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
The Jewish Community Must Oppose Trump’s Muslim Ban
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled today to uphold the Trump administration’s travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries. The current version suspends and restricts entry for immigrants, refugees and even visa holders from Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela; the latter two countries were added after the ban was contested in…
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Opinion Why The Orthodox Hate ‘Tikkun Olam’
Jonathan Neumann is furious at Liberal Judaism and I understand why. It was not so long ago that I was angry at them as well. Sadly, though, his anger makes him commit an infraction that is not so different from the transgression that incites his own righteous indignation. He lacerates his political adversaries for misusing…
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Opinion Intermarriage Fear-Mongering Hides The Real Threat To Jews
At a moment in which liberal leaning American Jews — that is to say, the vast majority of American Jews — are feeling dismay at the coziness of fellow demagogues Trump and Netanyahu, the appointment of Labor leader Isaac Herzog to lead the Jewish Agency (in a sharp break with tradition, in which the prime…
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Opinion They’re Right: Tikkun Olam Is Fake Judaism (A Modest Proposal)
In light of Jonathan Neumann’s essay exposing the evils of liberal Judaism and its embrace of tikkun olam, I have been forced to re-evaluate my life’s work as a liberal rabbi. I now realize the tremendous damage I have done to Judaism through my part in the spread of the cult of tikkun olam, which…
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Letters Sorry, Howard Dean, Pogroms In Ukraine Are Not ‘Russian Propaganda’
Dear Governor Dean: You recently tweeted about an article I wrote in these pages. The article was about anti-Semitism and anti-Roma pogroms in Ukraine. You were skeptical: Be interested to know if this is based on Russian disinformation. https://t.co/h2uKTYYKeR — Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) June 25, 2018 I’m glad you’re exhibiting a healthy skepticism. The next…
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Letters In Defense of Camp Ramah
“Are you ready for the summer?” goes the phrase from the Bill Murray comedy “Meatballs.” When asked if the ritzy Camp Mohawk is worth the price, Murray’s character rattles off its unique programs — a roundtable with Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat rapping with the kids and a not-so-P.C. version of sexual awareness week. If a…
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Opinion De Niro, Sanders, and the Need for Derech Eretz
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! Two years ago, during the height of ferocious anti-Semitic trolling of Jewish journalists, including many at the Forward, I issued a Trumpatorium. For 24 hours, from 5 am June 21, 2016 to 5…
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Opinion Our Israel Education Is Failing
Have you ever seen cars from the 1960s? They’re built like tanks, with big, bold chrome fins and solid, unyielding steel frames that look like they could survive an artillery blast. The cars, of course, were death traps. In the event of a collision, all the impact would get transferred to the driver. Modern cars,…
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Opinion Jared Kushner’s Peace Efforts Will Only Make Things Worse
Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s Middle East peacemakers, just completed another round of Middle East visits. Their most important interlocutors were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), the revolutionary new Saudi leader. Together, the four appear to be launching a project to create a Palestinian Islamist mini-state…
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Opinion ZOA Needs To Come Clean About Qatari Cash
It is by now common knowledge that the government of Qatar, the tiny Gulf state rich in gas, has been courting pro-Israel American Jews for some time now. Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America, and Alan Dershowitz, the famous lawyer and Israel defender, are just two of the prominent pro-Israel Jews who…
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Opinion The Liberal Case For Nationalism
On the morning of June 22, the television show “Fox and Friends” discussed President Trump’s executive decision to stop his own administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. “Like it or not, these aren’t our kids,” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said of the 2,000 children who had been taken…
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Culture Waiting on line on Christmas is a time-honored New York tradition — was it ever thus?
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Fast Forward It’s not just a myth that Jews head to Chinese restaurants on Christmas. It’s science.
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