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
Despite the Smiles, Trump And Bibi May Be Headed For A Clash
A shroud of uncertainty hangs over Wednesday’s meeting when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Donald Trump as president for the first time. And uncertainty is no friend of the fraught American-Israeli relationship, no matter how many Israelis cheered Trump’s election as the coming of the Messiah. To begin with, both men drag a suitcase…
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Opinion The Power of Jewish Photographic Humor to Illuminate Dark Times
The rise of Donald Trump has unleashed racial animosity that makes the Willie Horton episode of the 1988 presidential campaign seem like an ABC Afterschool Special. The widespread scapegoating, which Trump sanctions with a nod and a wink (as well as an appointment of certain senior counselor portrayed by the grim reaper on “Saturday Night…
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Opinion This Week In Anti-Semitism: Duma Defamation And Heartless Valentines
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) Republicans Keep On Omitting Jews from…
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Opinion Netanyahu To Liberal American Jews: Drop Dead
The breach between American Jews and the State of Israel is a major preoccupation of the Jewish chattering classes, although the actual data about this question is less clear. A 2016 Pew study found “a solid majority” of Jewish Americans “say they are either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ attached to Israel and that caring about Israel…
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Opinion A Capital Idea: Leave the U.S. Embassy in Israel Right Where It Is
Last January, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies (WINEP), founded by former US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Martin Indyk, published an article by Lebanese scholar Hassan Mneimneh on the potential relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The author contends that the international community and the “Arab world” should support…
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Opinion For Sad Democrats, Jewish Humor Helps Make America Bearable Again
I host a live public daily radio show out of San Francisco, a city which had a grand total of 8% of its citizens voting for Donald J Trump. So it was unsurprising that immediately following the election many in my area expressed, gloom about Donald Trump’s victory. At events to promote my book on…
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Opinion What If Jared Kushner Were Muslim And Helped Ban Israelis From America?
Let’s try a thought experiment. A blatantly anti-Semitic candidate runs for president. In a CNN interview, he declares that “Judaism hates us.” He falsely accuses American Jews of cheering on terrorist attacks against the United States. He calls for “a total and complete shutdown of Jews entering the United States.” This candidate then wins the…
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Opinion March of the Living Taught Jared Kushner and Me Different Lessons
Nearly 25 years ago I traveled to Poland to participate in the March of the Living, to “study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate,” as the program’s website explains. Our group visited Nazi death camps and Jewish ghost towns, seeking to gain a better understanding of…
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Opinion Criminal Intent: Why This Rabbi Went To Jail To Protest Trump
On Feb. 6, I was one of 19 rabbis to go to prison to protest the Trump administration’s recent restrictions on immigration and the acceptance of refugees. Organized by T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, we were the largest group of rabbis to be arrested at one time in American history. Like many American…
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Opinion The Battle Over What To Call Your Grandma
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. On January 15, 2017, I — the mother of three adult sons — finally became a grandmother. Following the Jewish tradition, the new parents, Menachem and Emily, chose not to divulge the name of the infant boy until the bris. So when the rabbi announced that my…
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Opinion My Black History Spans More Than A Month
Black History Month has always proved complicated in multicultural America. The great historian Carter G. Woodson, the second African American to receive his doctorate from Harvard, created Negro History Week in 1926. Then Dr. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, later expanded Negro History Week to Black…
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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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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Culture My father was my hero and, when he was dying, I wrote this song for him