Opinion

• Letters

  Rabbi Shafran’s Mansplaining About Female Clergy Misses the Mark

  Dear Editor, I’m admittedly less versed than Avi Shafran in Jewish theology and how it dictates religious administration, but I do take issue with his argument that women should be excluded from religious leadership on the grounds that this desire is borne from “external” influence. Are the considerable number of Jewish women who feel a…

  By Megan Shub

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  The Khazarian hypothesis is not the only junk science origin story of Jews

  In a recent piece in these pages, I addressed a popular myth: that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazar pagans who converted to Judaism. Though this idea gets a lot of attention, it is fully based on bunk science. Genetics, linguistics and onomastics — the study of names — all disprove the Khazarian hypothesis. But…

  By Alexander Beider Oct 23, 2017 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  Why are Mormons obsessed with Jews?

  Earlier this month, Stephen Walt marked the 10th anniversary of his and John Mearsheimer’s book, “The Israel Lobby,” with a column in the Forward. In it, he restated his thesis that “unconditional U.S. support for Israel — the so-called ‘special relationship’ — is not explained by U.S. strategic interests or by shared values, as is…

  By Peter Beinart Oct 23, 2017 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman A doctor in the midst of the Boulder attack: ‘This did not come out of vacuum’

  

• Nora Berman For new parents, the aid crisis in Gaza is hitting hard

  

• Dan Perry Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious.

  

• Emily Tamkin The two things I fear most after the horrifying attack on Jews in Boulder

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Calling Steve Bannon an anti-Semite isn’t just false. It’s dangerous.

  People don’t talk about it much, but it’s time we admitted it: Hitler gave anti-Semitism a bad name. It used to be that there were shades and gradations of Jew-hatred. At one extreme were the pogroms, mob attacks on Jewish neighborhoods, mostly in Eastern Europe, that could leave dozens or hundreds, and occasionally thousands, dead…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 22, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Why did a Jewish philanthropist tweet this anti-Semitic image of George Soros?

  This week, a tweet made the rounds depicting George Soros, the progressive Hungarian Jewish philanthropist, as an octopus with tentacles embracing the earth’s surface. It’s a well-known anti-Semitic canard. But this anti-Semitic tweet didn’t come from the alt-right; it came from Adam Milstein, real estate mogul and prominent pro-Israel philanthropist. The Adam and Gila Milstein…

  By Ben Lorber Oct 20, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Letters

  No, Chabad is not ‘feuding’ with Jewish leaders in Poland

  A recent article in the Forward claimed that by accepting an invitation to a meeting with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling conservative party, Chabad is “feuding” with Jewish organizations. This is not true. Chabad violated no understanding, explicit or implicit, nor any relationship with the other Jewish representatives by taking this meeting. In…

  By Mayer Stambler and Sholom B. Stambler Oct 19, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why do Orthodox women keep getting Harvey Weinstein wrong?

  Like so many of us, I have now read many of the accounts of Harvey Weinstein’s alleged victims, as well as the courageous descriptions of assault and harassment by other working women. Predictably, there have been some accusatory or simply obtuse articles suggesting that the women who have come forward have been themselves guilty of…

  By Emily Schneider Oct 19, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m a Jew with zero attachment to Israel

  I am a Jew. I’m certainly not going to win any awards for “World’s Best” anytime soon. But this is the religion and culture I have identified with for the entirety of my life. At the same time, I feel zero attachment whatsoever to the state of Israel. Nil. When I hear news related to…

  By Brad Japhe Oct 19, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Iran could humiliate Netanyahu — by recognizing Israel

  Iran’s President, Mr. Hassan Rouhani, and its Foreign Minister, Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, are making many efforts to change their regime’s image. They are trying to portray their country as a peaceful state, which is being treated unjustly by the world, and which has no intention to develop nuclear weapons, neither now, nor in 15…

  By Yossi Beilin Oct 18, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Does Chabad annoy you? Check your privilege.

  One Purim, I stood on a street corner and asked passersby if they were Jewish and wanted to hear the Megillah. I met a boy who told me that his mother is Jewish but he was raised Catholic. He had never seen a Megillah scroll in his entire life. That’s why we ask. This past…

  By Joshua A. Krisch Oct 18, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Conservative Movement Can, And Should, Welcome The Intermarried

  (JTA) — Contemporary Jewish life is graced by extraordinary blessing: We are the heirs of a Torah of compassion and justice that has grown ever more supple and vibrant because of the dynamic nature of halachah (Jewish law) and the opportunity to observe mitzvot (commandments). At the same time, modernity has removed barriers of discrimination…

  By Arnold M. Eisen, and Bradley Shavit Artson, and Julie Schonfeld and Steven C. Wernick Oct 18, 2017 | 4 min read