughter of the Jewish hero of Flight 93 was in “Fiddler on the Roof”

  This article is adapted from our weekly Shabbat newsletter, which is delivered on Friday afternoons. To get Forward newsletters delivered to your inbox, click here. When people ask where I was on 9/11, I always make sure to say also what I did on 9/12. Because I spent that awful Tuesday at Chelsea Piers, watching…

  By Jodi Rudoren Sep 11, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Billionaires: It’s time to give until it hurts.

  Recently, the Washington Post reviewed the charitable donations of the 50 wealthiest Americans during COVID. What they found was concerning: On average, America’s wealthiest families gave just 0.1% of their net worth. That’s equivalent to the median American family giving $97.30. Hardly a sacrifice. Compare this to the average donations make by working-class and middle-class…

  By Andrés Spokoiny Sep 11, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Letter | No, we at the ACLU have not lost our way

  To the editor: Regarding Zaid Jilani’s contention that “The ACLU Has Lost Its Way” published in these pages: We have not. We were too hasty in a tweet that proclaimed the shooting of Deon Kay a murder, but we acknowledged our mistake. To be clear, we believe in racial justice and due process. Mr. Jilani…

  By David Cole Sep 11, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Is there room in Orthodoxy for satire?

  A joke was lately making the Orthodox WhatsApp circuits, via voice-note: “A guy went to daven mincha in Borough Park,” it said, meaning to say the afternoon prayer in one of Brooklyn’s religious neighborhoods. “And he walked into a shul, but he was embarrassed to put on a mask because no one else was wearing…

  By Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt Sep 9, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The left and the right are both wrong: For American Jews, Zionism is not political.

  Among all the things Jewish students have missed out on in the age of COVID-19 is the Birthright trip. Since last spring, tens of thousands of young Jews haven’t been able to have that transformational moment, that “Aha” experience, that intense feeling of connectedness, that many didn’t even know they were missing. Not everyone speaks…

  By Gil Troy Sep 9, 2020 | 4 min read