Opinion

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  AIPAC Took 41 Democrats To Israel – And They Applauded Netanyahu

  Forty-one Democratic House members were in Israel last week on a trip led by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, working hard to highlight their unified support for their host country. Rejecting ongoing Republican attacks accusing Democrats of being insufficiently pro-Israel, Hoyer said: “The central reality is that there is extraordinary unity on issues that Israel is…

  By Richard M. Goldwasser

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Young Jews Protesting Trump’s Camps Remind The Establishment What Jewish History Stands For.

  Historical moments of reckoning have a way of galvanizing American Jewry. Mass migration, dislocation, pogroms, persecution and the First World War created new institutions of Jewish life in America that rescued and integrated nearly three million Jews into the unique discourse of a participatory American republican democracy. The Zionist project and then the rehabilitation of…

  By Andy Bachman Aug 12, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Epstein’s Case Deserves An Investigation, Not Conspiracy Theories

  When the news that Jeffrey Epstein had died of suicide arrived on Saturday morning, it was not a question of whether conspiracy theories would quickly take hold, but of which ones. Epstein, the disgraced financier accused of sex trafficking underage girls, was connected to an ungodly number of elite circles: Wall Street, highly-ranked academic institutions,…

  By Abe Silberstein Aug 12, 2019 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman Charlie Kirk and Alan Berg: 2 murders, 41 years apart, show the painful perils of polarization

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s strike in Qatar: An audacious bid for victory, or just another foolhardy provocation?

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

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  Opinion

  Please Don’t Politicize Dvir Sorek’s Murder. His Final Act Was One Of Peace.

  If history is any guide, in the coming weeks, the horrifying murder of Dvir Sorek in a West Bank terror attack will be weaponized by right-wing Israeli politicians. His death will be used as ammunition for those seeking to demonize the Palestinian people and to yet again quash any movement toward peace. Make no mistake:…

  By Emma Goldberg Aug 9, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Remembering the slaves who built Wall Street: A summer ‘azkore’ on Tisha B’av

  Unlike for the rest of the world, summer is when Jews mourn — the destruction of our last ancient Temple, our subsequent diaspora, and our most recent devastating near-ruin. It is also the season when African Americans commemorate the Juneteenth anniversary of their freedom on these shores — and slavery’s catastrophic legacy. There’s a place…

  By Chana Pollack Aug 9, 2019 | 8 min read
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  Opinion

  As An Orthodox Jew, I Pray To Return To Jerusalem. As An American, I Feel At Home.

  The Book of Lamentations, read at synagogues this Saturday evening in observance of the fast of Tisha B’Av, concludes with the prayer, “Bring us back, O Lord, and we will return to you.” In general, the traditional framing of the Jewish diaspora experience depicts a people in exile, living as foreigners, and yearning to return…

  By Avraham Bronstein Aug 8, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s The Jewish Day Of Mourning. But In Pittsburgh, We Never Stopped.

  It’s the time of year that for one day, the ninth of Av, Jews think about being displaced and exiled. We think of what was lost with the destruction of two Temples, and our historical exile from Jerusalem. This year, I am in the unenviable position of feeling this uprooted aspect of Jewish history in…

  By Beth Kissileff Aug 8, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m An Orthodox Rabbi. Too Many People Are Using Religion To Cloak Their Homophobia.

  Recently, a lot of people have been asking me for my thoughts on Torah versus the LGBT community. The reality is that mainstream Orthodoxy will not permit a Rabbi to officiate a marriage for a gay couple, grant Rabbinical ordination to an openly gay man, or claim that Halacha is wrong. Rather, “Kabbolos Ol” applies…

  By Rabbi Levi Welton Aug 8, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Bad Holocaust Analogies Ironically Show The Stunning Success Of Holocaust Education

  When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referred to detention centers for asylum seekers in the U.S. as “concentration camps”, a controversy rightfully erupted. Some decried AOC for trivializing the Holocaust; others defended her statement as a legitimate image to draw attention to suffering and inhumanity. Others argued the fine points of terminology (she said “concentration camps,” not…

  By Andrés Spokoiny Aug 7, 2019 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  This Tisha B’Av, We Mourn Injustice In Israel – And Commit To The Fight To End It.

  Many progressive Jews struggle with whether Tisha B’av still has resonance when Judaism has evolved so far beyond Temple service. We wonder whether a full day of mourning for Jewish destruction and exile is still called for when we have a sovereign State of Israel and the accompanying reality of national power. But the sages…

  By Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen and Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovits Aug 7, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Social Media Is The New Frontier Of Anti-Semitism

  The 892 anti-Semitic incidents recorded by Britain’s Community Security Trust (CST) between January and June of this year set another unfortunate record. A rise of 10% compared to the same period in 2018, the uptick indicates not only that anti-Semitism in Britain is becoming evermore pervasive, but also that inside the Jewish community there is…

  By Liam Hoare Aug 7, 2019 | 4 min read