Opinion

• Opinion

  Hell, no, we shouldn’t have camp! It would betray all our values.

  What will happen to camp this summer? Ever since the world started shutting down in response to the rise of coronavirus, this has been a nagging question across the Jewish community. Camps have understandably been reluctant to make any decisions one way or another, and not just due to the desperate hope of emerging from…

  By Josh Satok

  4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Letter | The Palestinian people are victims of their own leaders

  Dear Editor, I read Kefah Abukhdeir’s recent article “Fauda is our reality. We tried to tell you – but you called us anti-Semites.” Actually, I consider Ms. Abukhdeir and her family victims of the Palestinian leaders and the leaders of the broader Arab world. Had the Arab leaders not gone to war in the 1940s,…

  By Toby F. Block Apr 23, 2020 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The dreadful loneliness of Ramadan during coronavirus

  Every year, I await Ramadan’s colorful yet reverent atmosphere and touching spirituality. Islam’s holiest month has always been a time of kindness, self-reflection, and communal solidarity. Daytime would be filled with worship, reciting Quran, contemplation and charitable work. In my family, iftar, the breaking of fast, always meant gatherings of relatives and friends for a…

  By Muhammad Shehada Apr 22, 2020 | 2 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

• 
  Opinion

  Want to protest COVID safety measures? Waive your right to medical care

  Throughout my career as a physician and public health administrator, I experienced how different countries responded to a global public health crisis. Some of these countries demonstrated enormous political will to address the AIDS pandemic, while others did not. In the absence of coordinated political efforts, death tolls climbed and what’s known as “illness burden”…

  By Dina Rosen Apr 22, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Fauda is our reality. We tried to tell you – but you called us anti-Semites.

  We used to tell you that Israelis were hiding among us, learning our habits, speaking our language, insinuating themselves into our lives so they could watch our every move. You called us anti-Semites. Now you love Fauda. The series, the third season of which recently went live on Netflix, is all about mista’arvim, Israeli intelligence…

  By Kefah Abukhdeir Apr 22, 2020 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Letter | Summer camp can wait this year

  Dear editor: I’m writing in response to Jodi Rudoren’s OpEd, “Let There Be Camp — please!,” which filled my Facebook feed on Sunday. When I write a piece that’s shared like that, I know that I’ve struck a nerve and this piece definitely did with all of the parents who are holding out hope that…

  By Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer Apr 21, 2020 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Infertility is a Jewish issue. It’s time the community recognized it.

  It feels like a weird time to be talking about infertility, especially here in New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with tens of thousands of people hospitalized and dying from the virus, not to mention the psychological effects the pandemic and self-isolation will have on our population here and around the world….

  By Amy Klein Apr 21, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Israel’s emergency government betrays voters

  Today marks Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day. It’s one of the most solemn days in the country, and falls precisely a week before our Memorial Day, followed by Independence Day a day later; the state’s history condenses into a week in April each year. But this year, a number of unprecedented circumstances came together…

  By Etan Nechin Apr 21, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The left and the right are both wrong: Biden and Sanders agree on Israel

  Senator Bernie Sanders’ departure from the presidential election two weeks ago set off a predictable deluge of heartfelt political obituaries and visions of what could have been. Most of these pronouncements on social media and in left-leaning press outfits have focused on the candidate’s domestic agenda — Medicare for All, student loan forgiveness, a Green…

  By Abe Silberstein Apr 20, 2020 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Holocaust trivialization at protests isn’t just offensive. It threatens democracy

  In response to stay at home orders imposed by local governments across the nation to protect American citizens from the deadly and contagious coronavirus, a wave of protests has broken out. These have been attended by an amalgam) of right wing interests, among them hard core white nationalists. We know because they brought their signs….

  By Frank Hornstein Apr 20, 2020 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Debate | Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitic?

  Join Forward contributing columnists Ari Hoffman and Joel Swanson for a live debate on April 21 about whether anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic. At a time of rising anti-Semitism, the question of how to define that ancient scourge that still plagues our modern world is a central one. It’s also a difficult one, given that we Jews…

  By Ari Hoffman and Joel Swanson Apr 19, 2020 | 13 min read