In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Everything You’ve Heard About Israel’s Nation State Bill Is Wrong
Israel’s new Nation State Law, which passed last week with the aim of affirming the country’s Jewish character, has come under considerable fire. The new legislation is made up of mostly symbolic declarations that reaffirm the symbolism, calendar, and meaning of the “Jewish State.” And it took about eleven seconds before critics went ballistic. Ahmed…
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Letters No, American Zionism Is Not Apathetic
Last month on the pages of The Forward I claimed the right to be a liberal Zionist in America, one who feels a deep connection with Israel, one who continues to envision a democratic Jewish state that exists alongside a free and independent Palestine — but also one who recognizes that a half-century after the…
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Opinion How A #MeToo Scandal Proved What We Already Know: ‘Jewish Continuity’ Is Sexist.
Steven M. Cohen is perhaps the most important Jewish sociologist in America. A prolific writer and popular speaker on the Jewish circuit, Cohen is best known as the architect of the intermarriage “crisis” discourse; he has for decades used sociological surveys to insist that intermarriage is “the greatest single threat to Jewish continuity today.” But…
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Opinion How Jewish Academia Created A #MeToo Disaster
On Thursday, an exposé in the Jewish Week chronicled eight women’s stories in which they accused Steven M. Cohen of exploitative conduct. The personal and institutional dimensions of these serious allegations will ripple far into the future in ways we cannot know. However, as historians of American Jews, we do know that these allegations reflect…
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Opinion For Palestinians, Israel’s Nation State Bill Only Tells Us What We Already Know
Late Thursday night, the Israeli Knesset passed a controversial law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. As a Basic Law, it enshrines much of the ongoing discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Critics have slammed the new law as “the official beginning of fascism and apartheid” and “a poison pill for…
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Opinion Why Do People Care More About Adelson’s Money Than The Lives Of Palestinians?
Over the past three weeks, 13 Birthright participants decided to walk off their Birthright trips, causing quite a stir. The walk-offs happened on three different trips, but all for the same reason. After repeatedly asking questions about the material they were being presented and then receiving whitewashed answers about Israel’s military rule over Palestinians, or…
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Opinion Mark Zuckerberg Falls For Nazi B.S.
Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that he would not remove Holocaust deniers from Facebook, because he did not think they were deliberately lying. In an interview with Recode, Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, raised the issue of Holocaust denial himself as an example of speech Facebook would allow on its platform. “I find [Holocaust denial] deeply…
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Opinion I’m A Settler Who Defends The Birthright Walkouts
Twice this summer, a number of students have filmed themselves walking off their Birthright trips. The much debated walkouts are part of a campaign called “Not Just A Free Trip” organized by the American Jewish activist group IfNotNow. But while many believe that IfNotNow’s left-wing walkouts of Birthright trips may be nothing more than a…
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Opinion The Real Reason People Are Upset About Birthright Walkouts
The Jewish world is in an uproar over what are being called “Birthright walkouts”. Twice this summer, a number of students have publicly announced that they would be leaving their Birthright trips midway to learn more about the plight of the Palestinians. Filming themselves, they then abandoned the trip. Both times, the resulting brouhaha dominated…
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Opinion Why These Orthodox Jews Are Fighting For Muslim Rights
An intriguing alliance, ad hoc but no less notable for the fact, took place in Israel’s Knesset recently. Two Haredi parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, came to the defense of the Joint List of Arab parties to block a bill that would ban religious institutions from using loudspeakers. The legislation was clearly aimed at…
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Opinion Zionism Is Not Racist. Israel’s Nation-State Bill Shouldn’t Be Either.
The nation-state bill that the Knesset has been debating for the past week became law this week. Since its inception, it’s left a non-stop controversy in its wake. From the noxious clause that would have enshrined state-sanctioned discrimination in one of Israel’s Basic Laws – thankfully dropped after a wave of protest both in Israel…
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