Opinion

• Opinion

  I’m a Jewish conservative. We’re also furious about George Floyd’s murder.

  I’m a Jewish conservative. And I’m furious about George Floyd’s murder. Not just Floyd’s murder, either. Despite what people think about those of us who don’t identify as “progressive,” we recognize that George Floyd’s murder wasn’t an isolated incident but rather part of something much bigger that we really need to change. This was not…

  By Eli Steinberg

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why do Jews recognize the racism of George Floyd’s murder but not Iyad Hallaq’s?

  On Saturday, when the U.S. was already engulfed in protests over the brutal murder of George Floyd, Iyad Hallaq, a 32-year-old Palestinian with special needs was shot and killed by Israeli border police in Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighborhood. The officer who shot him claimed he believed Hallaq was holding a gun. They chased him. Hallaq,…

  By Etan Nechin Jun 2, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Imagine it was your special needs son shot in the street

  Imagine that every morning, as you help your children children get ready for school, you worry whether or not they’ll make it home alive. For us Palestinians, there’s no need to imagine. When I was a child, my mother taught me two prayers to recite every time I stepped outside. One was a protective prayer…

  By Muhammad Shehada Jun 2, 2020 | 3 min read

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

  

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• Rob Eshman The challah that changed everything: Tracing Jewish baking back to Poland

  

• Nora Berman The Kennedy Center canceled all its ‘woke’ programming — so why is this Jewish musical OK?

  

• 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

  Blaming Soros for protests, the right exposed its anti-Semitism – again.

  Over the past week, thousands of Americans have taken to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who brutally kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for no less than eight minutes and 46 seconds until Floyd died. These protests, met with support from many corners of the…

  By Joel Swanson Jun 2, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The NYPD is policing Jewish mothers while the city burns

  As New York City burned and was gutted for a second night in a row, one couldn’t help but wonder, where are the NYPD? Must say I do not understand the NYPD strategy tonight. There’s a huge group of officers just standing around here on Broadway/51st while looting is out of control in the surrounding…

  By Bethany Mandel Jun 2, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why will this time be different than all other times?

  I will always remember the day my parents gave my brother “the talk.” Not the one about the birds and the bees. No, the one about how he, as a young black man, would be seen in a society marred by racism. It was the 90s and he was a pre-teen, excited to wear his…

  By Tema Smith Jun 1, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What will YOU do to end systemic racism?

  Are you feeling sick? For months that’s been the question we have asked each other as COVID-19 raged and killed over 100,000 Americans. My Jewish family, which is mixed-race with two black members, has been grateful to answer that we are okay. Grateful to be healthy and employed. But after the events of this past…

  By Carly Pildis Jun 1, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Every Jew must decide which side they’re on

  On the first day, a white woman made a panicked call to 911, because a black man bird-watching nearby in Central Park politely asked her to leash her dog. On the second day, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was arrested and lynched by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, who pressed his knee into…

  By Matt Nosanchuk, and Rachel Timoner, and Sharon Kleinbaum Jun 1, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  My fellow Jews: Get in the fight

  I am sure you are as outraged as I am over the murder of George Floyd during a violent arrest by police in Minneapolis. This brutality took place on the heels of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased and gunned down by armed white men while on a jog in Georgia, and the…

  By Melanie Roth Gorelick May 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What we in the Black community need from Jews right now

  In the wake of the recent lynchings in the Black community, a lot of my Jewish friends are asking me “How can we help?” and “What needs to be done?” What should be the response of the Jewish community to the killing of George Floyd? The answer is simple: We’d like for the Jewish community…

  By Anthony Johnson May 31, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Editorial | These historical times call for extreme empathy

  More states deploying National Guard troops to quell protests than at any time since the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Unemployment rates not seen since the Great Depression. A pandemic more powerful than any since the 1918 flu. We are living in historic times indeed. In all the worst ways. We…

  By Jodi Rudoren May 31, 2020 | 3 min read