In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Opinion
I repressed my parents’ final Seder before Auschwitz – until coronavirus
My parents were among the few: a married couple who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing machine, a string of slave labor camps and death marches. In March 1944, the Nazis marched into their Hungarian hometown of Sevlus, a prosperous agricultural city surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains. Liquidating its Jews was a top priority, pursued with industrial…
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Opinion The loss of the Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, leaves a gaping hole in our community
I will not write about Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, who passed away suddenly this morning. I will not write about him because I simply cannot, for several reasons. First of all, my personal interactions with him were limited, to just a handful of private conversations. But more importantly, to describe him accurately would…
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Opinion No, I haven’t read all of Proust. Fighting the coronavirus humble brag
David Hockney has painted 10 new iPad works. Barbra Streisand is working on her memoir. On Instragram people are baking bread and working out. Friends are calling to say that they’ve Marie-Kondo’d their homes. And all their getting-things-done is stressing me out. What this is is an epidemic of humble brags. People are knitting and…
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Opinion The media’s obsession with haredi wrongdoing exposes its bigotry
I wore a mask on Purim. Not a Mordechai or Esther mask, and not the face mask my wife and I wear when food shopping these days. It was the kind of simple dust mask I use when I mow the lawn. I used a felt marker to draw a large smile on the mask,…
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Opinion I’m a pediatrician and a parent. We should send our kids to summer camp.
I recently received notification that my kids’ overnight summer camp in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin was “monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely” as they evaluate their summer programming. The leadership at our camp, the Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute, and other overnight summer camps across the U.S. are undoubtedly worried about the prospect of cancelling camp altogether on…
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Opinion Are you protecting your child’s caregiver? Or putting them at risk?
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we’ve seen an outpouring of altruistic human responses. Communities have been supporting the sick and quarantined in beautiful ways. But I have also witnessed terribly misguided behavior, often from the same people, ignoring the health and well being of those employed in their homes. Many of the families in my…
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Opinion I’m a doctor on the front lines of coronavirus. We’ve thrown out the rule book.
I work as a hospitalist at the New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan. For those who are not familiar, a hospitalist cares for patients who, upon coming to the emergency room, are deemed sufficiently sick to require admission to the hospital. Hospitalists, along with pulmonologists and infectious disease physicians, are the group of doctors…
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Opinion Letter | Sheldon Adelson’s supposed generosity
Dear Editor, The Forward recently published an article about billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s “generosity.” I felt compelled to respond. Tell me how much he is going to get from the recent emergency stimulus packages — and then let’s discuss how generous he is. Tell me how much he pays in federal and state taxes — and…
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Opinion Thank you, Sheldon Adelson
If you had told me two weeks ago that Sheldon Adelson would emerge from the coronavirus crisis a hero, I would not have believed you. A casino mogul worth close to $40 billion, Adelson is most famous for funding Republican and right-wing political campaigns and movements; he was the largest single donor in both the…
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Opinion ‘Is Hashem upset at you? Is that why you’re davening at home?’ The challenges of teaching Jewish values during a pandemic
My kids have been wondering why I’m around this much. They have always watched me going to yeshiva to study and teach. They’ve seen me go to synagogue three times a day for their entire young lives. My wife and I have tried to explain this unique situation to them, but they’re still a little…
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Opinion My occupier is my responsibility: Being Palestinian during coronavirus
The entirety of Palestine is now under threat. Everyone — Jew and Arab alike — must submit to the new set of rules that this new occupation has laid down. Now, we all have curfews, we all have checkpoints, we all have the same limitations to our movement and our lives. Before the outbreak of…
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