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
On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a Missouri law that prohibited any state government funding to religious institutions. The decision, in effect, prevents the government from singling out religious institutions for worse treatment based upon their religious status. And, maybe more importantly, it reaffirms the right of every religious institution to receive funds for…
One day in May 1935, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin welcomed French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval to Moscow to discuss the rising Nazi threat and France’s defensive plans. How many troops mobilized? Armored divisions? Artillery? At one point, historians say, Laval asked Stalin to ease his harsh treatment of Russian Catholics in order to ensure the…
What if the Two-State Solution is dead? In the most recent episode, Peter Beinart and Daniel Gordis grappled with the American Jewish millennials who have started to lose faith in the Two-State Solution. The Two-State Solution has long been considered the only legitimate end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but new times are prompting the question:…
In his June 21 column, Peter Beinart accused The Israel Project of wanting to suppress the video of an anti-Israel event held on Capitol Hill on June 8. If we had wanted to suppress the video, we would not have drawn attention to it. For those who would like to see the whole video, it…
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward, my new weekly opportunity to speak directly to you and share what’s on my mind. The plan to create an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was on life support even before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unceremoniously pulled the plug yesterday. We all knew that….
Seventeen months after a historic deal was reached that would allow egalitarian and non-Orthodox prayer spaces at the Western Wall, Israel’s governing cabinet suspended the agreement, bowing to pressure from Haredi parties in the government who wish to maintain the status quo. Reaction throughout the Jewish world has been swift and loud. Diaspora Jews, particularly…
When it comes to influencing government officials with the humanity of my profoundly autistic son, I’ve gotten advice from some of the best special education lawyers in New York. First and foremost, they’ve told us, make sure you bring a photograph of him to all meetings with officials from New York City’s Committee on Special…
When the anti-Semitic emails and nasty messages on social media bombarded Jewish journalists last year, those of us receiving this online harassment knew that it was an outgrowth of the contentious presidential campaign, especially from supporters of Donald Trump. As the attacks eased in the past few months, I exhaled a bit. Maybe the worst…
As president, Barack Obama had a catch-phrase that he often invoked at moments when America seemed to have shamed herself: “That’s not who we are.” He said it after the Sandy Hook massacre. He said it to defend academic freedom and to oppose Islam-bashing and anti-immigrant agitation. His critics on the right hated it. They…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just gave the finger to a huge chunk of American Jews and, by doing so, dangerously upset the already precarious relationship between the Israeli government and the Diaspora. There is no other way to interpret the Israeli Cabinet’s spineless decision yesterday to accede to the ultra-Orthodox members of the coalition…
In what read like a homily inspired by an acid trip, Emory University philosophy professor George Yancy channeled the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche and Abraham Joshua Heschel in a rambling but strangely moving New York Times op-ed published Monday. The essay, titled “Is Your God Dead?”, asks the reader to look at one’s own beliefs…
וואָלט דער אָפּרוף געווען אַנדערש, ווען דער ציל פֿון די טעראָריסטן וואָלט ניט געווען ייִדן, נאָר אַן אַנדער גרופּע?
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