Opinion

• Opinion

  Editorial | What James Bennet taught me about terrorism – and courage

  The problem, James Bennet wrote in the opening lines of an internal New York Times memo, “was always where to stop, rather than where to start.” When “you draw a line” and say something “does not qualify,” he cautioned, “you commit what looks to the world like a political act, and may in fact be…

  By Jodi Rudoren

  5 min read
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  Opinion

  How our growing consensus against racism turned into a moral panic

  I remember going to Eric Garner’s funeral in the summer of 2014. And I remember the fights I had with conservative family members after it, screaming matches that left us bruised and unwilling to talk for months at a time. They were the same fights we had over Michael Brown’s death and the Ferguson protests…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon Jun 14, 2020 | 13 min read
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  Opinion

  What does Jewish tradition say about ‘Defund the Police’? It’s complicated.

  In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officer Derick Chauvin, a new cry has emerged from amidst the protests against racism and police brutality shaking the nation: Defund the Police. The cry means different things to different people, but in addition to addressing the fraught tensions between black communities and…

  Jun 12, 2020 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Why I Have Come to Support Defunding the Police

  The murder of George Floyd was a revelation for white America. The image of a man lying on the street for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, his body limp beneath the officer’s knee, has transfixed and could transform the nation. To witness the breath of life casually pulled from a man’s body is to see…

  By Rabbi Sharon Brous Jun 12, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  You don’t have to choose between Black Lives Matter and Israel

  All of last week and into this one, Americans grieved and demonstrated and were beaten in the streets by police as we protested George Floyd’s murder. It is an emotional time, with the wins of the Black Lives Matter movement making change seem, finally, possible. Yet existing communal tensions remained. All week, I’ve been asked…

  By Carly Pildis Jun 10, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  As the next generation of Modern Orthodox leaders, we demand real change.

  We are Modern Orthodox success stories: products of day school education, Jewish summer camps, and gap years in Israel. We are active participants in Jewish life on our campuses, ardent Zionists, and Torah enthusiasts. Our religious upbringings have taught us that Jewish communities do not stand idly by when faced with injustice. And George Floyd’s…

  By Chantal Polinsky, and Jonathan Katzman, and Rachel Rapps Jun 10, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘You can’t reconcile a nation that’s never been equal.’ Three black pastors reflect on this moment.

  We’re living through a historic time. On the heels of a devastating coronavirus pandemic that left over 100,000 Americans dead and 25% of Americans without a job, racist episodes started to hit our newsfeeds. We watched as Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man jogging near his home, was hunted down and lynched by his neighbors….

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon Jun 9, 2020 | 11 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews came to America to escape darkness. For African Americans, America was darkness.

  This weekend, I marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. To the left, through the thick cables and ropes of the bridge, I could see the Statue of Liberty, clear and strong. My grandmother had learned the Emma Lazarus poem by heart when she was a child, so I memorized it, too, and now the words came…

  By Shira Telushkin Jun 9, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s time for the Conference of Presidents to kick out Mort Klein

  Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, embodied the image of the liberal moderate so famously taken to task in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” On race, Justice Brandeis usually sided with progress but was not particularly outspoken in favor of racial justice and equality….

  By Abe Silberstein Jun 8, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m so tired of white guilt

  There was light from fires in the streets. Noise from the clanging of trash cans and sirens was in the background when I called my father this week. “Son, you remember the 1968 Washington DC riots,” he said. I do. But not everyone does. For some, the protests this week, like the racism they oppose,…

  By Nathan Byrd Jun 5, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘It’s on us.’ Jewish clergy weigh in on the role of Jews in the aftermath of George Floyd

  The country has been reeling since the murder of George Floyd in police custody nearly two weeks ago. Citizens have taken to the streets in protest and come up against heavily armed police. Dozens of Jewish organizations have added their voices to those condemning racist violence against black communities and standing in solidarity with demonstrators….

  By Forward Staff Jun 5, 2020 | 20 min read