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
-
Opinion
Ivanka And Jared Are Spectacularly Unqualified — And Why That Matters
In the family business that passes for this White House, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have acquired seats at the grown-ups’ table, with offices steps away from the Oval Office, portfolios that seem to grow by the day and unparalleled access to the levers of power. To cite a recent New York Times story, they…
-
Opinion Did Jon Ossoff’s Jewish Faith Prevent Him From Winning Outright?
Democrat Jon Ossoff, who placed first in the special election for Georgia’s sixth congressional district with 48% of the vote but who needed 50% to avoid a runoff, overcame a great deal of adversity. The 30-year-old political neophyte beat back charges that he didn’t live in the reddish district, which previously elected the likes of…
-
Opinion Look For The #SilverLining
Most of us in journalism didn’t go into the profession only to write stories about people behaving badly, or only to rail against injustice, or only to point out all of society’s flaws. But too often the magnetic pull of the negative becomes the default definition of “news” and journalism fails to make enough room…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion Why Conversion Lite Won’t Fix The Intermarriage Problem
In a recent essay in The Jewish Week titled “Mikveh Can Solve Conversion Problem”, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove presented a courageous attempt to address arguably the most pressing problem of 21st century American Jewry: intermarriage. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the problem of intermarriage is that for many Millennials, it is not a problem at…
-
Opinion Fault Lines Season 1, Episode 7
Israel is at war over the battle for legitimacy. Listen to the lively discussion from Peter Beinart and Daniel Gordis as they unpack these complicated issues. Listen to “Fault Lines” on Spreaker. Let the world know what you think about Fault Lines – rate our episodes, and share your thoughts in a review on iTunes….
-
Opinion Will Birthright Kowtow To Israel’s Right-wing Government?
This summer, I planned to travel to Israel through Birthright, an organization that offers free 10-day trips to the country for Jewish youths. I had long been looking forward to the voyage. Now, I don’t know whether I’ll be allowed on the trip. I meet all of Birthright’s requirements, and then some; my parents are…
-
Opinion What’s Behind Recent Eruptions Of Anti-Semitism?
All western governments oppose anti-Semitism. Yet the old hatred continues. How toxic is it? And are recent eruptions of anti-Semitism expressions of momentary irritation, misunderstanding, or plain ignorance? White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer could, on a kindly view, fall into the last of these categories. His recent remark that Hitler used no chemical weapons,…
-
Opinion Where Is The Jewish Outcry On Chechnya?
The matzah crumbs are still on the tablecloth on the dining room table. The leftover charoset still sits in the refrigerator. The haggadot from the seder still sit in a corner of the kitchen counter. The text from the haggadah cries out to us: “In every generation, a person must see himself or herself as…
-
Opinion How CNN’s ‘Believer’ Smears Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox As Intolerant ‘Black Peril’
Reza Aslan, host of the modestly named “Believer With Reza Aslan” on CNN, has rendered his verdict: “ultra-Orthodox” Jews in Israel are to the Jewish state what the mullahs were to Iran in 1979. Sensationalism isn’t entirely unexpected from a presenter who, on the segment of his show dedicated to Hinduism, focused on a sect…
-
Opinion Sean Spicer Is Dangerous — Whether He’s Malevolent Or Incompentent
Jews emerged from the Passover holiday to learn that Sean Spicer, the malaprop-spouting, reporter-bashing White House press secretary, had managed to outdo himself with a barrage of Holocaust ignorance (to put it charitably). Should we care? Yes. Though Spicer has apologized, and some of his apologists have insisted it was simply a “gaffe,” in fact…
-
Opinion Could Temple Mount Feud Unleash Netanyahu’s Worst Crisis Ever?
Passover came early to Jerusalem this year when a group of Jewish religious nationalists gathered in the Old City of Jerusalem on April 6 for a live re-enactment of the original, biblical holiday ritual: sacrificing a lamb. Hundreds gathered in the Jewish Quarter to watch barefoot, white-robed priests slaughter, skin and roast a lamb on…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
- 2
Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
- 3
Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
- 4
News Abdul El-Sayed is courting Jewish voters — without moderating his views on Israel
In Case You Missed It
-
News Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli politician who could dethrone Netanyahu?
-
Culture My father was my hero and, when he was dying, I wrote this song for him
-
Fast Forward Trump nominee defends college cartoon of Jewish student with devil horns at Senate hearing
-
Fast Forward Former antisemitic activist Lucas Gage explains to Jewish podcast why he left the movement