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
On My Morning Walk, Chalk Messages Mark Path of Hope for Immigrants to City College
Every morning when I walk my son Teddy to the subway station at the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 145th Street in our Hamilton Heights neighborhood in Harlem, we pass a sea of young men and woman making their way from the trains toward City College. Founded as the Free Academy of the City…
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Opinion An Impatient and Uninformed Electorate Dooms America To Repeat History
Those who don’t learn from history, as the saying goes, are doomed to repeat it. This is not just a cliché, as evidenced by the election of Donald Trump. It has happened so many times in history: A nation encounters difficulties, economic woes, wars, demographic changes, usually brought about by an incompetent or misguided leadership….
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Opinion How Trump Empowers White Supremacists and Jihadis Alike
Two actions by the Trump administration, intended to make us safer, instead leave us more vulnerable to attack. The administration reportedly wants to rename the federal Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) task force as Countering Islamic Extremism or Countering Radical Islamic Extremism. Doing so would empower white supremacists and jihadis alike. This follows the Executive Order…
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Opinion It’s the Jewish Way To Demand Facts Amid Trump’s Barrage of Fake News
My word of the year for 2017 is “evidence.” It’s become clear that among the Trump administration’s assaults on Muslims, Mexicans, Australians (who saw that coming?), the environment, public education, health care, women and Jews, one of its most pervasive attacks has been against the notion of truth itself. It’s as if this administration is…
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Opinion Destroying the Johnson Amendment Moves America Closer to Theocracy
Nothing threatens Jews more than theocracy. When powerful regimes have tried to impose their beliefs on religious minorities, we’ve ended up expelled (The Spanish Inquisition), dead (The Crusades) or coerced into conversion (The Almohad Caliphate in Morocco). It’s no less true today than it was in 1492: every single brick removed from the American wall…
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Opinion Last Week in Anti-Semitism: A Jew-Free Holocaust and White Supremacist Memes
The Forward plans to regularly monitor 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.The Trump White House erased Jews from…
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Opinion Report From the Road: Can America’s Squabbling Jews Still Listen to Each Other?
A bitter wind is coursing through the corridors and alleyways of American Jewry. Across the country, wherever they gather, Jews seem anxious and afraid. They’re afraid for America. They’re afraid for Israel. And, to an alarming degree, they’re afraid of each other. That’s the impression I’m left with after visiting Jewish communities in about two…
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Opinion Gorsuch’s Confirmation Will Be Brutal, But at Least His Religion Won’t Matter
The confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump’s nominee to become a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, will undoubtedly prove bitter and contentious. After all, many Democratic Senators consider the seat stolen, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not meet with President Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland, let alone allow the…
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Letters Letter to the Editor: Jared Kushner Reveals The Fissures In American Judaism
In his recent column in the Forward (“How Could Modern Orthodox Judaism Produce Jared Kushner?” ) Beinart examines Jared’s recent, little-more-than-a-week long record as a member of the Trump administration. He looks at what the administration has thus far produced, and how Jared has stood by and watched it happen. In Beinart’s telling, Jared is…
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Opinion Both the Right and Left Get the Muslim Ban Wrong
Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily barring nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entry to the United States has sparked a new round of furious — and fruitless — debate about Islam, terrorism, and Islamophobia. One side all but dismisses militant Islamism as a phantom menace, touting statistics to show that lawnmowers and armed toddlers…
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Opinion A Leaked Copy of Trump’s Speech at the National Prayer Breakfast
The following is purportedly a leaked transcript of President Trump’s speech from the National Prayer Breakfast. Welcome everyone. It’s prayer time, so we’re going to have our little breakfast — we have some of the best pastries, really the best and pray. I love God — really do. Great guy, God, and a big supporter…
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Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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Culture An Israeli genocide scholar looks to Israel’s history to understand ‘what went wrong’
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Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
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Fast Forward DOGE’s cuts to Jewish humanities grants were unconstitutional, judge rules
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Fast Forward As anti-LGBTQ laws spread, these two Jewish nonprofits are funding moves to safer states