Opinion

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  That Time I Came Face to Face With an Anti-Semite in Brooklyn

  It’s not often that I get an opportunity to come face-to-face with one of the extremists whose activities, in my work as a research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League, I am charged with following and exposing. But on Wednesday night it happened that one of the most ardent spokespeople for anti-Semitic 9/11 conspiracy theories was…

  By Marilyn Mayo

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  I Refuse To Let Insane Day School Tuition Price My Kids Out of Orthodoxy

  It’s that time of year again: My Facebook newsfeed is filled with smiling kids in back-to-school photos. This is the first year I’ve seen my friends’ children, who are the same age as my oldest, heading off to school. While many have been sent off to daycare prior, for the first time my daughter’s peers…

  By Bethany Mandel Sep 8, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Real Key To Understanding Why Some Jews Will Vote for Donald Trump

  We Americans aren’t who we thought we were. That’s why our presidential contest, like the rest of our politics, is so incoherent. We argue about jobs, immigration, abortion and guns. But those aren’t really what’s at stake. In reality we’re fighting over the nature of American society, and our problem is that we’ve become a…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 8, 2016 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

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  Opinion

  The Jewish Left Needs To Call Out Real Anti-Semites Like Christopher Bollyn

  The fact that the Brooklyn Commons, a progressive community space and café in New York, has refused to cancel an event with 9/11 conspiracy theorist Christopher Bollyn — despite calls from Jewish and non-Jewish progressive organizations and media outlets — reveals a couple of important things about the conversation around rising anti-Semitism happening in the…

  By Naomi Dann Sep 7, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  From America to Israel, Should Our National Anthems Be Changed?

  One is a superstar professional football player in a nation that considers the gridiron to be holy ground. The other is an Arab Israeli with a permanent seat on his nation’s highest and most revered court of law. Despite their minority status, the athlete born of a single white mother and an African American father…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 7, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Referendum on Israeli Occupation Is Not Just Risky — It’s Wrong

  As the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank approaches, Israeli peace groups are strategizing. I’ve written before about Daniel Bar Tal’s nascent initiative called Save Israel, Stop the Occupation. Now, two other groups — Blue White Future and Peace Now — have partnered, along with others, to help launch “Decision at…

  By Mira Sucharov Sep 6, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why This African Israeli Doesn’t Buy Claims of Racism Against Ethiopians

  (JTA) — “We are committed to helping ensure that the State of Israel welcomes Jews of all colors.” “We say, we have black lives that matter in Africa.” “In America, race has been a central area of Jewish concern historically.” These are all statements that have been made in the course of a well-orchestrated public…

  By Shimon Mercer-Wood Sep 6, 2016 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  From Muslims to Ebola, Conservatives Always Want To Terrify Us About Something

  Remember Ebola? It’s widely thought that our national panic over Ebola cost the Democrats the Senate in 2014. Of course, there were many other factors in play. But do you remember how Republican after Republican got on television to condemn President Obama for “not keeping us safe from Ebola”? Where’s Ebola now? Well, banished back…

  By Jay Michaelson Sep 6, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s Hard for Leftists in Israel? That’s Exactly Why You Should Stay.

  The most common question I get asked about my decision to immigrate to Israel five years ago is “Why? Why would you move here?” Sometimes it’s asked by earnest American Jews, and sometimes it comes with a tinge of that famous Israeli cynicism. Either way, it raises the specter of another question, one that is…

  By A. Daniel Roth Sep 4, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  From Albany to Kansas City, the Jewish Community Is Stepping Up for Refugees

  One year ago, a photograph of a small Syrian refugee boy woke up the world. Our hearts were broken open by the picture of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on the Turkish shore after he drowned trying to reach safety. A litany of photographs soon followed: refugees in the back of trucks, on…

  By Rabbi Jennie Rosenn Sep 4, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why It’s Absurd for a Pastor To Give Donald Trump a Jewish Prayer Shawl

  “This is a prayer shawl straight from Israel,” Detroit pastor Bishop Wayne Jackson said as he draped a tallit around Donald Trump’s shoulders on Saturday, casually appropriating a Jewish ritual item for Christian purposes. Trump, who had just addressed the Great Faith Ministries, a black church, in an attempt to make inroads with African-American voters,…

  By Jen Taylor Friedman Sep 4, 2016 | 3 min read