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.
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.
(JTA) — It was 9 o’clock on a weekday evening and I was lounging around my Brooklyn apartment in pajamas when the call came summoning me to a Midtown Manhattan hotel. Shimon Peres needed a speechwriter; I was a speechwriter at the time for Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. It was the fall of…
Rarely in history has a man been so identified with the life of his nation for so many decades and at so many critical junctures as Shimon Peres was. Peres’s legacy encompasses vision and practice, policy and authorship, statesmanship and politics. I remember how, in 1993, once the Oslo Declaration of Principles was signed between…
As the Jewish calendar tilts toward Rosh Hashanah, congregational rabbis hunker down with copious amounts of caffeine for sermon-writing cram sessions. In my work as a long-time editor for rabbis, writing teacher for clergy of many faiths, and former spirituality ghostwriter (yes, there is such a thing), I’ve edited countless sermons, and I have a…
The different cultures of the world each have their own way of welcoming in a new year. Some usher in their new year with colorful street parades, some with fireworks, some with solemn bells and some with a passionate kiss. As Jews, we traditionally bring in our new year sitting together around the family table….
If there’s one overarching story to be told from 2016 it’s how the media complex failed to predict, recognize or accept the Donald Trump phenomenon — and how this colored the entire election. This is important, especially as that complex watches and comments on the debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton. In a normal election…
I wish that the truth did set us free, but unfortunately, I heard a continual string of untruths at last night’s presidential debate. And they were mostly coming from behind just one podium. Before the debate began, I wrote hoping that Lester Holt, the NBC journalist who moderated the first one-on-one between Hillary Clinton and…
When Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination, New York Times Magazine writer Emily Bazelon described her as a member of the “Moses Generation” of the women’s movement, having been around from its beginning with a career clearly defined by its generational twists and turns. Clinton has faced her long record during the campaign and, at…
Poetry has become a lightning rod in Israeli politics. In July, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman summoned an Army Radio broadcaster for “clarification” after the station ran a program discussing the work of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. And a few days ago, Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev walked out of the…
It’s that time of year again, when the annual High Holidays packet arrives in the mail. I’ve never been one to pore over the contents, but seven months after my father’s passing, this time it feels different. It’s not so much the holiday’s reflections on “who shall live and who shall die” that resonate so…
The day before the American presidential debate, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York, working his famous charm on the two major candidates. The prime minister regards handling Israel’s international relations as one of his strong suits. And indeed, after meeting Donald Trump Sunday morning and Hillary Clinton that afternoon, he was able…
I don’t envy NBC news anchor Lester Holt, moderator of the first presidential debate this evening, whose every word and gesture will be scrutinized by a polarized American public. I don’t envy the candidates, either, for the same reason, though they did sign up for this excruciating job interview. But as a journalist, a Jewish…
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