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
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Opinion
Fox News’ Todd Starnes Redefines ‘The Deplorables’
In his new book, The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again, Fox News host and radio talker Todd Starnes proudly declares himself an “irredeemable deplorable.” He writes (with characteristic humor and directness), “Mrs. Clinton matter-of-factly dubbed half of Donald Trump’s supporters a bunch of xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic bigots. I’m surprised she didn’t say we…
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Opinion Unreality Show: Netanyahu And Trump Struggle With The Truth
At a White House press conference yesterday, President Trump had the opportunity to lend his administration’s support to decades of American foreign policy in favor of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He didn’t. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, standing next to him, could have expressed his sympathy to American Jews experiencing heightened anti-Semitism…
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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 The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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News New Jewish-Arab political party debuts in Israel, aiming to topple Netanyahu
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Fast Forward Jewish groups push back against Trump’s Iran deal — but more quietly so far than in 2015
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News Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli politician who could dethrone Netanyahu?
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Culture My father was my hero and, when he was dying, I wrote this song for him