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
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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Opinion Why Federations Funding Canary Mission Shouldn’t Surprise You
This week, a series of exposés by Josh Nathan-Kazis in these pages revealed that an Israeli charity that appears to run the blacklist site Canary Mission received funding from a foundation controlled by the Jewish Community Federations of San Francisco. A second piece identified the Jewish Community Federation of Los Angeles communal fund as a…
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Opinion How The #HimToo Hashtag Restored My Faith In Humanity
Twitter and Trump go together like Jefferson Beauregard Sessions and racism, or Kim Kardashian and Instagram. They exist in a symbiotic relationship, a constantly reinforced feedback loop. Without Twitter, there would be no Trump. And given what we’ve learned about Russian troll farms, there would certainly be no President Trump. But in a way, Twitter…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
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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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News Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
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