Opinion

• Opinion

  I Know The Terror Migrant Children Face — I Was 9 When My Family Fled The Soviet Union

  The awful night my family crossed the Soviet border is still seared in my mind. Hours of threats and violent searches had pushed us to the edge. I stared at the guards with machine guns. My father stared at the guard captain who was deciding our fate. But the rest of my family was looking…

  By Lev Golinkin

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  How to Keep The Two State Solution Alive When No One Cares

  The latest Middle East regional tour by U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt gives rise to rumors that they are on the verge of publishing President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which they have been working on for over a year. Whatever they decide, it should be based on realism and focused on…

  By Daniel B. Shapiro Jun 19, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews Should Disown Stephen Miller Over Trump’s Family Separation Disgrace

  Should the American Jewish community disown Stephen Miller? What would that mean? Would it make a difference? Would he even notice? The 32-year-old White House senior policy adviser is in the news once again, this time offering a full-throated endorsement of the Trump administration’s decision to separate families seeking refuge on our southern border. The…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 18, 2018 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz As editor-in-chief, I’m finding my way Forward (and back)

  

• Rob Eshman The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel

  

• Dan Perry Why war with Iran puts the US-Israel alliance at risk

  

• Emily Tamkin Gavin Newsom just confirmed the demise of the Democratic party’s support for Israel

  

• Jay Michaelson We are talking past one another on Zionism

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Five Years After Pew Study, Where Are We?

  Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! The Pew Research Center officially released its Portrait of Jewish Americans on Oct. 1, 2013 at a venue in Manhattan. Several of those responsible for the landmark survey spoke, followed by a panel…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 18, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Commentary’s Race Baiting Of Blacks And Jews Is So 1963. Literally.

  A few weeks ago, I chastised journalist and progressive activist Shaun King for perpetuating a false binary between Blacks and Jews that erases my identity as a Black Jew. Just two weeks later, the conservative magazine Commentary did the exact same thing. On Friday, Commentary published a shockingly tone-deaf and inflammatory cover that screamed, “African…

  By Nylah Burton Jun 18, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel Made A Huge Mistake. Trump Is Terrible For The Jews

  A recent poll found that three out of four Israelis approve of U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations, while nearly 60% of American Jews disapprove of it. In the wake of these results, an Israeli colleague asked me: Is it possible that Israelis are right? That Trump is actually good for Israel? It’s…

  By Lara Friedman Jun 18, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  We’re In A State Of Moral Emergency. Jews Must Join The Fight.

  I firmly believe that fighting for the human rights of immigrants and refugees is the moral responsibility of every single U.S. citizen. Recognizing this inalienable truth — that protecting the most vulnerable among us is our collective duty — has never been more urgent. The Jewish story is also one of immigration and of forced…

  By Nylah Burton Jun 18, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Letter To An Israeli-Jewish Friend

  Forty years ago, Hillel Halkin wrote a powerful defense of Zionism in the guise of letters to an imaginary American friend. This year, Yossi Klein Halevi published what has become a best-selling book framed as letters to an imaginary Palestinian neighbor. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to mimic the skill and impact these two…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 17, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  How The GOP Hacked Orthodox Jews

  Last week saw a number of horrifying spectacles. Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, overturned asylum protections for domestic violence and gang violence victims while also quoting the New Testament to justify separating illegal immigrant parents from their children. As if that weren’t bad enough, Corey Stewart, a fervent praiser of white nationalists, won his GOP…

  By Elad Nehorai Jun 15, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Jeff Sessions Is Right About Biblical Precedent. He’s Pharaoh

  Yesterday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the current administration’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border as “Biblical.” Sessions referred specifically to Romans 13 in the New Testament, but Sanders later claimed that it is “very biblical to enforce the law,” and that this “is actually…

  By Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg Jun 15, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Important Are The Meanings Of Jewish Names?

  In a previous piece in these pages, I discussed the importance of the semantics of traditional Jewish female names. In various countries, Jewish women have often had personal names with pleasant meanings in their local, everyday language. At first glance, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Jewish men. Indeed, since at least the…

  By Alexander Beider Jun 15, 2018 | 5 min read