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
-
Letters
Jewish Continuity Isn’t Sexist — It’s Necessary
Is Jewish continuity inherently sexist? In some people’s minds, like the author of a recent op-ed in these pages, Jewish continuity is toxically identified with Jewish sociologist Steven M. Cohen. I’m neither judge nor jury, but if the #MeToo allegations against Cohen are true, and they may well be, the prominent sociologist should be held…
-
Opinion Israeli Democracy Is Just Fine
It’s over: Israel has picked “identity over democracy.” That’s both the premise and conclusion of a recent piece by The New York Times columnist Max Fisher, who sees in the lamentable “Nation-State” law passed last week by the Knesset a rejection of democracy, and an embrace of theocracy and ethnocracy. Fisher writes that Israel has…
-
Opinion A Matter Of Conscience: Why I Support The Sanctuary Movement
In the early days of the Trump administration, I wrote an essay expressing serious reservations about the modest but growing movement by churches and synagogues to offer aid and housing to undocumented immigrants. Since then, America has changed, and so have I. My initial unease was not because of what “sanctuary” tries to do, I…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion Israel’s Democracy Is On Life Support. Diaspora Jews Must Speak Up.
It is time for the Jewish Diaspora to update some of its favorite lines for advocating on behalf of Israel. For example, “Arabic is one of Israel’s two official languages” is now a factually incorrect statement after Israel’s new Nation-State bill was passed by the Knesset last week. The bill downgraded Arabic from an official…
-
Opinion Why Do Israelis Care So Much About Syrians But Not About Palestinians?
On Saturday night, the Israeli Defense Forces released footage of a rescue operation, in which over 400 humanitarian aid workers in Syria, known as White Helmets, were evacuated by Israel along with their families and ferried through the Golan Heights to safety in Jordan. It’s not the first time Israel has engaged in humanitarian efforts…
-
Opinion Israel’s New Nation-State Law, and Other Disruptions To The Old Order
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! What a week to be away! President Trump’s disastrous press conference after his meeting with the ruthless Russian President Vladimir Putin left even Republican leaders dismayed — or, as John McCain, his party’s…
-
Opinion A Letter To Southern Israelis, From Your Neighbor In Gaza
To Gaza’s Neighbors in southern Israel: Over the last month, you’ve had some of the most sleepless and terrible nights in years, and so have your Palestinian sisters and brothers in Gaza. Shabbat after Shabbat, you had only 15 seconds to shelter your loved ones; meanwhile, many Gazans had no time to escape, nowhere to…
-
Letters No, ‘Protest Tourism’ Is Not A Thing
As a young-ish British Jewish anti-occupation activist, I’m sadly all too familiar with straw-man attacks. I and others like me are so viciously attacked online following any meagre expression of opinion that if you were to believe even just half of the things written about us on the internet, you may be excused for thinking…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Exclusive Mahmoud Khalil wants to reassure you
- 2
Culture In 1989, Harold Pinter and Jerry Schatzberg made the perfect Holocaust movie for 2026
- 3
Culture 70 years ago, this Jewish choreographer predicted our epidemic of loneliness and isolation
- 4
Opinion Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Mahmoud Khalil’s anti-Zionist case to Jews shows the case for skepticism
-
Opinion Mahmoud Khalil’s reassurances are bad for Jews but even worse for Palestinians
-
Film & TV Jonah Hill’s cancel culture dramedy makes an antisemitism exception — all about Kanye
-
Fast Forward 60% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Israel, up sharply since 2022, survey shows
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
