Opinion

• Opinion

  What The Shofar Tries To Tell Us About Deadly Hurricanes

  This is a magical time of year. It’s a season of renewal. Right now, folks around the world are gathering to welcome a new year, stepping outside of standard time to inhabit an ancient lunar calendar that follows the moon and the tides. It’s a fraught moment, promising new life in the year ahead even…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  This New Year, Let’s Appreciate Living In The Best Moment In Jewish History

  My friend Leslie Mirchin told me once that this is the best moment in Jewish history. I said that couldn’t be true. Everything is going wrong. Israel is a mess. In America, Judaism means less than ever to ever-more people. In France, Jews are fleeing violent anti-Semitism of a sort that I thought had disappeared….

  By Noah Efron Sep 20, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  What Bibi Said At The UN Was True — And That’s Horrifying

  It’s easy to throw darts at the speech Benjamin Netanyahu delivered on Tuesday at the United Nations. He bashed the Iranian nuclear deal while depicting himself as a champion of the Iranian people. “My Iranian friends,” he declared, “you will be free from the evil regime that terrorizes you.” But ordinary Iranians greeted the nuclear…

  By Peter Beinart Sep 20, 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 The righteous rabbis protesting those immigration raids in Los Angeles

  

• Nora Berman Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla was never going to help Palestinians

  

• 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

• 
  Opinion

  Have Your Say | Should Rabbis Be Preaching Politics From The Pulpit?

  Have Your Say is your chance to tell us what you think. This week, we asked you whether Rabbis should be preaching politics from the pulpit. Here are some of your answers: “Rabbis should behave in a Talmudic fashion. Argue every point and then decide what is good for the flock. If the flock bolts…

  Sep 19, 2017 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Rohingya Deserve Your Thoughts And Prayers This High Holiday Season

  It’s almost Rosh Hashanah. I am reading about the violent expulsion of the Rohingya Muslims half a world away — villages burned, women raped, a staggering number of children orphaned and homeless — and I’m trying to figure out how I should react and what I should say to you. This is a classic 2017…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 19, 2017 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Lakewood Medicaid Fraudsters Get Amnesty — Proving Jews Are On The White Side Of The Law

  Earlier this summer, we read about the arrest of 26 members of Lakewood’s ultra Orthodox community for an alleged $2 million in welfare fraud. That may sound like a lot of people, but apparently, the government is preparing for much, much more. Last week, the state comptroller’s office announced that it would roll out a…

  By Helen Leshinsky Sep 19, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Major Jewish Philanthropist Just Published A Plan To Ethnically Cleanse Palestinians

  A far-right faction within Israel’s Likud-led governing coalition has endorsed a plan for Israel to annex the entire West Bank and encourage the Palestinian residents to immigrate to neighboring Arab countries. The plan would allow Palestinians who voluntarily gave up all “national aspirations” to remain, granting them limited municipal self-government, but without Israeli citizenship or…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 18, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Should Rabbis Be Preaching Politics From The Pulpit?

  Have Your Say is your chance to tell us what you think. Comment below or on Facebook and let us know what you think about the question posed in the headline. We’ll incorporate your answers in a story later in the week!

  Sep 18, 2017 | < 1 min read
• 
  Letters

  Bibi Isn’t The Only Reason American Jews Are Losing Their Israeli Connection

  Dear Editor: Like many Forward readers, I agree with many of the criticisms voiced by Samuel Freedman regarding Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership as Prime Minister. Netanyahu’s positions on matters ranging from egalitarian prayer to outlying settlements have stoked anger from large constituencies in the diaspora as well as within Israel. Still, that does not mean that…

  By Howard Wiesenfeld Sep 18, 2017 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Is It Way Too Expensive To Become A Jew?

  This essay is part of our ongoing series, Outside the Bubble: Class and Inequality in the Jewish Community. It explores the class divides in Jewish communities of all denominations, and the financial struggles that belonging to these communities can incur. Please email your thoughts and essays to [email protected]. In the world of Orthodox converts, there’s…

  By Bethany Mandel Sep 18, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Ex-Orthodox Women Must Learn To Say No. Ex-Orthodox Men Must Learn To Listen

  Recently, news broke that three women who had left the ultra-Orthodox community alleged that they were sexually assaulted by a man who also had left that community. As a woman who also left that world, I found the story devastatingly familiar. A few years ago I co-produced an informal survey of 59 women who had…

  By Leah Vincent Sep 18, 2017 | 5 min read