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.
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
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…
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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…
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…
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…
Dear Editor: Yoel Matveev’s “The Jewish Designers of North Korea’s Hydrogen Bomb” is a fascinating read, historically, accurate, but it nevertheless it leaves me queasy — and not, I think, because I am a parochial-minded Jewish historian. If you want to blame Americans (including émigré scientists not just Jews but Enrico Fermi, non-Jewish but with…
I did not grow up a religious Jew, but for my entire adult life, I’ve been a member of the Orthodox world. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time in other people’s homes, with other people’s families; Orthodox life is built around the family, and Shabbat and holidays are desolate affairs if you’re…
All the principals destined to be involved in the Trump administration’s much touted “ultimate deal” between Israelis and Palestinians are heading for the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, September 19. In the coming days, President Trump will meet in New York with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and possibly with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu…
A recent story in Haaretz about Bedouins being stripped of their Israeli citizenship shocked readers. It seemed to confirm the worst suspicions about Israel and Zionism more generally, and at a time when it is disturbingly fashionable to equate Zionism as racism, the story could not be more relevant. Indeed, the story of the Bedouins…
It’s hardly a secret that there isn’t exactly a broad consensus within the Jewish community about President Trump (or for that matter, sadly, much else). Criticism of Mr. Trump for his string of public remarks last month about the violence in Charlottesville came from both liberal and some conservative media, even from some lawmakers in…
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]. I know I am privileged. I know –…
שבֿע צוקער פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס און ביידע לייענען פֿאָר עטלעכע פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון יענע צײַטן.
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