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
I Wrote About The Opioid Crisis In The Jewish Community. The Response Was Overwhelming.
Yesterday, I published a piece in these pages on the opioid epidemic and how it has affected the Jewish community. When I shared the piece on social media, I explained what has drawn me to covering this crisis. When I was 19 years old and a sophomore in college, my father committed suicide. We discovered…
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Opinion It’s Time To Admit That The Opioid Crisis Is Also A Jewish One
Earlier this month, the 5 Towns Jewish Times published a shocking statistic: Since October 2016, over 100 young people from New York’s Orthodox community had died from drug overdoses. One 10-day span saw five deaths. “It is a scourge that is inflicting our community in a most shocking and unexpected way,” the author of the…
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Opinion This Day in 1492, Spanish Jews Were Expelled — and Columbus Set Sail
This date — August 1 on the Gregorian calendar, coinciding with the 9th day of Av 5777 on the Hebrew calendar — marks a very significant juncture in Jewish and world history. It was on this day in 1492 that Jews were expelled from Spain, bringing a dramatic and brutal end to what had once…
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Opinion Jane Looking Forward: To Cuss Or Not To Cuss, JNF And More
In the one story published by the Forward last week about (now former) White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, we didn’t cuss. We didn’t have to. The story was about a biblical reference to Cain and Abel that Scaramucci made on CNN, the closest we came to a Jewish angle of the R-rated reality show…
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Opinion Why Are We Still Fasting On Tisha B’Av? Even The Rabbis Of The Talmud Were Over It.
On the list of Things a Good Jew Should Do, fasting on Tisha B’Av ranks pretty low on my list. Now, before my rabbi has a minor heart attack, I should confess that despite my misgivings, like many observant Jews around the world, I will be refraining from eating, drinking, bathing, wearing leather shoes and…
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Opinion No, Jewish Republicans Aren’t About to Join the Alt Right
In an opinion essay that appeared recently on these pages, my colleague Peter Beinart described the tiff that broke out in mid-July between the Anti-Defamation League and Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel, a prominent Jewish Republican politician. The tiff revolved around an ADL research report issued July 18. Titled “From Alt Right to Alt Lite:…
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Opinion 8 Jewish Lesbians Who Should Run For Office
A recent New York Times column by Frank Bruni discussed a surprising finding: lesbian women have surprising electoral success in the United States. The Victory Fund, which supports L.G.B.T. candidates, crunched the numbers and found that lesbians win 70 percent of their races. With the gay future ever so bright, here are several Jewish lesbians…
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Opinion This Tisha B’Av, Let’s Remember the 2,000 Year History of Women of the Wall
There is a story in the Talmud about an incident that occurred after the death of Rabbi Meir. His rival, Rabbi Yehuda, declared that Rabbi Meir’s disciples would henceforth be barred from the study house. But one of Rabbi Meir’s students forced his way in, and quoted a teaching about a priest who betroths a…
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Opinion Seriously, Mahwah: Opposing An Eruv Is Anti-Semitic
A debate over some string and plastic strips has laid bare festering anti-Semitism in Mahwah, New Jersey. A recent controversy over an eruv was compounded when Mahwah’s mayor responded to his constituents’ invocations of ancient anti-Semitic tropes like the dirty Jew. The mayor backtracked on the township’s commitment to allow the Jewish community to build…
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Opinion This Tisha B’Av, I’ll Mourn For The Destruction Of Jewish Unity
When the Israeli government announced its decision last month to halt the construction and planning of a pluralistic prayer space near the Western Wall, the outcry from the Diaspora Jewish community was enormous. The proposed plan didn’t even offer a shared space at the Western Wall; it referred to an area further south by Robinson’s…
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Opinion Why We Are Spending Tisha B’Av At An Immigrant Detention Center
Jews know something about the immigrant experience. We know what it means to be a stranger, an unwelcome resident sometimes tolerated but always in danger of being uprooted and forced to become refugees. Whether we’re marking the Jews’ exile from the Land of Israel following the destruction of the Second Temple, or mourning our exile…
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