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
Trigger Warning: A High School Censors A Speech About Censorship
Wallkill Senior High School just censored my lecture about censorship. Several months ago, the school in an upstate New York community known for its prisons and apple orchards invited me to participate in its annual “Author’s Day” event on April 4 and 5. Published writers gab to administrators, librarians and educators over a buffet dinner…
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Opinion Worried About Trump Feuds Ruining Your Seder?
NEW YORK (JTA) — After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Sheila Katz wasn’t sure she wanted to come home for Thanksgiving. As the politically liberal member of a conservative family, she had been comfortable sparring with her relatives during the Obama administration. But as Thanksgiving approached, she found it hard to get over the fact…
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Opinion Labour Pain: Britain’s Jeremy Corbyn Sides With Ken Livingstone Over Jewish Voters
There have been few occasions over the past three decades when a battle between Britain’s Labour party and the country’s Jewish community has not featured the name of Ken Livingstone. If the former London mayor was not at the center of the argument, he soon made sure to insert himself into it. Today, Labour decided…
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Opinion IfNotNow Is The Jewish Black Lives Matter
I spent last Shabbat with students from Harvard Hillel and was reminded, again, how important a generational movement IfNotNow is becoming. I don’t think most older American Jews grasp it yet. This is our Black Lives Matter. IfNotNow is the Jewish wing of a youth-powered activist awakening that the United States has not seen since…
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Opinion Trump Acts Like A Political Pro On Climate Change — And That Should Scare Us
There’s a strange, largely unnoticed inconsistency in the Trump administration’s approach to making and remaking policy. Don’t get me wrong — inconsistency has been the rule at nearly every juncture in the chaotic first months of Donald Trump’s presidency. From health care to immigration, from NATO to Australia to the Middle East, measures have been…
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Opinion Studying Torah With Jailed Radical Judith Clark
“Which part of Torah do you want to study?” I asked Judy Clark at our first meeting. The gray-haired woman leaned across the table in the visitors’ room at Bedford Hills prison and answered immediately. “Isaiah.” she said. “I need to study Isaiah.” “Why?” I wondered. “Because I was just like him, believing I had…
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Opinion My Outlaw Cousin Who Rode With Pancho Villa Rekindled My Relationship With Judaism
My mother never fed me spinach. She explained that it was because she was forced to eat so much of it by her mother, whose motto ran something along the lines of, “If a spoonful is good for you, a potful is even better.” Though my mother avoided making the spinach mistake with her own…
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Opinion Trump Acts A Lot Like This 16th Century Chinese Emperor
“The Book of Judges” emphasizes the dangers of a vacant throne and recounts the hardships and tragedies that befell the Israelites “when there was no king in Israel.” Instead, a series of “judges” filled the absent king’s shoes. These judges were neither administrators nor statesmen, but rather charismatic rulers who led factions of Israelites as…
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Opinion The Forward’s Paymeter: FAQ
Our paymeter has launched and you may have questions. Here are some of the more frequently asked ones! Why should I pay to look at Forward.com? The Forward is a reader-supported non-profit publication. We’re dedicated to thoughtful, thorough, in-depth journalism and storytelling. It takes a tremendous amount of resources to maintain the standards that our…
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Opinion Google Must Do More To Pull The Plug On Online Hate
For years, the Anti-Defamation League has held the clear, unwavering stance that videos made by terrorists and hate groups have no place on the internet. Hate-filled videos mislead children, poison the online experience for everyone, and serve as an unfortunate, yet effective, tool to recruit new generations of violent extremists. Now, ADL is seeing the…
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Opinion That Time I Hung Out With Carlos The Jackal — Wearing My Yarmulke
A French court recently sentenced the world-famous terrorist Carlos The Jackal to life in prison for the third time. The crime: killing two people and injuring 34 others in 1974 when he hurled a hand grenade into a Paris shopping mall. Before the Islamic State group, before Al Qaeda, there was Carlos The Jackal. In…
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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