Opinion

• Opinion

  ‘Please let it be a migraine’ – chronic illness is the age of COVID-19

  A dull ache creeps into my neck, working its way down my back, spreading rapidly through my limbs until they’re heavy and useless. Next comes a sharp pain directly between my eyes, burrowing into the depths of my skull as if trying to drill straight through the bone. I yearn for the cool burn of…

  By Sophie Vershbow

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘How we will feed our children?’ Israel’s asylum seekers are on the brink

  In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Israel has already been on lockdown for two weeks. But while the country has shifted very quickly into emergency mode, this situation will not affect everyone equally. As a public service during this pandemic, the Forward is providing free, unlimited access to all coronavirus articles. If you’d like to…

  By Tamara Newman Apr 1, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish community has gone virtual. But it’s my neighbors I’m discovering and leaning on.

  Earlier this week, I received a WhatsApp message from a neighbor. She was at the supermarket and wanted to know if I needed anything. The message might seem prosaic and mundane, but I would never have received anything like it even a couple of weeks before. Although my family and I have lived on the…

  By Keith Kahn-Harris Apr 1, 2020 | 4 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

  We are the Egyptians now

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. (Exodus 17:23-24) What did Pharaoh tell his people?…

  By Daniel Kahn Mar 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  As plagues go…

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article As I write these words, I am lying on a hammock, next to a fire burning in an outdoor fireplace on my porch. A glass of single-malt Scotch is in my hand. The Mozart second horn concerto is playing in the background. As plagues that shut down society…

  By Benjamin Wittes Mar 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The invisible plague: grief

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article If you’ve never sat in an eerily empty subway car amid a global pandemic, while reading a novel about a strain of influenza wiping out 99% of the world population — well, I don’t recommend it. But that was a few morning commutes for me as the novel…

  By Seth Mandel Mar 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The man-made plagues of Gaza

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article The story of Passover and the ten plagues always filled me with awe: Egyptians punished with hunger and thirst, bloody water, blinding darkness and loved ones lost overnight. When I was a young person, those horrifying plagues were unimaginable. Then, I experienced similar, man-made plagues, plagues that continue…

  By Muhammad Shehada Mar 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The plague’s reminder: We only think we’re in charge

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article As COVID-19 is not the fearsome Yersinia pestis bacterium — the rod-shaped, anaerobic organism that ravages human bodies by way of rat fleas — it is not, strictly speaking, a plague. No matter. If civilization can be said to be plagued by froyo shops or LED light displays,…

  By Virginia Heffernan Mar 31, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  My great-grandmother survived Stalin and Hitler. I’m thinking of her this Passover.

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article We’re going to be alone for the seders. It was the first thought in my mind that really hit home the severity of the COVID-19 crisis as New York authorities began telling people to stay home. The next one was: Are we even going to be able to…

  By Alex Zeldin Mar 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Coronavirus is exposing the plagues of American society

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article If God sent coronavirus to our shores, it isn’t because he’s punishing us. He’s simply forcing us to look into a mirror so we can finally take a good hard look at who we really are rather than what we’ve long pretended. Or maybe it’s because he was…

  By Issac J. Bailey Mar 31, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  I used to love the plagues – until I lived through one

  BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article I used to love the plagues. Not anymore. I used to love the plagues until I lived through them. As a child, my most favorite moment of Passover, the otherwise endless family dinner which featured a gelatinous fish dish and an overcooked meat dish, was the plagues. After…

  By Molly Jong-Fast Mar 31, 2020 | 2 min read