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
Unholy Land: Young Democrats Are Spurning Israel for Good Reason
“My landscape wasn’t the Negev wilderness, or the Galilean hills, or the coastal plain of ancient Philistia; it was industrial, immigrant America—Newark,” declares Nathan Zuckerman, Philip Roth’s alter-ego, in the 1986 fictional masterpiece, “The Counterlife.” Like Nathan, the American reckoning with his Jewish identity, I have always struggled to hold Israel in the same esteem…
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Opinion ‘Kapo’ is the Jewish N-Word
I was an angry, hormonal 11-year old when I asked my mother why a family we were friendly with had so many grandparents, aunts, and uncles, when all we had were three aunts and a few cousins. The parents of that family had – like my parents – survived the Holocaust. But they had somehow…
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Opinion Americans Love the Jews. They Really Do. For Now.
With all the hateful stuff being said about Jews by the “alt-right”, with a White House that somehow neglected to mention Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day, with hate crimes spiking and even placid Jewish Community Centers on the receiving end of bomb threats, the results from a survey released today by the Pew Research Center…
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Opinion How Bibi Played Us On The Iran Deal — And We Let Him
Almost two years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went before Congress to denounce President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran. The deal, he warned, “could well threaten the survival of my country and the future of my people.” Then, in the closing moments of his speech, Netanyahu addressed the late Elie Wiesel, who was seated…
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Opinion Have We Forgotten ‘Never Forget’?
This past weekend, my twins were accepted to their top choice for college. Like all the Jewish mothers before me, I kvelled with pride. We celebrated the good news all weekend, yet slowly but surely my naches soon turned to tsoris. My worry wasn’t about making sure they eat well-balanced meals in the college cafeteria,…
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Opinion How Football Junket Fumble Might Just Turn Into A Touchdown For Israel
(JTA) — Almost 30 years ago, the late theater impresario Joe Papp got into hot water when he canceled a scheduled production of a pro-Palestinian play at his flagship Manhattan theater, the Public. Rumors flew at the time that he caved in to pressure from wealthy Jewish donors, but Papp — born Joseph Papirofsky but…
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Opinion What Judaism Can Teach Islam About Reforming The Faith
Does Islam needs its own Martin Luther? Does it need its own “Reformation,” which will lead to the separation of the Muslim “church” from the state? I have heard these questions frequently in the past decades from Westerners. They were right about one thing: Islam, despite being a religion that once cultivated an open, tolerant,…
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Opinion Sorry Orthodox Union, Women Clergy Are Here To Stay
I once spoke to a group of elderly Jews about the advances in women’s Torah study. One woman in the audience eagerly raised her hand. She said that she was born in Krakow, and was the downstairs neighbor of Sarah Shenirer, the founder of the Bais Yaakov schools. “Believe me,” she said, “the rabbis were…
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Opinion It’s Time To Choose Whether To Be Progressive Or To Be Anti-Trump
Democrats need a plan, and fast. Each new day brings another appalling revelation about the Trump administration’s endless capacity for incompetence and misbehavior. With each new outrage, a flock of Democrats takes to the streets or to the nearest Washington microphone, puffing out their chests and sputtering in helpless rage. And as they flail, Donald…
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Opinion Despite the Smiles, Trump And Bibi May Be Headed For A Clash
A shroud of uncertainty hangs over Wednesday’s meeting when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Donald Trump as president for the first time. And uncertainty is no friend of the fraught American-Israeli relationship, no matter how many Israelis cheered Trump’s election as the coming of the Messiah. To begin with, both men drag a suitcase…
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Opinion The Power of Jewish Photographic Humor to Illuminate Dark Times
The rise of Donald Trump has unleashed racial animosity that makes the Willie Horton episode of the 1988 presidential campaign seem like an ABC Afterschool Special. The widespread scapegoating, which Trump sanctions with a nod and a wink (as well as an appointment of certain senior counselor portrayed by the grim reaper on “Saturday Night…
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