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
When Did Saving Lives Become an Irrational Goal? Welcome to the 2017 Healthcare Debate
Most of the time I don’t put much stock in commenting on what other columnists have to say. (For that matter, most of the time I don’t write in first person either.) Every now and then, though, somebody puts something in print that perfectly sums up the situation we’re in, in a way that deserves…
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Opinion I’m The First Jew Banned From Israel For Supporting BDS
Long before I was barred from boarding a flight to Israel due to my political beliefs, I felt conflicted about my decision to show up at the Dulles International Airport this past Sunday. I was bound for Israel and Palestine as part of an interfaith delegation co-sponsored by my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, along…
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Opinion Hate Jared Kushner? Blame Millennials, Not Jews.
It’s official: Jared Kushner is the least popular member of the first family — by far. This may or may not have something to do with his being an Orthodox Jew, as the Forward’s editor-in-chief, Jane Eisner argued in her July 25 op-ed. But is Kushner’s religion really the guy’s most salient feature, even in…
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Opinion The Unbearable Privilege Of Being Jared Kushner
Oh, it must be such a privilege to be Jared Kushner. You only have to read Kushner’s lengthy 11-page statement that he so smartly issued yesterday morning, before appearing at a closed-door meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for proof of the elevated plane on which the secretive senior adviser to the president operates. The…
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Opinion Jane Looking Forward: To The End Of The Land, The Ignored Poor And More
I’m going to see the play “To the End of the Land,” by David Grossman at the Lincoln Center Festival tomorrow night. Sadly, what began as an evening at the theatre has turned into a political statement. The production is a dramatization of Grossman’s brilliant but bedeviling novel exploring the connections between three Israelis who…
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Opinion Women Should Dress Modestly To Succeed At Work — Science Proves It
Wonder Woman is everywhere. For the first time in film history, a woman is the main hero in a big-budget movie that was also directed by a woman. But despite this milestone, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the messages surrounding the film are conflicting and contradictory. Before the film began production, there…
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Opinion Remembering Esther Ticktin: A Jewish Feminist Who Inspired Learners For Decades
This past Friday, Esther Ticktin died at the age of 91. One year ago, her husband, Rabbi Max Ticktin, died at age 94. For three generations of Hillel rabbis, university students and members of the havurah, or fellowship, movement, the Ticktins were a guide to Jewish learning, Jewish life and the Jewish engagement with healing…
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Opinion How Israel’s Temple Mount Crisis Became A Showdown — Between Government And Generals
On Saturday evening, July 22, the eighth day of the Temple Mount crisis, Israel’s education minister Naftali Bennett, head of the religious-nationalist Jewish Home party, made a condolence visit to the family that had lost three of its members in a horrific stabbing attack the day before. It was not exactly a shiva call, as…
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Opinion Let My People Pray At The Temple Mount — It Will Teach Palestinians A Lesson
This past Wednesday, I ascended to the Temple Mount, as I have done many scores of times, and, following the police security check, was permitted to enter the compound Muslims call the Haram A-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. The precincts were empty, totally so. I did not see more than a half-dozen Muslims there, except for…
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Opinion WTF: Why Don’t Some Observant Jews Carry Umbrellas On Shabbat?
I’m not a rabbi, nor am I an expert on Jewish law by any means — but I have been a practicing Modern Orthodox Jew for my entire adult life. As one of the few Orthodox Jews working at the beautifully pluralistic Forward, I often become the go-to gal for questions of religious custom and…
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Opinion The West’s Response To Hungary Affects The Future Of Europe — And Its Jews
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to Budapest earlier this week and got out of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a promise that, to paraphrase Susan Sontag, never again will Hungarians be allowed to kill Jews in the 1940s. The government of Hungary committed a “sin” when “it did not protect its citizens of Jewish…
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Opinion The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel
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News When observant Jews gathered to challenge Israel orthodoxy, verbal sparring and walkouts ensued
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Culture Could my love of oysters actually be kosher?
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Fast Forward Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack dead after ramming car into temple, police say
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