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.
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
Koren Shadmi is an American-Israeli cartoonist who lives and works in Brooklyn. His latest book, a collaboration with author David Kushner, is Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D.
In 1992, when I was the first woman ordained in the State of Israel, I was an oddity at best. This year, we ordained our 100th Israeli Reform rabbi, and they are serving communities and institutions all over Israel. Over 25 years later, my daughter, a native born Israeli, great granddaughter of the founders of…
Margaret Hodge did us all a favor when she cornered Jeremy Corbyn in the Houses of Parliament and called him “anti-Semitic and a racist.” Whether one agrees with her choice of words or not, the well-respected Labour MP gave voice to something many believed to be true about Corbyn but few dared say. An outburst…
Like many Jewish parents, I try to create memorable Jewish experiences for my kids. Last weekend I can say, with some confidence, that I succeeded. The weekend started on Rhodes, the Mediterranean island on which my maternal grandmother’s family spent more than four centuries following their 15th century expulsion from Spain. We travelled there for…
On Friday, August 11, one year ago this weekend, hundreds of white men (and some white women) marched in Charlottesville, VA for the white nationalist Unite The Right rally. They surrounded a synagogue where a Jewish community was holding Kabbalat Shabbat services. They shouted Nazi and Ku Klux Klan slogans. They assaulted counter-protestors. The next…
In their article from Aug 8, Einat Wilf and Ram Vromen write that the attempt to “import” liberal Judaism to Israel is a mistake on the part of American Jewry. It is important to note they write from the perspective of ones opposed to all religious efforts and as “believers” in a totally secular life….
A useful rule of thumb when reading op-ed articles suggests that if the title could also serve as the title of an op-ed piece presenting a diametrically opposite point of view, then the article is interesting and worth reading. Just as importantly, though, such titles should also make us approach the article with a healthy…
There is only one reason why Gaza and Israel’s South were dragged into yet another devastating confrontation between the IDF and Hamas: toxic masculinity. We now know that another redundant escalation was sparked by a mistake. IDF soldiers were patrolling Gaza’s perimeter fence when they heard something and thought they were being shot at. So…
Several years ago, I (Einat) had the honor of speaking at a Conservative Synagogue in NYC. I was asked why, as a proud Israeli feminist, I am not mobilized for the cause of the Women of the Wall. I admitted that while I am a feminist I am also a devout Atheist, and the importance…
It’s become quite the thing to deny one is an anti-Semite by insisting one is merely an anti-Zionist. Not only do people facing criticism for abetting anti-Semitism use this pabulum, but their Jewish defenders on the left do, too. In these pages, opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon recently asserted that one of the “most important questions…
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! This was not the first time that the Forward reached out to Jewish women and asked them to tell their stories about abortion. In 2016, under the headline “Silent No More,” we published…
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