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
Letter | Trump’s Executive Order Is Designed To Cast Democrats As Soft On Anti-Semitism
Dear Editor: I have to admit that when I first read news stories about President Trump’s latest executive order, suggesting that he was turning Judaism into a nationality, I had visions of being stripped of my American citizenship and thrown out of the country. And I don’t think I was the only one. But my…
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Opinion The Real Reason Orthodox Jews Love Trump (Hint: It’s Not Israel)
A recent poll conducted by the Orthodox publication Ami Magazine found that support for President Trump in the Orthodox community has skyrocketed. Though just 54% of Orthodox Jews voted for Trump in 2016, Ami found that Trump has an 89% approval rating among the Orthodox. On fighting anti-Semitism, over 92 percent said Orthodox Jews trusted…
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Opinion Our Synagogue Is Being Attacked For Renting Space To A Charter School Serving Minorities
Our usually quiet Midwood neighborhood in Brooklyn has been roiled in recent weeks by a controversy surrounding East Midwood Jewish Center’s decision to rent our small school building to a charter school called Urban Dove. That flare-up has been fanned by a misinformation campaign that has promoted fear about non-Jewish children posing a threat to…
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Opinion Don’t Conflate The Jersey City Murderers With All Black Hebrew Israelites
“Today’s murder was actually from a fringe African American terrorist group.” “I’ve yet to encounter a Black Hebrew Israelite who wasn’t an anti-Semite.” “The Israelite group is nuts.” These were some of the comments that popped up on my social media feeds last week following initial reports that the suspects who murdered a police officer…
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Opinion Editorial | To Fight Campus Anti-Semitism, More Tools Are Welcome
A Jewish writer I know told me he came home the day President Trump’s executive order about anti-Semitism on college campuses was published and told his wife, “I hate it.” When she asked why, my friend said, “I don’t know.” At least he admitted it. Much of the Jewish world was so busy condemning or…
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Opinion What The US Left Should Learn From Jeremy Corbyn’s Shellacking
Let nobody tell you otherwise: The shellacking of Jeremy Corbyn is an unalloyed good. There is no ambivalence, and there must be no regret. Those who shed tears for Haman will eventually shed tears because of him. Decency sometimes has incongruous messengers, and at the moment Boris Johnson, he of the boorishness and floppy hair…
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Opinion I Served In Afghanistan. I Was Lied To And Betrayed By My Government.
I am a United States Army veteran who served for over 13 years. I’ve been deployed twice to Afghanistan, from 2006-2007 and from 2010-2011. Both tours were a year long. I served as an assistant chaplain in the military, which didn’t exempt me from the rules that governed our lives as soldiers. In the beginning…
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Opinion How The Left Can Lead The Fight Against Anti-Semitism On College Campuses
In the face of rising anti-Semitism, what should we ask of the law? The highly conflicting responses to President Trump’s executive order on anti-Semitism highlight a fundamental, century-old tension within the American Jewish community about the role of civil rights law in protecting Jews: Do we want the government to treat American Jews as a…
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Opinion I’m A Palestinian Student. Trump’s Executive Order Will Censor Me
On Wednesday, the President of the United States signed an executive order that promises to endanger free speech. “We have… taken a firm stand against the so called Divestment and Sanctions Movement or BDS,” the president said Wednesday. “We forcefully condemn this anti-Semitic campaign against the State of Israel and its citizens.” ICYMI: Trump just…
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Opinion Trump Aside, Are Jews A Nationality?
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was signing an executive order defining Judaism as a nationality. The article set off an internet firestorm, with many Jews openly worrying that this was not meant to protect Jews, but to distinguish us from the American people. President Trump will sign an executive…
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Opinion President Trump: This Jewish College Student Thanks You
After another apparent anti-Semitic attack, this time at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City on Tuesday, a glimmer of hope shone through for the American-Jewish community. In the run up to the White House’s annual Hanukkah party on Wednesday, President Trump signed the Executive Order on Combatting anti-Semitism. The order reads: “It shall be the…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Fast Forward First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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Opinion When my children decorate for Hanukkah, I don’t just see pride. I see pluralism in action.
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Fast Forward ‘The most Australian name’: Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach attack, embodies a nation’s grief
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