Opinion

• Opinion

  Boomers becoming Zoomers is a feminist triumph!

  Previous Article Next Article About a month after my husband and I — denizens of the pandemic’s most vulnerable age cohort — quarantined ourselves, I realized to my surprise that I was becoming a black belt in Zoom. Not only had I participated in two online seders and successfully navigated a flotilla of virtual meetings…

  By Letty Cottin Pogrebin

  5 min read
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  Opinion

  The universe is telling us to dial it down

  Previous Article Next Article This pandemic has influenced my life as a Jew as well as a citizen of the world. We’ve talked much about the “calling” or rather “screaming” to heal the earth. God’s Bereshit, the pure creation, has been tampered with. Jews and non-Jews know this by now. I will never look at…

  By David Lonner May 24, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Renegotiating the tension between the hyper-local and the collective

  Previous Article Next Article I am an urban planner by training, and I’ve long been curious about our community’s sense of place. In the wake of the pandemic, I’m wondering if we will see a shift in how we move between our public and private spaces, and how we think about Jewish places. Will it…

  By Jodi Lox Mansbach May 24, 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

  We will – we must – gather again. One day.

  Previous Article Next Article On November 18, 1656, Jacob Zahalon, a rabbi and a doctor, stood in an apartment in an Italian ghetto, shouting out a window to deliver his Hannukah sermon. Below him stood a number of Jews, unable to enter the synagogue. Why? The bubonic plague was afflicting the community, and no one…

  By Elie Kaunfer May 24, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Fewer barriers, more intimacy

  Previous Article Next Article It was during the first weekend of the lockdown that I attended my first online bat mitzvah. I happened to be at my computer during Shacharit services when Facebook notified me that my congregation was going live. As I watched, notifications popped up as my friends and contacts tuned in. As…

  By Tema Smith May 24, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Some koved for covid

  Previous Article Next Article Like a favorite bra or gentlemen’s truss, Yiddishland during the pandemic continues to offer this Yiddish-head the greatest uplift, providing some virtual koved during covid. Given shelter at home rules, you’d think a Yiddish svive (reading group) might be the first casualty. We usually gear up with a nice selection of…

  By Chana Pollack May 24, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Russian Jews have been preparing for this crisis our whole lives

  Previous Article Next Article It’s hard to resist employing the kind of cynical Jewish humor that Russian-speaking Jews know so well when speaking with Americans. If you’re asked a question you don’t want to answer, well, be a clever Jew and respond back with your own question. I successfully resisted the urge when my editor…

  By Alex Zeldin May 24, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  When it comes to Memorial Day, we have a lot to learn from Israel

  Last Memorial Day, I went deal hunting at the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets, a marvelous mall aggregating all discount brands an average dresser could ever wish for: Banana Republic “Factory,” Eddie Bauer “Outlet,” even Brooks Brothers “Factory Store” (et tu, Brooks Brothers?). At the conclusion of my shopping excursion, before heading to the beach, I…

  By Ben Zion Ferziger May 22, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Are Americans as stupid as we seem on Twitter?

  I’ve found myself staying up until 3 am some nights, frantically replying to every Twitter reply, as if my bon mots are essential to ending the pandemic. If your adopted slogan is “Open the Economy,” it’s hard to figure out why half of social media seems to want to destroy it. If your adopted slogan…

  By Eric Nelson May 22, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The secret unity of Jewish Twitter

  The global COVID-19 pandemic has had dire effects on the world and will have lasting effects on the infrastructure of the Jewish community. Given the harsh financial reality, some Reform and Conservative congregations are considering consolidating. Many have wondered whether the denominational model that frames the Jewish community will evaporate all together. I am not…

  By David Bashevkin May 21, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s not a merger! Reform and Conservative are just collaborating

  As the holiday of Shavuot approaches, we prepare to greet the giving of the Torah with all-night study in a Tikkun Leil Shavuot. The classical mode of Torah study is in chavruta, a pair or small group of learners who explore texts in partnership. It is in this spirit of chavruta that we, leaders of…

  By Jacob Blumenthal and Rick Jacobs May 20, 2020 | 3 min read