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
Celebrate The First Vote Like A Civic Rite Of Passage
This column has a message for every person eligible to vote for the first time this November. Cast that ballot! And to every mother, father, sister, brother, grandparent, close relative, teacher, principal, coach, rabbi, Hillel director, concerned neighbor and friend in that new voter’s life. Celebrate that First Vote! Unlike so many of life’s significant…
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Opinion Make No Mistake: The Right Created The Synagogue Murderer
Yesterday, a man angrily posted on his social media account, “I can’t sit by and watch my people slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.” And then he walked into a synagogue and killed 11 Jews. We already know what will happen now. They will tell us not to politicize this. They will tell us…
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Opinion The Right Has Blood On Its Hands After Pittsburgh Carnage — And So Does The Left
Grief. Darkness. Uncontrollable rage. These are the things consuming the American Jewish community today, the darkest day in our history in this country. There is little surprise, but boundless, unending sadness and anger. In a crisis, we often feel a desire to move. It’s flight or fight. It’s adrenaline. It’s evolutionary. Today, I want you…
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Opinion How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Hate Led To A Synagogue Shooting
Every Saturday morning, I go to synagogue to reconnect, both with God and with my fellow Jews. This morning was like any other, featuring prayer, arguments over the sermon, and jokes over bagels and cream cheese during the kiddush luncheon. It was only after I returned home that I realized, to my horror, that while…
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Opinion Pittsburgh Shooting Is A Reminder: Jews And Muslims Are In This Together
Robert Bowers was angry at Jews. But the 46-year-old alleged killer of at least eleven people in a Pittsburgh synagogue seemed most angry at Jews for one particular reason: They were helping Muslim refugees flee to safety in America. In posts on Gab, the social media network favored by white supremacists, Bowers fixated on HIAS,…
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Opinion Will Synagogue Bloodbath Be Wakeup Call For Jews Who Enable Trump’s Hate?
On Saturday morning, a white nationalist walked in to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, and killed 11 people as of the last count. His declared reason for this carnage was a hatred of HIAS, a Jewish organization that advocates for refugees, founded in 1881. The organization does have a chapter in…
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Opinion What Has Trump Done To Us, America?
I have one daughter who is a freelance journalist and has reported from all sorts of dangerous places in the Middle East and Africa. I have another daughter who is a nurse practitioner and right now is delivering health care to the Rohingya, whose plight is creating the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world….
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Opinion For Centuries, Jewish Tradition Has Recognized Trans People
The idea that there are two and only two sexes is relatively new. This week, in a memo leaked to the New York Times, the Trump administration stated its goal to institute a federal definition of sex as “unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with.” Furthermore, “any dispute about one’s…
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Opinion Israelis Are Divided Over Whether They Are ‘Jewish’ Or ‘Israeli.’
By now it’s accepted that the American Jewish community and Israel are in crisis mode. Once bound by the tightest of familial bonds, the two communities have grown ever apart, leading to much hand-wringing. The cause of the crisis is generally chalked up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies – his embrace of the…
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Opinion We Palestinians Are Caught Between A Government That Tortures Us – And Israel
My first time visiting a Hamas operated police station prison was unforgettable. A rusty blue-colored gate led to a narrow corridor that bifurcated into two depressing, colorless rooms. Inside, tens of people were sitting in the corners of each room on a cold floor or a few rotting mattresses. It was the middle of winter,…
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Opinion How Ivanka Trump And Don Junior Weaponize Class — In Opposite Ways
Donald’s Trump’s money has been the subject of frequent discussion. Less often discussed is the question of class in relation to the President, or his family. But the class dynamics at work in the Trump clan — specifically, the way class is performed by the Trumps — provides a secret window into an important and…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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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 Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
In Case You Missed It
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Theater Tony nominee Mark Rosenblatt’s ‘Giant’ journey began with Menachem Begin
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Fast Forward A new Hebrew press in Berlin argues that Israel doesn’t own the language
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Fast Forward Jewish library and Chabad near Buenos Aires attacked, Argentine Jewish advocates say
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Fast Forward Cornell’s Jewish president clashes with students following on-campus debate about Israel