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
Grave Matter: Rising Sea Levels Threaten Jewish Cemeteries
It is for Shmuel ben Shimson and Pauline Bernstein, among others, that I am marching. Shimshon lived in Italy in the 14th century, Pauline in Texas in the 19th. Though their lives were separated by centuries and by thousands of miles, they have something in common: They are buried in Jewish cemeteries that are threatened…
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Opinion What The Humble Olive Tree Teaches Us About Israel’s Past And Future
In springtime, when the flowers of olive trees open in Jerusalem, pollen catches the Mediterranean winds and sails east. The pollen travels over the walls of the Old City, across the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives. It flies over walls, villages and settlements, then down from the hills and across the caves at…
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Opinion 3 Things Politico Got Wrong In Tying Chabad To Trump’s Russia Scandal
(JTA) — Has Chabad “taken on an outsize importance” in the Trump-Russia scandal? That’s a claim of a recent Politico article detailing a web of connections between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and a vast network of Chabad benefactors and their associates. It’s long been known that a set of Russian oligarchs are also Chabad mega-donors,…
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Opinion A Very Klingon Passover — Starting With The 4 Questions
Michael Burstein kindly provided the Four Questions in Klingon to those of his readers in the Federation of Planets celebrating Pesach (Passover). The Four Questions In Klingon qatlh pImlaw’ ramvam rammey latlh je? qaStaHvIS Hoch rammey “Hametz” “Matza” je DISop, ‘ach qaStaHvIS ramvam’e’, “Matza” neH wISop. qaStaHvIS Hoch rammey, Hoch tI wISop, ‘ach qaStaHvIS ramvam’e’,…
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Opinion IfNotNow And The Challenge Of The Millennial Left
In a column last week, I compared IfNotNow, the Millennial-powered movement challenging American Jewish complicity in Palestinian repression, to Black Lives Matter. That upset some people,including IfNotNow itself, which issued a statement rejecting the comparison. That’s fine. I’m a fan of IfNotNow’s, but the movement has no obligation to agree with everything I write, just…
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Opinion What Does It Mean To Be Jewish And Pro-Life?
Recently at March For Life, an annual rally held in Washington, D.C., I hoped to meet and write about other pro-life Jewish marchers. The record-setting crowd was thick and palpably upbeat after the election of Donald Trump and his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. With Donald Trump’s latest threats to defund the…
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Opinion Anti-Semitism Continues In America — And Trump Is Silent Again
What kind of president looks for an excuse not to condemn anti-Semitism? And what kind of administration points to the apprehension of one depraved suspect in Israel, among scores of recent perpetrators, as the pretext for denying the epidemic of anti-Semitism on the president’s watch? The answer: A presidency out of touch with the spread…
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Opinion Cutting Volunteering Programs Is A National Disservice
In many ways, the state of service and volunteering in the United States is strong – each year, about 65 million Americans contribute their time and energy to addressing the needs of individuals and communities. In mid-March, however, the current Administration proposed a 2018 budget that would eliminate federal funding for, among many programs, the…
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Opinion Brian Williams’ Other Leonard Cohen Temptations
“We see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean,” Brian Williams said. “I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.’” “We see the arc of my career these days,” Williams said. “I am tempted…
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Opinion Is Passover Broken Beyond Repair?
It’s time to face facts: Passover is broken. Busted. Split in two. Half of us are celebrating one part of the holiday while the other half celebrates the other part. Most of us don’t even realize we’re celebrating only half the holiday. This shouldn’t surprise us. The Jewish community worldwide is broken into pieces. There’s…
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Opinion From Cain And Abel To A New Kind Of Exodus: David Miliband’s Almost Biblical Journey
When I first met with David Miliband last year at his modest office at the International Rescue Committee’s Manhattan headquarters, the Syrian civil war had not yet reached its fifth anniversary. Donald Trump appeared to have as much chance of winning the White House as the Oxford-educated Miliband had of sounding like a Brooklyn tough….
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