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
EXCLUSIVE: Sheryl Sandberg Speaks Out On Judaism — And Grieving
Sheryl Sandberg may be the most famous widow in America right now. Before her husband, Dave Goldberg, died suddenly two years ago, she was already famous as the second-in-command of Facebook, the best-selling author of “Lean In” and a globe-trotting speaker and influencer — who did all this while raising two children in an equitable…
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Opinion Al Franken Thinks This Republican Senator Will Stand Up To Trump
Following President Trump’s public kneecapping of James Comey and his subsequent tweeted threat that the ousted FBI director “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations,” many Washington insiders are likening the growing scandal to Watergate faster than you can say Archibald Cox. The Atlantic’s James Fallows, for instance, argued Comey’s firing is…
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Opinion Will It Take Another 9/11 For Us To Treat Each Other Decently Again?
For weeks after September 11, 2001, police cordoned off the West Side of Manhattan below 14th Street. You could bypass the barricades only if you lived in the area, as I do, or if you worked as a first responder or as a reporter. At a time when a giant plume of dark, acrid-smelling smoke…
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Opinion How A Rock-Climbing Harness Is Like A Set of Tefillin
This article was first published in The Forward on May 21, 1999. The terrain reminded me of the Negev, especially as I gazed out over it from high above the desert floor: coarse sand, prickly shrubs, sandstone cliffs. A rope was the only thing that protected me from injury or death. I was leading a…
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Opinion Donald Trump, Read The Bible: You Are Not Above The Law
No, the Tuesday Afternoon Massacre is not quite the same as the Saturday Night Massacre. Comey-gate isn’t Watergate. Donald Trump isn’t Richard Nixon. And America is not suddenly embroiled in a constitutional crisis. So far, thank goodness, the Constitution seems to be okay. But the stunning dismissal of FBI Director James Comey should send chills…
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Opinion Europe Dodges A Bullet, But Far Right Dangers Remain
The outpouring of international relief over the French far right failing to seize the presidency says a lot about the febrile nature of modern Western politics. Europe has dodged a bullet, and the victory of Emmanuel Macron is, in the broader sense at least, a sign of the strength of the liberal status quo. It’s…
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Opinion This Week In Anti-Semitism: Attacks Against Jews Rise Even In Polite Canada
The Forward regularly monitors the surge of anti-Semitism across the country and around the world. The mission of this column is not to unduly alarm, but rather to raise awareness of a disturbing trend that, from some vantage points, can prove difficult to spot. Though he’s not even Jewish, Emmanuel Macron is not immune to…
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Opinion Bad For The Jews: What Would Have Happened If Israel Lost The Six Day War?
Despite the effectiveness of my daily beta blocker in controlling the work of my heart, my blood pressure rose to astronomical heights with my growing anger as I read the two consecutive articles and their misplaced emphasis on and sympathy for the Arab feelings of inadequacy and regret arising from their failure to destroy Israel…
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Opinion Why I Hate Mother’s Day, And Why All Women Should Hate It, Too
A wise man told me never to eat a meal prepared by someone who brags about washing his hands. His point was clear: You can’t trust someone who takes unusual pride in achieving a commonplace, because it suggests that for him it’s actually an extraordinary occurrence. It suggests that something that should happen every day…
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Opinion My Father’s Heroic Sacrifice To Retake Jerusalem In 1967
I never really met my father, Rami Wald. I was only 10 months old when he was killed fighting for Ammunition Hill, the strategic hilltop held by the Jordanians during the Six Day War. I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to piece together what happened the day my father, a paratrooper and captain…
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Opinion Memories Of The Six-Day War Still Haunt Many Palestinians
Leila Awawdeh felt like a mother to me. Yes, she is Palestinian, a devout Muslim woman in her late 50s. And when I met her, I was a 22-year-old Jewish New Yorker, traveling around the region to interview locals for a book project. But on the streets of Hebron’s Old City, her calm, quiet voice…
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