Opinion

• Opinion

  This year, let’s debate everything — except Israel

  In 2020, Jews need to argue. We need to argue more than we have, but also differently. Here’s the formula: There should be fewer fights about Israel. There should be more fights about everything else. This might be difficult. Far too many American Jews have nothing to say that is not related to the Jewish…

  By Ari Hoffman

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Calm down: Killing Qassem Soleimani made us safer

  On Thursday night, in an act of escalation against Iran, U.S. drones struck a convoy of high-ranking Iranian and Iraqi commanders, killing Qassem Soleimani, the head of the foreign operations’ branch of Iran’s powerful and ideologically committed armed force. The strike represented an unprecedented act of aggression on the part of the U.S., at the…

  By Elizabeth Tsurkov Jan 3, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What the media got wrong about the Siyum Hashas

  New Year’s Day presented America with a split-screen of Orthodox American Jewish life in 2020. A jubilant 90,000 souls gathered at the MetLife stadium on Wednesday, proudly celebrating the Talmud study which is the cornerstone of their lives. But while we listened to the words of rabbis, we were also receiving WhatsApp messages informing us…

  By Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt Jan 2, 2020 | 4 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 is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  You can’t solve anti-Semitism. American Jews, meet Jewish history.

  It’s natural to want to solve problems. We see something wrong in the world and we want to fix it. Something seems misaligned, and we want to set it right. And the truth is, many things lend themselves to being solved; the appearance of insulin and the disappearance of bubonic plague come to mind. Here’s…

  By Ari Hoffman Jan 2, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  We liberal Jews have joined in dehumanizing our Orthodox brethren

  My mother likes to tell the story of her hospital roommate when I was born 24 years ago in Ramapo, New York, mere miles from Monsey, where an attacker went on an anti-Semitic stabbing rampage. Her roommate was an ultra-Orthodox woman in her early twenties who was having her fifth child, a boy. My mom…

  By Michael Gurock Dec 31, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  No, We Aren’t Seeing The Return Of Nazi Germany

  It is entirely predictable. As soon as an antisemitic attack occurs, particularly one as horrific as took place in Monsey on the seventh night of Hanukah, the phone, email, and social media accounts of people, such as myself, who study and write about antisemitism, are inundated with queries and comments. Some come from reporters and…

  By Deborah E. Lipstadt Dec 31, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Anti-Semitism Isn’t Blacks Vs. Jews. Saying So Hurts Us All.

  Hanukkah of 2019 will be remembered as the week that the anti-Semitic violence that has become the new normal for us Orthodox Jews finally made it into mainstream consciousness. According to the Anti-Defamation League, at least 10 attacks took place over Hanukkah alone, reinforcing what we in the community have known for a while now:…

  By Eli Steinberg Dec 30, 2019 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Zionist Jews And Anti-Zionist Jews Are In A Stalemate. There’s Something That Can Break It.

  Back in 1974, it made sense for an essay in The New York Times Magazine to start with the premise that “Something new has happened to the Jews of America: They have all been converted to Zionism.” In 2019, something new has again happened to the Jews of America: They have become divided by Zionism….

  By Noah Efron Dec 30, 2019 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Orthodox Jews Will Not Cower In The Face Of Hate. We Fight Darkness With Light.

  Last week brought a slew of new anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in the most visible Jewish part of the country — in and around New York City. Jews that look the most Jewish have been targeted in the streets and where they live and work, most recently Saturday night at a Chanukah celebration in Monsey,…

  By Eliezer Zalmanov Dec 30, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s Not The Jews’ Job To Figure Out How To Stop Anti-Semitism. It’s Yours.

  What is happening in America now is not just a crisis for Jews, but for the country as a whole

  By Jeremy Burton Dec 30, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why No One Can Talk About The Attacks Against Orthodox Jews

  There’s a poem Jews sing every evening after lighting Hanukkah candles. It’s called “Maoz Tzur” — Rock of the Ages — and was written during the Crusades, one of the many times when Jewish blood ran through the streets; its lines are laced with the tragedy and longing that typifies Jewish liturgy. One chokes me…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon Dec 29, 2019 | 4 min read