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
Good News For The Jews: 5 Miraculous, Uplifting Moments This Jewish Week
Life isn’t all bad, so why should news be? Once a week, just before Shabbat, the Forward will highlight stories about Jewish joy, triumph, and pride from Jewish communities in America, Israel and all over the world. If you have a tip for a Jewish news story that brought you joy, please send it to…
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Opinion Black Jewish Voices Are Finally Being Heard. So Is The Racist Backlash.
As Jews of Color gain more visibility and representation in the Jewish world and beyond, we are pushing the boundaries of Jewish conversations on inclusion, race, and politics. Many in the Jewish community see the value of our contributions. But we are also facing a racist backlash. The most recent example of this occurred earlier…
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Letters Yes, Israel Has A Right To Exist. And We Have A Right To Demand You Recognize It.
In a recent op-ed in these pages, Yousef Munayyer argued that no state has an inherent right to exist. “States don’t exist because they have a ‘right’ to,” he wrote. “They exist because certain groups of people amassed enough political and material power to make territorial claims and establish governments, sometimes with the consent of…
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Opinion Anti-Semitic Environmentalism Is The Latest Social Justice Threat To Jews
As a young writer living in California, I find progressive spaces are practically unavoidable. I can’t walk down Santa Monica without someone suggesting I try veganism, nor go to my screenwriting group without a colleague suggesting I add a President Trump joke because Hollywood is all about the resistance. As an intersectional feminist, you’d think…
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Opinion Why Do So Many Sephardic Jews Have Christian Lastnames?
There’s a curious phenomenon which may be unfamiliar to American Jews: Many Germans who have no Jewish ancestors commonly use surnames like Rosenberg, Rosenthal, Meier, Weill, Schuster and Landau. The same is true of Sephardic Jews: Names like Henriques, Lopez, Mendes, Rodriguez and Pereira are commonly used by both Sephardic Jews and by Iberian Christians…
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Opinion Wake Up, American Jews: Donald Trump Is A Huge Threat
As a French Jew, I am often asked about anti-Semitism in France. Without fail, the last question at any appearance I make is the same: Should French Jews leave and move to Israel or America? I always insist that Jews have played an instrumental role in founding modern-day France, and if anyone is going to…
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Opinion ‘Does Israel Have A Right To Exist’ Is A Trick Question.
There’s a famous scene in the 1992 movie “My Cousin Vinny” where the out of work hairdresser Mona Lisa Vito, played by Marisa Tomei, takes the witness stand to provide expert testimony. The prosecutor, aiming to discredit and belittle Vito, asks her a convoluted question about the precise engine timing of a specific car. “That’s…
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Opinion It’s Not Farewell, It’s L’hitraot
I start with the difficult news: This will be my last Jane Looking Forward newsletter, at least in its current form. I’ve been asked to step down as editor-in-chief, effective at the end of this month, and am evaluating what role I would like to have in the future with Forward management. But that’s not…
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Opinion Fighting Anti-Semitism Has Become A Partisan Game
Last week, both Republican and Democratic representatives in Congress were revealed to have met with anti-Semites. But only one side was reported in the mainstream media: GOP Congressmen’s association with Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that Chuck C. Johnson walking with Reps. Phil Roe and Andy Harris? Both waited…
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Opinion Can We Stop Calling People ‘Self-Hating Jews?’
In her new book, “Antisemitism: Here and Now,” Deborah Lipstadt presents what she calls a taxonomy of Jewish hatred. There is the unambiguous extremist, the sort who marches with torches in Charlottesville, and who believes, with some justification, that there is a sympathizer in the White House. There is the utilitarian anti-Semite, “the pot-stirrer who…
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Opinion The Women’s March Failed By Sowing Discord Instead Of Unity
I believe in the power of people to make change – especially women. I have seen women of different religions, ethnicities, backgrounds, socioeconomic levels, belief systems, and lifestyles, come together toward a common goal and make it happen. That’s why watching the deterioration of the Women’s March has been so painful, both as a woman…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Opinion How Israel became a country where teenagers murder each other in cold blood
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Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
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News Most Jewish voters rate Mamdani poorly, new poll finds
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Fast Forward After a Maryland teacher’s death, her 200-piece Judaica collection finds new life in a Jewish museum
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Fast Forward British Green Party candidate tweeted about killing Zionists from Anne Frank parody account
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Yiddish World New documentary captures the lively history of Yiddish theater in America