In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Mort Klein’s attack against HIAS isn’t just offensive. It’s dangerous.
Any successful refugee journey requires a number of miracles. One significant miracle for tens of thousands of Soviet Jews was the fact that disparate, raucous, often-clashing factions of American Jewry managed to set aside animosity and unite around our freedom. When I was 10 years old, my family was among those tens of thousands welcomed…
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Opinion The Conference of Presidents’ capitulation to ZOA against HIAS is shameful
Yesterday, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the umbrella group that purports to convene mainstream Jewish organizations, decided to delay the ascension of Dianne Lob as chair for one year. The ostensible reason was a complaint by the Zionist Organization of America which, among other things, alleged that Lob was “virtually unknown” and…
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Opinion What Israel’s independence cost my family
My mother’s grandfather, Mahmoud, was a wealthy landowner in the village of Iraq Suwaydan, which used to be 17 miles north of Gaza. It was destroyed in 1948, during Operation Yoav, and my great-grandfather lost everything. He became one of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that flooded into Gaza as a result of the…
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Opinion Israelis and Palestinians mourn our losses together on Yom Hazikaron
Fighting dangerous pathogens that rip through societies is not new to joint Israeli-Palestinian organizations like the Parents Circle-Families Forum and Combatants for Peace. Fear, hatred, and dehumanization, like viruses, are invisible. They are often asymptomatic in many and lead to senseless fatalities in others. COVID-19 and fear, hatred and dehumanization know no borders, religion or…
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Opinion Why are Jewish intellectual sexual predators being honored in a new book?
Should admitted, unrepentant sexual predators who happen to be Jewish intellectuals be accepted by the Jewish community as if they had committed no offenses? That is the question raised by the disturbing inclusion of three admitted Jewish sex abusers in a soon-to-be-released book, “The New Jewish Canon,” by Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire E. Sufrin. According…
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Opinion ‘Here we sit. In limbo.’ A day in the life of a small business owner during a pandemic.
I’m up by 6:00 am, but my husband Daniel has already been up for hours. He gets up between 2:00 and 4:00 am to research financial markets and potential investments. We take that first hour before the kids stir to check in on the day. What has to happen? Who is working in the cidery…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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”…
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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…
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Opinion The dark message behind Tucker Carlson’s attempt to drum up drama in Israel
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Opinion It’s time to talk about Purim’s unsettling message about conversion
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Culture How a deeply religious Christian artist captured the spirit of the Jewish holy land
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Fast Forward Conservative rabbinical school Ziegler pauses admissions, signaling broader overhaul
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Fast Forward This Jewish family’s toy company challenged Trump’s tariffs. The Supreme Court agreed.
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