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
My Son’s Opioid Addiction Made Me Feel Like A Failure On Yom Kippur
On the morning of Yom Kippur our rabbi says a prayer for children. He asks parents to stand with their sons and daughters, regardless of age. Parents place their hands on their child and repeat the threefold ancient blessing. May God bless and protect you; May God cause His face to shine upon you and…
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Opinion How To Survive Your Trump-Supporting Relatives This Holiday Season
With the high holiday season upon us, many liberals – especially younger ones – are girding themselves for battle with their Trump-supporting relatives. “Uncle Irv,” I called these people last Spring, after a particularly irritating right-winger with whom I ‘celebrated’ the Seder for many years. Uncle Irv can be particularly challenging at this time of…
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Opinion Is It Anti-Semitic To Schedule Something On Yom Kippur?
Have Your Say is your chance to tell us what you think. Comment below or on Facebook and let us know what you think about the question posed in the headline. We’ll incorporate your answers in a story later in the week!
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Letters The Real History Of The Name “Palestine”
J. J. Goldberg’s September 18 column, “A Major Jewish Philanthropist Just Published a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Palestinians,” is an important journalistic contribution to the American Jewish discussion about Israel, but it contains one subtly pernicious misconception. Mr. Goldberg repeats the received wisdom that the term Palestine was “coined” by the Roman rulers of Jewish…
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Opinion Jewish Continuity Isn’t Only For The Orthodox
Last week, we reported in these pages that based on current age contours, the next 40 years will see a large expansion of the Orthodox population, alongside deep declines in the number of Conservative and Reform Jews. To take one startling statistic, of many: For every 100 Orthodox Jews 60-69, we have 575 children under…
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Opinion Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Khazars. Here’s The Proof.
In 2010 I was contacted by the chief editor of a volume called “Khazars: Myth and History,” put together by the Russian Academy of Sciences. She knew my books on Ashkenazic names, and was familiar with my ongoing study of the history of Yiddish, eventually published by Oxford University Press in 2015 as “Origins of…
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Opinion No, It’s Not Anti-Semitic To Schedule Your March For Yom Kippur
When the Jewish community learned that the March for Racial Justice was scheduled for Yom Kippur (September 30), outraged responses filled social media. It was the immediate aftermath of Charlottesville, and we Jews had been made keenly aware that we, too, remain objects of hate by White Supremacists. It had been made clear that, like…
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Opinion What The Shofar Tries To Tell Us About Deadly Hurricanes
This is a magical time of year. It’s a season of renewal. Right now, folks around the world are gathering to welcome a new year, stepping outside of standard time to inhabit an ancient lunar calendar that follows the moon and the tides. It’s a fraught moment, promising new life in the year ahead even…
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Opinion This New Year, Let’s Appreciate Living In The Best Moment In Jewish History
My friend Leslie Mirchin told me once that this is the best moment in Jewish history. I said that couldn’t be true. Everything is going wrong. Israel is a mess. In America, Judaism means less than ever to ever-more people. In France, Jews are fleeing violent anti-Semitism of a sort that I thought had disappeared….
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Opinion What Bibi Said At The UN Was True — And That’s Horrifying
It’s easy to throw darts at the speech Benjamin Netanyahu delivered on Tuesday at the United Nations. He bashed the Iranian nuclear deal while depicting himself as a champion of the Iranian people. “My Iranian friends,” he declared, “you will be free from the evil regime that terrorizes you.” But ordinary Iranians greeted the nuclear…
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Opinion Have Your Say | Should Rabbis Be Preaching Politics From The Pulpit?
Have Your Say is your chance to tell us what you think. This week, we asked you whether Rabbis should be preaching politics from the pulpit. Here are some of your answers: “Rabbis should behave in a Talmudic fashion. Argue every point and then decide what is good for the flock. If the flock bolts…
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