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
No, ‘Dark Web Intellectuals’ Like Sam Harris And Jordan Peterson Are Not Being Silenced
Reading the New York Times’ op-ed page, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the most dangerous threat to free speech is leftist totalitarians who criticize or protest against the right. Bret Stephens chastises leftists for criticizing right wing commentator Kevin Williamson; David Brooks bemoans leftist campus protests, and Bari Weiss often does the same. The…
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Opinion Eric Schneiderman Is A ‘Feminist.’ Because They, Too, Can Be Abusers.
The news that Eric Schneiderman is accused of severely abusing women came as a shock to many people in the feminist community – although it shouldn’t. None of this should surprise us anymore. This problem of abuse crosses all classes, ethnicities, professions, religions, and geography. The dynamics of abuse across different corners of the world…
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Opinion Visiting My Mother’s Hometown, A Changing Jewish Community In England
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! I’m still digesting the marvelous trip I took last week with my sister to visit our late mother’s hometown in England and learn more about her childhood. There are larger themes about British…
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Opinion How Internet Culture Gave Us A Video Of A Hasidic Boy Being Taunted
On Sunday, a video went viral of an man approaching a hasidic boy somewhere between three and five years of age. The boy had the traditional long, curly sidelocks known as payoth, and the top of his head shaved in hasidic fashion. The man presumably filming the video is heard talking to the expressionless boy….
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Opinion The Mocked Hasidic Child Could Have Been Mine – Or Yours
In a since-deleted video, an Orthodox child cries as a grown man makes fun of his sidelocks. Despite the fact that the video was both anti-Semitic and a violation of the child’s privacy, it went viral, with millions watching and almost 100,000 people “liking” the video before it was finally removed. Ever since I watched…
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Opinion Why Does No One Care About Anti-Semitic Attacks Against Hasidim?
The last few weeks have been a dangerous time to be a Jew in New York. Well, that’s not exactly right. They’ve been a dangerous time to be a Hasidic Jew in Crown Heights. On April 14, 21 and 30th and on May 1st of 2018, Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights were attacked and beaten….
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Opinion When Men Tell The #MeToo Story, They’re Always The Victims
We seem to have entered round two (or three or four) of #MeToo revelations. On Friday, the writer Zizi Clemons alleged via Tweet that Junot Diaz had forcibly kissed her. Last week, Tom Brokaw was accused of sexual misconduct. And New York Times editor Wendell Jamieson resigned amid accusations of misconduct made by three female…
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Opinion The Left Only Cares About Palestinians When It Can Blame Israel
For the past two weeks, horrifying images of Palestinians being murdered have surfaced on social media. Jets have dropped bombs, sending flames and black smoke into the air, followed by helicopters dropping improvised and unguided barrel bombs. On the ground, in the besieged Palestinian camp, buildings collapsed burying civilians alive underneath them. Those who have…
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Opinion Charles Bronfman: On Israel’s Missing Religious Tolerance
The following is a commencement address given at the Hebrew Union College. President Pankin, Chairman Berger, Chancellor Emeritus Ellenson, Chairman Messinger, Rabbi Davidson, Chairman Streiker, Deans, Faculty, family, friends, and most importantly, graduates: I am grateful for your gracious invitation and am honored to be addressing you today. With your permission, allow me to recall…
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Letters Letter | What Peter Beinart Leaves Out
Dear Editor, Peter Beinart regularly offers intelligent, nuanced, moral and reflective analysis of the tragic Israel-Palestinian conflict. His thoughts always are worth considering. Beinart’s disdain for Netanyahu and his ruling coalition is evident. And appropriate. The Likud government is uber nationalist, intolerant of dissent, hostile to civil liberties and democratic values, corrupt, bigoted, dishonest and…
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Opinion Why States Like New Jersey Should Give Yeshivas Money
Over the past month, the New Jersey Supreme Court has twice waded into the treacherous waters of church-state relations, attempting to provide some guidance as to when religious institutions can be excluded from government funding programs. At stake is a clash between deep-seated American constitutional commitments—a battle ultimately between the constitutional value of church-state separation,…
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Fast Forward Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims
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Opinion Marco Rubio invoked a medieval antisemitic trope in justifying war with Iran
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Culture How an Amish Mennonite school in Arkansas went viral with a song by an Orthodox Jew
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Opinion The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel
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Fast Forward Lindsey Graham urges Israel not to strike Iranian oil depots even as he says he helped make war happen
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Film & TV Walter Benjamin knew what Timothée Chalamet meant about opera and ballet
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Culture For the ‘Jazz Rabbi’ of Connecticut, music and Judaism are both about tradition and improvisation
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