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
No, Yiddish Is Not A Corruption Of German
To most people, Yiddish and German are closely related. The languages share many root words and grammatical structures, and most speakers of one language can at least understand an individual speaking the other. To early German Christian scholars, like to many laypersons today, Yiddish was seen as a corrupted and lesser form of German. But…
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Opinion Elizabeth Warren’s Stunt Shows Danger Of DNA Testing For Jews
DNA is not identity. We aren’t our genetic markers. That’s the message Native American writers and activists have been trying to convey to Massachusetts Senator and likely 2020 presidential contender Elizabeth Warren. But it’s a message Jewish people at this moment could stand to hear as well. Elizabeth Warren, a white woman, has in the…
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Opinion For Students Like Me, Anti-BDS But Critical Of Israel, There’s No Place On Campus
All eyes have been on University of Michigan, my university, these past few weeks, thanks to some controversial incidents: two professors refusing to write recommendations for students seeking to study in Israel and a required seminar class comparing Israel’s Prime Minister to Hitler. Even though I was warned, before I started at Michigan, about the…
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Opinion Get With The Times, Piers Morgan: Even Orthodox Men Aren’t Ashamed To Be Hands-On Dads
Earlier this week, a certain TV personality ruffled some feathers when he tweeted a picture of another famous person taking a walk with his baby strapped to his chest, implying that it was a most un-masculine thing a man can do. Oh 007.. not you as well?!!! #papoose #emasculatedBond pic.twitter.com/cqWiCRCFt3 — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October…
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Letters Opinion | Andrew Gillum is the Right Choice for the Jewish Community
As relentless pro-Israel Members of Congress, we are proud to be unwavering supporters of the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida, Andrew Gillum. Therefore, we are dismayed and angered by the political weaponization of Israel and the scourge of anti-Semitism by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis and his extreme right-wing allies. Mr. DeSantis has launched…
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Opinion In Search of a Political Prophet, I May Have Found One
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! My latest essay, appearing in our October magazine and online last week, wondered why we aren’t seeing moral leadership from Jews in Washington, speaking out against the corruption and turpitude disgracing our national…
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Opinion Why Do Politicians Keep Lying About Their Heritage?
After years of deferring — and being mocked for it by President Donald Trump — Senator Elizabeth Warren released her genetic results via a hazy campaign-style video on Monday. My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my…
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Opinion What Elizabeth Warren Can Learn From Julia Salazar
It’s very possible that Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts will be elected president in 2020. Her economic agenda has great appeal, and she is a passionate messenger and accomplished leader. But if so, it will be despite Monday’s potentially calamitous early misstep: the unprecedented release of her DNA test results. Warren was responding to repeated…
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Opinion Israel Doesn’t Need Liberal Judaism. It Needs Liberalism.
This summer, we wrote an article in these pages in which we argued that Reform and Conservative American Jews should stop importing their brand of Judaism to Israel on the grounds that we already have too much religion. What Israelis need is not softer versions of Judaism, but rather help strengthening our liberalism, which is…
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Opinion Our World Is Falling Apart And I’m Terrified
When I was 13, I was struck with an illogical, almost paralyzing fear of the apocalypse. Alarmist clickbait was circulating the internet, telling of mankind’s extinction via Mayan prophecies of Armageddon. A sensitive and imaginative child who was aware of climate change, I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night sobbing, because…
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Opinion Stop Looking For The Next Heschel. They Are All Around You.
In this week’s Forward, Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner looks for “a prophet who will speak out as a Jew.” She looks first for an elected official who will bring moral leadership to Washington, and then reminisces about prominent Jewish leaders from outside of the halls of Congress. “Where is our Abraham Joshua Heschel today?” she asks….
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In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Jewish groups defend European media monitors banned for what State Dept. calls ‘censorship’
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Fast Forward British police drop case against Bob Vylan for ‘Death to the IDF’ chant, sparking outrage from Jewish groups
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Yiddish יהודה גור-אריה און שירי שפּירא געווינען רובינליכט־פּריז פֿאַר ליטעראַטורYehuda Gur-Arye and Shiri Shapira win Rubinlicht Prize for Literature
די רובינליכט־פֿונדאַציע טיילט צו יערלעכע פּרעמיעס פֿאַר ליטעראַרישער און קולטורעלער טעטיקייט אויף ייִדיש און לטובֿת ייִדיש.
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Yiddish אַ בריוועלע דער מאַמען (אַ דערציילונג) A letter to my mother (story)
בעת אַ ייִדישער סאָלדאַט ליגט אין אַ סאָוועטישן מיליטערישן שפּיטאָל פֿאַרמעסט זיך זײַן מאַמע קעגן דעם ייִדישן הויפּט־דאָקטער
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