In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
The Israeli Right Is Terrified of Peace — And Their Jerusalem Bill Proves It
The man who heads the right flank of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Israeli governing coalition, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, issued on Sunday what amounts to an extraordinary public acknowledgment: that a peace agreement with the Palestinians is possible — and indeed that negotiators had come within “a hair’s breadth” of concluding an agreement several…
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Opinion Is Gal Gadot White? Here’s What People On The Street Think
Inspired by the debate surrounding the whiteness of Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot, we took to the streets to see what the average New Yorker has to say. Michael Heckle is the Forward opinion summer fellow and ASME associate.
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Opinion I’m The First Transgender Army Officer In Israeli History. This Is My Story.
Last week, four years after I graduated from the Israel Defense Forces officer course, I was promoted to the rank of captain. For me, this is not a personal achievement; it is one dedicated to my commanders. Understand that my journey was not like any other. I am Israel’s first openly transgender soldier. A year…
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Opinion Did Bibi Badly Miscalculate Liberal Rage Over Western Wall?
Benjamin Netanyahu has miscalculated. In the days since the Israeli prime minister reneged on a decision that would have allowed men and women to pray together at Jerusalem’s holy Western Wall, the outrage among American Jews is only getting worse. The carefully-crafted agreement, adopted by Netanyahu’s cabinet in January 2016 with input from Israeli and…
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Opinion Kotel Controversy Shows That U.S. Jewish Groups Don’t Represent The Orthodox
What are we, chopped liver? The question, from my Orthodox corner of the American Jewish world, is born of the recent onslaught of outrage aimed at the Israeli government by representatives of “American Jewry.” The outrage itself, of course, was born of two things. The first was the Israeli Cabinet’s freezing of a resolution aimed…
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Opinion There’s No Easy Answer To The Debate Over Intermarriage
The debate over intermarriage — once again erupting across the Jewish community — has too easily slipped into a binary equation. Opinions are shared, statistics are drawn as weapons and institutions often double-down. Sides are chosen, often reduced to a simple yes or no: “No, never; Jewish Law forbids this.” (Or “no, never; it will…
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Opinion Trump’s CNN Tweet Evoked The Nazis
Last week I was at Foehrenwald, the site of a former refugee camp where I grew up. Located in southern Germany, near Munich, next to the town of Wolfratshausen, it was once a refugee camp for displaced persons in the U.S. zone of occupation. There, under the auspices of United Nations relief agencies, 5,000 Holocaust…
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Letters LGBTQ Jewish Pride, Flags And The Call To Resistance
This year, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah was invited to join 17 other organizations in the Resistance Coalition that led the LGBTQ Pride March on June 25 in New York City. Our goal was to bring a clear and consistent message of resistance to the Trump administration’s threats to American democracy, and tochechah — reproach —…
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Opinion Our Three Faiths Tell Us That Trumpcare Is A Godless Attack On The Vulnerable
If you are a person who looks to your God for wisdom and inspiration when making the most important decisions in your life, you are surely feeling a great unease in this moment, as we are. As Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, we are privileged to guide religious life in a country whose political leaders…
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Opinion What ‘If Not Now’ Got Wrong About The Dyke March
When people ask what gives me hope that the American Jewish community will one day defend freedom and justice for Israelis and Palestinians, rather than defending Benjamin Netanyahu, I answer: “If Not Now.” A Millennial-powered movement, speaking in an authentically Jewish idiom, which challenges American Jewish leaders to meet the moral responsibilities of power, is…
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Opinion How The Holocaust Helps Us Understand Independence Day
One day 241 years ago, John Hancock led a group of patriots in signing a document that quickly became the banner of democracy across the world. As with most holidays, the significance of this anniversary has evolved over time, and today the principles to which those 56 men ascribed their names is often lost amid…
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