Opinion

• Opinion

  The Radical Class Divide In My Modern Orthodox High School

  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 belonging to these communities can incur. Please email your thoughts and essays to [email protected]. Kids don’t understand class. As a baal teshuva…

  By Caty Simon

  6 min read
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  Opinion

  I Am A Maharat. The O.U. Thinks I’m The Biggest Threat To The Jews.

  I don’t know that I will ever get used to the fact that I make some people uncomfortable. Partially because there is very little that is imposing about me. I am not particularly tall, nor do I appear to be particularly strong. Yet, as an Orthodox Jewish woman who has been ordained as clergy, I…

  By Rori Picker Neiss Sep 11, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Yair Netanyahu’s Anti-Semitic Hatred Is So Bad For The Jews

  Yair Netanyahu’s astonishingly anti-Semitic cartoon was, as some American Jews might say, a shonda for the goyim. Whatever rationalizations are concocted to justify the fact that the son of the Prime Minister of Israeli disseminated anti-Jewish imagery, the embarrassment was undeniable. Anti-Semites like David Duke may be kvelling, but those who care for Israel turned…

  By Chemi Shalev (Haaretz) Sep 11, 2017 | 5 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 My brother-in-law’s kibbutz weathered Oct. 7. Then came the Iranian missile strikes

  

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

  

• Dan Perry Celebrating my daughter’s birthday in a bomb shelter, as missiles struck Tel Aviv

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times

  

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  Opinion

  The Paradox Of Jared Kushner, A ‘Man Without Qualities’

  Seventy-five years ago, Robert Musil died in Switzerland. The Austrian writer had taken refuge there in 1938 with his Jewish wife Martha, and as the war progressed, he spent his time trying to make ends meet and to complete his novel, “The Man Without Qualities.” Neither effort was successful: Musil’s life ended in poverty when…

  By Robert Zaretsky Sep 11, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How 23andMe Fell For Anti-Semitic ‘Khazar’ Canard

  For geneticists, like me, genetic testing has always been a game of trust. We can test people’s DNA to learn about their ancestries, relatives, disease predispositions and crimes. We geneticists do genetic testing after providing counseling that explores the process and outcome. In turn, we request consent to proceed. One of my common questions is,…

  By Harry Ostrer Sep 11, 2017 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Netanyahu Claims Israel-Arab Relations Are At An All-time High. Is He Right?

  “What is actually happening with [the Arab states] has never happened in our history,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an Israel Foreign Ministry Rosh Hashanah toast September 6. Netanyahu, who is also Israel’s foreign minister, called this a “breakthrough.” He may have a point. Yet the picture is not nearly as straightforward, nor as…

  By Yossi Alpher Sep 11, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Letters

  Issa Amro’s Arrest Hurts Palestinians And The International Community Alike

  It has been almost a week now that Palestinian nonviolent activist Issa Amro has been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority (PA). Issa’s crime was a Facebook post criticizing the PA for their arrest of journalist Ayman Qawasmi. Before submitting himself for questioning and likely detainment, Issa prepared a statement: “My arrest will not affect my…

  By Ariel Gold Sep 9, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Human Rights Watch Tweet Exposes Decades-Old Anti Israel Bias

  A few weeks ago, Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), tweeted about Israel. “Many rights activists condemn Israeli abuse & anti-Semitism,” wrote Roth. “Some white supremacists embrace Israel & anti-Semitism.” The tweet then included a link to an article boasting an image of Israeli and Confederate flags on the same flagpole….

  By Daniel Kohn Sep 8, 2017 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Every Jew Should Call For This Palestinian To Be Freed

  The first time I met the Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro, it was just a few weeks after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem that had left three rabbis dead. “I feel sorry, really,” Amro told me, an open palm against his chest and a look of pain on his face. “I feel that civilians…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon Sep 7, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Steve Bannon Loves Israel And The Jews — Really

  I am a child of Holocaust survivors, born in a displaced persons camp in Germany, and lost most of my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents to the evil horror of the Nazis. I’ve spent decades fighting against anti-Semites and Israel-haters of every stripe, from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to Ku Klux Klan Grand…

  By Morton A. Klein Sep 7, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Letters

  No, David Myers Is Not A Radical. He Is The Embodiment Of The Center

  We were deeply distressed to read the articles in Arutz Sheva and The Jewish Press as well as in a blog of the Algemeiner calling upon the Center for Jewish History to terminate David Myers as President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History on account of his views concerning the State of Israel….

  By David Ellenson and Jonathan D. Sarna Sep 6, 2017 | 4 min read