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
Former Shin Bet Director: Anti BDS Bill Hurts Israel
As Israelis committed to the future of our country as the secure, democratic home of the Jewish people, we wish to underscore, expand and add perspective to a critical point J.J. Goldberg makes in his August 4th column about the anti-BDS bill now before the U.S. Congress. The bill proposes to criminalize explicit boycotts of…
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Opinion The Day My Hasidic Father Visited Me At Wellesley
Walking around the leafy campus in his black hat and long black coat, my father looks like a historical figure from another era. Fascinated by the elaborate architecture, he points to a poster on Wellesley’s Science building. “What is the meaning of science?” he asks. I’m caught off guard. “Science explains how our world works,…
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Opinion Jane Looking Forward: Opiate Addiction In Our Community — And More
A few weeks ago, Bethany Mandel, a Forward columnist, called me to discuss a provocative idea for a column: The opioid epidemic that is sweeping like a plague across America was growing among Jews, too, especially the Orthodox. As an Orthodox Jew herself, Bethany was most familiar with the heart-breaking number of deaths caused by…
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Opinion If You Thought The Mooch Was Bad, Wait Until You Meet Stephen Miller
It’s a wonder the White House hasn’t yet installed a popcorn machine in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Between former press secretary Sean Spicer’s bumbling tenure and former communications director Anthony Scaramucci’s profanity-laden foolishness, the White House briefings became must-see TV. But with Scaramucci’s firing last week, the position of communications director has…
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Letters Relying On Jews to Do The Right Thing Is Hardly The Same As Beseeching
Dear Ms. Eisner: Thanks for the attention by the Forward to my column about the Times review of the Eichmann exhibit. I appreciate it. There is however one factual error that I would appreciate your correcting. You write “he ends his piece by beseeching his readers to cancel their Times subscriptions.” In fact nowhere did…
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Opinion Iran Isn’t An Israel Problem — It’s A Jewish Problem
“Israel doesn’t speak in the name of the Jewish people and doesn’t represent it.” Such was the refrain of Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman as he lashed out at Israeli Ambassador Dorit Shavit a few years ago. They were discussing the 1994 Hezbollah attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in my native Buenos Aires…
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Opinion A Plea To The Left: Stop Defending Anti-Semitism
Jewish Americans have a proud history of fighting for a more just and equitable America. Today, that heritage is being threatened as high-profile organizations and individuals seek to push Jews out of justice movements. But rather than denouncing these movements, some leaders in the Jewish community and social justice movements are making concessions, excusing, or…
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Opinion Stop Calling Millennials the Facebook Generation. They’re The Student Loan Generation
When I talk to undergraduates about student debt, I always begin with the same question: “How many of you have ever heard your parents talk about paying off their student loans?” Very few hands go up. Then I ask how many of them assume that they, unlike their parents, will still be paying off their…
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Opinion We Asked Two College Kids to Debate BDS. Here’s What Happened
Sami Rahamim is a rising senior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Ravil Ashirov is a junior at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Sami is against BDS, while Ravil is a supporter. We asked them to debate the merits and demerits of BDS. Sami got us started. SR: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deeply complex. Yet,…
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Opinion What The Left Gets Wrong About Hate Speech
In my first year editing the opinion section of my college newspaper, myself and a fellow editor published a letter written by a member of the school’s staff that took aim at the atmosphere of political correctness on campus. Using every conservative trope in the book, this Iowa State Dining Systems Support Specialist urged students…
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Opinion The Azaria Affair: How Israel’s Leadership Betrayed Democracy
Last week, Elor Azaria’s appeal was rejected. Azaria is the IDF soldier who fatally shot an incapacitated Palestinian who had attacked a fellow soldier with a knife. Azaria’s actions were caught on camera, leaving little room for his defense lawyers to maneuver. The verdict in Azaria’s appeal should have been the final word on one…
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס באַשרײַבט געשיכטע פֿון לאָנדאָנער ייִדישער פּרעסעVIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
שבֿע צוקער פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס און ביידע לייענען פֿאָר עטלעכע פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון יענע צײַטן.
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Fast Forward Holocaust survivor event features a Rob Reiner video address — recorded just weeks before his death
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