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
-
Opinion
Dear Mr. Vice President: Please Don’t Come To Israel Right Now!
Mr. Vice President Pence, You are very welcome in Israel, but please, don’t come now. We appreciate your friendship, but your timing is wrong. You are not coming with an Administration’s new plan for peace in our region. You are not coming with any clarifications to President Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem, neither about the boundaries…
-
Opinion Seriously, 92Y – Ari Shavit Should Never Have Been Invited In The First Place
As the world continues to shake with revelations of sexual abuse in the most high-profile corridors of power and the #MeToo realization that it is nearly impossible to find a woman who has not been affected by sexual harassment, some members of Jewish communal leadership seem to be living in a cave. I knew this…
-
Opinion MeToo Needs A Forgiveness Option, And Judaism Can Provide It
Many famous men have lied about sexually harassing women and have subsequently lost their jobs and social standing. They deserve to pay for their actions, and should repent. But because this problem is systemic, we need systemic repentance as well. The Jewish practice of teshuvah, or repentance, is about “return” to the right behavior, and…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion That Time Hebrew Disappeared For 300 Years
All cultures have a tendency to make their building blocks into part of a collective myth, oversimplifying them in textbooks and in the collective consciousness of their members. We Jews are hardly immune from this impulse. Indeed, we have performed this very simplification upon a touchstone of our culture: the Hebrew language. Hebrew plays a…
-
Opinion What Being The Only Black Kid At Jewish Summer Camp Taught Me About Hanukkah And Kwanzaa
The proximity yet disconnect between Hanukkah and Kwanzaa has always seemed to me to reflect the relationship between the Jewish and Black communities. These two Diasporas with complex intertwined histories remain in what feels like a constant, surface-level dialogue. Sometimes it bends towards disagreement. Occasionally, it brings potential-filled light-giving sparks, though rarely an enduring fire….
-
Opinion Why Is Trump’s Jerusalem Speech Hurting Israel?
By this point it’s becoming quite apparent that we won’t be seeing the sort of disastrous fallout that the critics were predicting after the president’s December 6 Jerusalem speech, recognizing the holy city as Israel’s capital. No new Palestinian intifada. No mass rioting across the Muslim world, like the Muhammad cartoon riots of 2005. There…
-
Opinion American Jews: Your Obsession With The Western Wall Is Ridiculous
A familiar scene played out in front of the Western Wall recently. Leaders of the Reform movement from both the United States and Israel along with members of Women of the Wall attempted to pray and bring Torahs to the Wall. They were forcibly stopped and subjected to violence by guards hired by the Orthodox…
-
Opinion Our Campus Jewish Group Accepts Pro-BDS Students, Even Though They Don’t Return The Favor
Last week, Joseph Finlay wrote in these pages about new developments in the British Union of Jewish Students, the body that represents Jewish Students in the UK and of which I am the CEO. “[UJS] has always run social and religious programming,” writes Finlay. “But its raison d‘etre has long been defending Israel on campus.”…
-
Opinion Sweden’s Anti-Semitism Did Not Start With Trump
“Because of Trump, people are burning Israeli flags and attacking Jews” was the shabby and tone-deaf way one news organization framed a series of violent and incendiary anti-Semitic attacks in Sweden, which occurred over the weekend following Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The incitement began on Friday night, when demonstrators gathered…
-
Opinion After #MeToo, A Message To My Rapists
I, my friends, and women all over the country have experienced the #MeToo movement as something like a miracle and the women who have risen within it as beings akin to superheroes. As a teenager, I was raped by a boyfriend and then by a best friend. After writing a memoir about some of these…
-
Opinion The Facebook Group Where Muslim, Jewish and Christian Women Celebrate Headwrapping
The subject of women covering their hair is one of fascination in the western world. From burqa bans to sheitel shaming, women who cover are often viewed as victims of patriarchy or religious extremists, getting it from all sides. Enter: Wrapunzel. Wrapunzel is a Facebook group, a business and a community devoted to “celebrat[ing] the…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims
- 2
Opinion The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel
- 3
Culture Could my love of oysters actually be kosher?
- 4
Opinion Gavin Newsom just confirmed the demise of the Democratic party’s support for Israel
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward As Milei celebrates ties with Jews in NY, Argentine streamer draws antisemitism complaint for mocking his Israel support
-
Fast Forward ADL’s campus antisemitism report card rewards some – but not all – colleges that worked with Trump
-
Fast Forward 1,100+ rabbis sign onto letter supporting immigrant rights: ‘Do Not Oppress the Stranger’
-
Fast Forward Team Israel wins twice at World Baseball Classic, qualifying for 2030 tournament
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
