Opinion

• Opinion

  This Is The Way The World Ends

  With the U.S. leaving the Paris Climate Agreement, a cartoonist envisions what happens next.

  By Nikki Casey

  < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Left Must Root Out Anti-Semitism In Its Ranks

  In the last year, numerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists have appeared at left-leaning venues in New York City. As a monitor of far right politics, I keep track of this sort of thing, and I’ve noticed a significant increase in the number of such events. But unlike the other bigots energized in the Trump era, these…

  By Spencer Sunshine Jun 1, 2017 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Linda Sarsour’s CUNY Speech Splits American Jews

  After weeks of debate, Linda Sarsour is finally speaking at CUNY’s commencement. Sarsour, whose profile rose as a co-organizer of the Women’s March held in January, is a Palestinian activist who has made controversial statements about Israel and Zionism in the past. While some view such statements and positions as disqualifying her from speaking at…

  By Steven Davidson May 31, 2017 | 2 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 A doctor in the midst of the Boulder attack: ‘This did not come out of vacuum’

  

• Nora Berman For new parents, the aid crisis in Gaza is hitting hard

  

• Dan Perry Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious.

  

• Emily Tamkin The two things I fear most after the horrifying attack on Jews in Boulder

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  5 Trump Tweets That Make More Sense With #Covfefe

  Covfefe: innocuous typo by an overworked president after a long day potentially dooming the planet to cataclysmic climate change? A code word to let the Russians know that “despite the constant negative press,” they’re still his boo? Or is it one of those Yiddish words your grandmother always threw out at the end of sentences…

  By Steven Davidson May 31, 2017 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Dear Europe: 3 Things You Should Know About Jared, Trump — And Us

  Dear Europe: I fear that you, our European allies, are getting the wrong impression of the United States, or at least of Americans. We are not all like our current president, who seems more at home with autocratic, gilded Middle East royalty than with duly elected leaders of friendly democracies. Donald Trump himself tweeted that…

  By Jane Eisner May 31, 2017 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why Shavuot Is Zeppo Marx of Festivals

  This column, which I wrote for the festival of Shavuot in May 2010, is one of my favorites. Since Shavuot starts Tuesday night, I thought I’d rerun it. Of all the major Jewish holidays, the least familiar to the general, synagogue-avoiding Jewish public is the festival of Shavuot. In fact, its obscurity is so striking…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 30, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Does Trump Booster Netanyahu Now Have Buyer’s Remorse?

  Now that Donald Trump’s first presidential overseas trip is behind us, Jewish conservatives and Republican pro-Israel enthusiasts are going to have some explaining to do. Just weeks ago, the pro-Israel right was celebrating the Trump presidency in near-messianic terms. Under the new administration, the U.S.-Israel tensions of the Obama era were going to vanish. Washington…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 30, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Jewish Thinkers Debate Shavuot In The Modern Age

  Shavuot is taking place this week. Marking the spring harvest and commemorating the day God gave the Torah to Moses, Shavuot is a holiday sometimes forgotten or diminished by secular Jews. Today, Jewish writers and thinkers are discussing the holiday with one question in mind: how should we apply this holiday based on ancient practices…

  By Steven Davidson May 30, 2017 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Could Merging Hebrew And Arabic Alphabets Help Bring Peace To Middle East?

  TEL AVIV (JTA) — Middle East peace may remain out of reach, but at least the Hebrew and Arabic languages have found a compromise. Israeli typography designer Liron Lavi Turkenich has created a stylized writing system that merges the two ancient alphabets, allowing Hebrew and Arabic speakers to read the same words. Her hope is…

  By Andrew Tobin May 30, 2017 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  How Jared Kushner Tramples The Torah

  As we enter the festival that has come to mean standing again, each year, at Sinai. What does it mean for us to do this seriously, taking Torah deep into our lives, challenging ourselves to live by its deepest teachings? What would it mean to bring Torah to bear within or upon one rich, powerful…

  By Rabbi Arthur Waskow May 30, 2017 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Can The Saudis Broker A Lasting Peace In The Middle East?

  “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem,” presidential candidate Donald Trump promised at the AIPAC conference in March, 2016, and he was rewarded with standing ovation. After being elected president, though, he became ambivalent and evasive about the policy change. During his recent visit to Israel, where…

  By Uri Dromi May 30, 2017 | 4 min read