Opinion

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  Now Is Not The Time To Call Jewish Intellectuals Sexy

  Dear Editor, Regarding your “Sexiest Jewish Intellectual” list: it is beyond an appalling and tone deaf use of column inches to have this list. We are in the throes of a near constant stream of conversations about sexual harassment and assault and calling intellectualism sexy is not cute and is a mystifying objectification of women…

  By Yael Ridberg

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m A Latina Who Works For The ADL. JVP’s Attacks Shocked Me

  I’m a non-Jewish Latina who works at the Anti-Defamation League. I love this work. I’m proud of this work. I’ve taken up the cause of fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry because, as a Latina, I can’t simply be concerned with anti-immigrant or anti-Latino hate. To be effective in building a more equal and…

  By Betsaida Alcantara Nov 20, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How The Jewish Community Can Make #MeToo Into #WeToo

  We may be at an inflection point, a moment when #MeToo becomes #WeToo, when the gender rules that have hurt and disadvantaged women for so very long are finally and substantively challenged. And if so — if the outpouring of painful recollections and apologies and resignations and outrage unleashed by the Harvey Weinstein story are…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 20, 2017 | 5 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover

  

• Rob Eshman Is JB Pritzker’s very Jewish toughness the key to fighting Trump?

  

• Nora Berman She’s a titan of Israeli architecture. Her story contains troubling lessons for her country

  

• Dan Perry The Trump administration is primed to give a gigantic gift to extremists in the West Bank

  

• Emily Tamkin Passover teaches us why Jews should stand with Mahmoud Khalil

  

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  Opinion

  I Was Roughed Up At The Western Wall — For Being A Reform Jew

  Thursday was quite a day for Reform Judaism in Jerusalem. A delegation of our movement’s leaders, which included the Board of Governors of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on which I sit, gathered for morning prayers in the archaeological park outside the Western Wall plaza. The occasion was the ordination, later in the…

  By Joshua M. Davidson Nov 17, 2017 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Myanmar Is Not The First Genocidal Government Israel Has Sold Arms To

  On September 26, I published a piece in the Forward detailing a petition before the Israeli High Court to end the sale of Israeli arms and training to the military of Myanmar, who are widely regarded as guilty of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya which some would call genocide. The Israeli government…

  By Matthew Gindin Nov 16, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Israel’s New Divorce Law Makes A Bad Situation Worse

  For the past 4 years, Member of Knesset Aliza Lavie of Yesh Atid and Religious Services Minister David Azoulay of Shas have been promoting a law that would allow rabbinic courts to take “international” jurisdiction over cases of agunot — women unable to remarry because their husbands refuse to grant them a religious divorce (a…

  By Susan Weiss Nov 16, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Roy Moore Will Probably Win. And The Media Has Only Itself To Blame

  If Roy Moore is guilty of sexual assault — and the evidence is mounting — that would constitute a stunning indictment of a leading candidate for the U.S. Senate, arguably, one of nation’s most prestigious and elite governmental bodies. And he might win anyway. Let that sink in for a moment. Republican officials are calling…

  By Nachama Soloveichik Nov 16, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Are Orthodox Organizations Embracing Christian Values?

  There is a talmudic story in Tractate Avodah Zarah in which the Roman authorities arrest Rabbi Eliezer on suspicion of heresy. He is acquitted through a lucky misunderstanding: when the rabbi declares his trust in the “Judge” — meaning God — the judge understands this as a vote of confidence in his own authority. Nevertheless,…

  By Jill Jacobs Nov 16, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Actually, Some Of Us Older Feminists Did Oppose Bill Clinton

  It’s becoming suddenly fashionable to claim that way back in the late 1990s, liberals and feminists (often considered one and the same) all gave President Bill Clinton a pass for his sexual misconduct before and during his time in the White House. I don’t dispute the charge that feminists — including Gloria Steinem, a woman…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 15, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Absurdity Of Linda Sarsour And JVP Discussing Anti-Semitism

  It seems rather obvious that an event titled “Anti-Semitism and the Struggle for Justice” should feature at least one scholar who has actually studied the history and pervasiveness of anti-Semitism. It also seems obvious that to be taken seriously, it should be framing the question in a way that takes seriously the charge of anti-Semitism….

  By Emily Shire Nov 15, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why 250 Retired Mossad And Shin Bet Agents Support A Settlement Freeze

  A few years ago The Gatekeepers — a film about six former heads of Israel’s secret security service — was an international hit as it revealed the deep divide between many in the Israeli security community and the policies of the Netanyahu government on key foreign policy issues. What was only recently a film is…

  By Simon Rosenblum Nov 15, 2017 | 3 min read