Opinion

• Opinion

  Trump’s Washington Reminds This Rabbi Of Modern-Day Sodom

  Trump, Pence, Ryan and the whole GOP are Sodomites. This doesn’t mean that they engage in sodomy, per se. Rather, the Republican leadership today is guilty of sins so grievous that God found necessary to destroy their (im)moral forebears in the Torah. The actual text of the Sodom story in Genesis 18 and 19 doesn’t…

  By Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  What Is The Omer And Why Should You Love It Like I Do?

  First off, you should know that the Omer — or, as it’s more properly known Sefirat HaOmer, “The Counting Of The Omer” — is a calendar mechanism that takes us from matzo to cheesecake. Who doesn’t love that? But it’s not all sweetness and cheese. Over the seven weeks of the Omer we have to…

  By Dan Friedman Apr 27, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Heed Joe Lieberman’s Warning On Biological Weapons

  With the threat of chemical weapons in Syria and nuclear arms in North Korea, the risk of biological weapons has largely dropped off the international agenda. But evolving technologies and genetic engineering may open the door to new dangers. Other than the “anthrax in the mail” attacks that followed 9/11, killing five people, there have…

  By Peter Apps (Reuters) Apr 26, 2017 | 4 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

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  Opinion

  Arthur Szyk’s Anti-Fascist Imagery Deserves Another Look

  Through the stroke of a brush, artists have the power to promote understanding and influence public opinion. In an age when images and text bombard us from every corner, we too often devalue the cultural and political importance of art and its ability to bring people together. As Americans sought to understand the rise of…

  By Tad Taube Apr 26, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Trump Desecrates Memory Of Holocaust Survivors — Despite Fine Words

  Donald Trump ended his speech yesterday at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by talking about Gerda Weissmann Klein. For good reason; hers is an amazing story. While being liberated by the United States Army in May 1945, Weissmann — then 21 years old, white-haired and weighing 68 pounds — met an American Jewish lieutenant…

  By Peter Beinart Apr 26, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Fake History, À La Française: Marine Le Pen Plays Fast And Loose With The Holocaust

  On July 16-17, 1942, some 9,000 French police rounded up and arrested 13,000 French Jews, the majority of them women and children. Held briefly in inhumane conditions at the Vélodrome d’Hiver stadium, these Jews would soon be deported East, most never to return. French police acted under the supervision not of the Nazis, but of…

  By Ethan B. Katz Apr 25, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Hadassah Hospital Coped With Casualties During The Six Day War

  In 1967, Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, Israel found itself at the front line of the Six-Day War, treating swells of wounded soldiers and civilians. The July 1967 edition of Hadassah Magazine included a harrowing account, excerpted below, of the first 60 “desperate and magnificent” hours at the burdened medical center. “I entered my office…

  By Hadassah Apr 25, 2017 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  Fault Lines Season 1, Episode 8

  A compelling discussion about American Jews and Muslims in the age of Trump. Listen to “Fault Lines” on Spreaker. Let the world know what you think about Fault Lines – rate our episodes, and share your thoughts in a review on iTunes. Download episodes here. Subscribe to Fault Lines and listen anytime. Check out our…

  Apr 25, 2017 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  The Hypocrisy Of Ritual Slaughter Bans

  A widely supported bill in the Belgian region will ban versions of traditional Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter. These attacks on Halal and Kosher meat are unfortunately not isolated and are occurring with more frequency around the world. Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland and other European countries and jurisdictions prohibit traditional slaughter with laws requiring that…

  By Eliyahu Federman Apr 25, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Stage Rightist: Why Is Sebastian Gorka Speaking At A Major Jewish Conference?

  Since 2011, The Jerusalem Post has produced a popular conference in New York City featuring a bevy of Israeli politicians and military officials, along with American Jewish rabbis, communal leaders and thinkers. The conference, like the newspaper’s politics, leans right (and very male), but on occasion, genuine debate over policy toward Israel has taken the…

  By Jane Eisner Apr 25, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Democrats Must Ditch The Word ‘Resistance’

  Check the calendar: Is this World War II? You might think so if you read the political press. “Democratic Donors Plot Trump Resistance,” USA Today shouted on Barack Obama’s last day as president. “We plan to fight back with everything we have,” right-winger-turned-Clintonista David Brock promised à la Winston Churchill. The R-word is everywhere you…

  By Ted Rall Apr 24, 2017 | 4 min read