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
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Opinion Why Israel especially must stand for the Rohingya
A woman watches as soldiers burn her baby alive. The government disparages an established ethnic and religious minority as a dangerous foreign influence. Families run for their lives with no place to go. While there are clear differences between the current experience of the Rohingya people and that of the Jews during the Holocaust, the…
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Opinion The OU Is Right: Orthodox Women Shouldn’t Be Rabbis
Most of a rabbi’s roles can be halachically and effectively assumed by women, and have been for many years. A rabbi must be learned in Jewish texts and the practical laws pertaining to daily Jewish life — and Orthodox women’s seminaries teach thousands of young Jewish women those laws, and do a top-notch job of…
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Opinion No, modesty won’t protect you from the Harvey Weinsteins. But this might.
When I was in high school, we had a teacher, a long-bearded rabbi, who spent weeks of class time focusing on the intricacies of yichud, the Jewish laws forbidding an unrelated man and woman to be in seclusion together. Every configuration, every scenario in which a man and a woman might find themselves alone, was…
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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