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
The Far Left’s Toxic Mix Of Anti-Semitism And Misogyny Must Be Stopped
“The British elections should be a lesson for the Democratic Party,” Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in The New York Times less than a week after race ended. Never mind that the left-wing Labour Party actually lost to the Conservative Party, much like Hillary Clinton defeated Sanders himself in the Democratic primaries. The American left, he…
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Opinion How Trump Has Driven Jewish Conservative Thinkers To Brink Of Extinction
Over the coming years, environmental scientists will probably chronicle the many species that Donald Trump’s presidency has brought to extinction. Political scientists may add another: the conservative Jewish intellectual. I’m using the phrase in a specific way. By “intellectual,” I mean someone who traffics in ideas, not tribal or partisan loyalties. By “conservative,” I mean…
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Opinion How Betsy DeVos Could Hurt Sexual Assault Survivors Like Me
I hadn’t realized I was assaulted during my time at a Jewish day school until I got to college. After I experienced a series of sporadic and paralyzing panic attacks, a therapist at the University of Maryland helped me recognize that I had been sexually assaulted by someone I had thought was a good friend….
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Opinion American Orthodox Rabbis Don’t Trust Women By Themselves In Mikvehs. Why?
In the past few years, the American Jewish establishment has spoken out against the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s refusal — sometimes retroactive — to recognize conversions and marriages performed by American rabbis, one of whom, most notably, oversaw the conversion of Ivanka Trump. For many American Jews, the chief rabbinate was, once again, being unnecessarily strict…
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Opinion Orthodoxy Is Not Victimized By The Kotel Compromise
In his Forward column titled “Kotel Controversy Shows That U.S. Jewish Groups Don’t Represent The Orthodox,” Avi Shafran claims that the American Orthodox community has been treated like “chopped liver” in recent debates over the Western Wall and conversion law in Israel. While I acknowledge American Orthodox voices have been missing in the news coverage…
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Opinion Diaspora Jews Deserve A Seat At Israel’s Table
Tensions between the Israeli government and Jewish leaders worldwide remain high, despite a move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago to shelve a controversial bill that would have made the Chief Rabbinate the only body authorized by the government to perform conversions in Israel. The crisis over the new conversion law broke out…
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Opinion Trump’s Terrible Personality Matters Even More Than His Terrible Policies
Six months after Donald Trump’s inauguration, we’re still chattering nonstop about his shortcomings. It’s time to move on. Granted, the man’s flaws seem innumerable. Granted, too, we’re still discovering new ones almost daily. Nonetheless, it’s time to shift gears and talk about more important things. To be specific, it’s time to start talking about Trump’s…
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Opinion All Jews Must Welcome Interfaith Families — It’s What Rabbi Hillel Would Do
I encountered fierce opposition to a piece I wrote recently on the value of welcoming multi-faith families into our communities and adopting a posture of radical hospitality. I believe that providing a space that caters to every Jew’s spiritual needs — even if that Jew is married to someone of another faith — is the…
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Opinion The Kotel Crisis Might Be For The Best — It Will Reinvigorate Judaism
Maybe the Israeli government’s decision to kill the Western Wall agreement should be viewed not as a humiliating slap in the face, but as an opportunity to redefine our goals as non-Orthodox Jews. Liberal American Jews, like myself, felt so hurt and angry that the Israeli government reneged on its promise to create an egalitarian…
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Opinion How Ivanka Takes Us Two Steps Back — Even As Gal Gadot Soars Forward
For American moviegoers, this has been the summer when a former beauty queen who plays a comic book character on the big screen has become an inspiring figure to millions of women and girls. That would be Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot. It’s also the summer when the most powerful woman in the White House is…
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Opinion Israeli Politician: We Need U.S. Jews To Play A Bigger Role In Our Politics
This time the Israeli government went too far, and it is high time for us, concerned Israelis, and for you, members of the Jewish community in the U.S., to say in unison, loudly and clearly, that American Jews must have a seat at the table. The majority of Israelis do not support the disgraceful decisions…
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