Opinion

• 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

  4 min read
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  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
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  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

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz As editor-in-chief, I’m finding my way Forward (and back)

  

• Rob Eshman A two-hour State of the Union with zero vision for Gaza or Iran

  

• Dan Perry You could be imprisoned for praying at the Western Wall — and Bibi isn’t stopping it

  

• Emily Tamkin We’re losing the fight against antisemitism. Here’s how to turn the tide

  

• Jay Michaelson We are talking past one another on Zionism

  

The Latest

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  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
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  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
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  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
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  Opinion

  Let there be camp — please!

  Let there be camp. That is what I pray to I’m-not-sure-who each night of this pandemic. With every announcement like Thursday’s that school in New Jersey will stay closed at least until May 15, with every email message like the one I got last week saying “Eben’s Bar Mitzvah has been moved to Zoom,” with…

  By Jodi Rudoren Apr 19, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Give your stimulus check to the needy: It’s the Jewish thing to do

  When Passover ended, I turned my computer back on and discovered that I had received my stimulus check. I sat there for a minute, just looking at it. It’s not every day $1,200 materializes into your checking account: I had the gleeful, surreal feeling like a genie’s wish had been granted, or that I had…

  By Jonah S. Boyarin Apr 17, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Labour’s leaked anti-Semitism report is just a cover for Jeremy Corbyn

  The dream that its new leader Keir Starmer would bring unity to the British Labour Party lasted all of a week. Over the weekend, an internal report authored during the final months of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership on the party’s response to its years-long anti-Semitism crisis was leaked. The document was intended for the Equality and…

  By Liam Hoare Apr 14, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Palestinian peace activist’s arrest shows that we need solidarity, not ‘peace’

  Last Thursday, Hamas’s security forces arrested Gazan activist, Rami Aman. His crime? Organizing a Zoom video chat with Israelis to discuss life in Gaza. Rami was charged with holding a “normalization activity” that Hamas says whitewashes Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and in turn betrays the Palestinian people and their sacrifices. There’s no two ways…

  By Muhammad Shehada Apr 14, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Wearing a face mask? You’re doing a mitzvah. Make a brachah!

  Among the Jewish tradition’s most cherished values is the sanctity of human life. With a few notable exceptions, one must not endanger their life in order to fulfill a religious obligation. And one must violate even the most significant commandments in order to save another person’s life. Saving one life is regarded as the equivalent…

  By Michael Knopf Apr 13, 2020 | 3 min read