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
The Refugee Ban Masks Steve Bannon’s Power Grab
Last Friday night, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump hosted their first Shabbat meal in their new home in Washington DC. Among the invitees saying kiddish were influential members of the new Trump administration. The next day, one of the attendees, Hope Hicks, Trump’s Director of Strategic Communications, spent her Saturday publicly defending and applauding the…
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Opinion How Jewish Frat Boys Rescued Refugees in the 1930s, and Why It Matters Today
In the Fall of 1936, Sam Sherman, an officer of the historically Jewish Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity (PhiEp) circulated a call to his fellow Greeks asking for funds to help Central European Jewish student refugees. The plea intended to assist young men who had been prohibited from completing their university studies because of Hitler’s rise…
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Opinion Day of Reckoning: Religious Leaders Must Fight Trump’s Refugee Ban Or Lose Moral Standing
The Trump administration’s executive order to ban refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and to give preference to Christians has now forced leaders of all faiths to declare how American they truly are. By American, I do not mean the perverted notion of nationalism embedded in President Trump’s offensive, unnecessary and damaging travel and immigration ban….
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Opinion Why It Matters to Jews When Trump Generalizes the Holocaust
(JTA) — “Where’s Jared Kushner?” Supporters of Donald Trump have often defended his campaign against charges of anti-Semitism by noting he has an Orthodox Jewish daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. Jews on the right are excited about Kushner’s role as a special adviser to the president, assuming he’ll be their advocate on Israel and other Jewish…
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Opinion Our Cherished Wall in Jerusalem Increasingly Divides Us
I was in Jerusalem for a week last month, and I never once went to the Kotel. This was unusual for me. On my many prior stays in Israel, the ancient stones of the Western Wall were like a magnet, drawing me close and stripping away my journalistic skepticism, leaving me feeling a little more…
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Opinion This Week in Anti-Semitism: Stanford Printers Hacked and British Jews Attacked
The Forward plans to regularly monitor on the surge of anti-Semitism in many parts of the country and 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. 1) Stanford’s Printers Hacked to Print…
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Opinion Letter to the Editor: Jewish Tradition Does Not Support Richard Spencer Getting Punched
Recently a white supremacist, Nazi lover named Richard Spencer was punched in the face while giving a speech on camera during Donald Trump’s inauguration. This is the same Nazi lover who just recently terrorized Jewish families in Whitefish, MT, where he and his family live. In response, some well-meaning rabbis have been gathering sources and…
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Opinion The U.S. Suffers from Collective Amnesia About Its Original Sin
As we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I cannot help but reflect on a recent visit to Germany. Among the many lessons brought into stark focus, the trip illuminated the shameful failure of America to confront the ghosts of its past that continue to haunt the marginalized communities on Native American reservations scattered across the…
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Opinion Donald Trump is on The Warpath to Standing Rock, and Jews Must Battle Him
Four days into his presidency, Trump signed an executive order to advance construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, despite the fact that The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the land the pipeline would be built on, denied an easement to the multi-billion dollar gas and propane company behind the project. The Army Corps…
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Opinion On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Google Search Still Helps Deniers
It’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the services of the biggest company in the world are still, in effect, helping neo-Nazis spread their propaganda. For months, perhaps years, Google Search has been giving Holocaust deniers a tool to spread their abhorrent views to unsuspecting browsers on the web. After a sustained shaming by various organizations…
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Opinion Arrive at Auschwitz a Tourist, Leave As a Traveler
My 2013 edition of Lonely Planet’s “Europe on a Shoestring” ranks Auschwitz third in “Poland Highlights” — trailing behind the gnome statues of the city of Wrocław, but ahead of the city of Gdańsk. As a Holocaust historian and architectural historian of Auschwitz, I have visited the death camp at least 80 times since my…
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