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
If Trump Really Knew the Somalis of Minnesota, He Would Rethink His Cruel Ban on Refugees
On the last Sunday before the presidential election, Donald Trump swooped into the Minneapolis airport for a typically inflammatory rally. At a transit hub with hundreds of Somali employees, in a city with about 25,000 Somali residents, the Republican candidate fed his audience fear, rage and resentment. “Everybody’s reading about the disaster taking place in…
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Opinion How I Came To Grips With My Bias Against Poles — on Visit to Auschwitz
OSWIECIM, Poland (JTA) — I did a shameful thing on my first visit 20 years ago to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In a guestbook outside an Auschwitz museum exhibit featuring information on 70,000 Polish non-Jews who were murdered here, I downplayed the significance of their deaths by writing: “Your pain is no credential here,…
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Opinion Did a New York Judge Just Order Orthodox Women To Stay in Unwanted Marriages?
A New York court recently deemed the state’s Get Law, which was enacted to lend the power of the state to women unable to secure a Jewish divorce from their husbands, in large part, unconstitutional. If upheld on appeal, this decision could alter the landscape of Jewish divorce in the United States. At the core…
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Opinion We’ll Lose College Students If Israel Becomes a Right-Wing Republican Cause
(JTA) — For decades, supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship have insisted on strong bipartisanship rather than allying their cause with the Democrats or Republicans. So even while a typical bit of punditry over the past few presidencies was to assert that Bill Clinton, or George W. Bush, or Barack Obama was “the most pro-Israel president…
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Opinion Fault Lines Season 1, Episode 3
A crucial conversation on a two-state solution and potential alternative solutions under Benjamin Netanyahu. Listen to “Season 1, Episode 3” on Spreaker. Let the world know what you think about Fault Lines – rate our episodes, and share your thoughts in a review on iTunes. Download episodes here. Subscribe to Fault Lines and listen anytime….
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Opinion How Erratic Trump Unnerves Even Netanyahu
After eight long years of feuding with Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is approaching Republican newcomer Donald Trump with far more caution and reserve than anyone anticipated. Trump was supposedly the great hope of Netanyahu’s right-wing pro-settlement base. And yet, within hours after Trump’s inauguration Netanyahu was scrambling to restrain allies on his…
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Opinion When Should Religious Leaders Get Political From the Pulpit?
One of the best debates I remember having in rabbinical school was whether a rabbi should speak about politics from the pulpit. In theory it makes sense why a rabbi would try to avoid doing so as God is neither a Republican or a Democrat. The rabbi not only runs the risk of potentially alienating…
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Opinion Why Richard Spencer Had Something to Smile About After Getting Punched in the Face
It’s okay to punch a Nazi in the face if it’s a real Nazi you are punching. And if that real Nazi is trying to do real harm to you or someone else, and by punching the person you may be able to stop it. And if there is no other choice available to you….
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Opinion Fault Lines Season 1, Episode 2
A compelling discussion from two contrasting viewpoints on the Trump administration’s position on Israel. Listen to “Season 1, Episode 2” on Spreaker. Let the world know what you think about Fault Lines – rate our episodes, and share your thoughts in a review on iTunes. Download episodes here. Subscribe to Fault Lines and listen anytime….
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Opinion Can Auschwitz Be a Graveyard and a Tourist Destination?
Menachem Rosensaft once wrote that “as much as any other event, if not more so, the Holocaust requires the chronicler to be scrupulously accurate.” He further notes that “the greater the popularity of this subject, the greater the need for vigilance regarding the treatment it is accorded.” As we approach International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we…
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Opinion How Auschwitz Can Be Both a Memorial and a Center for Education
How should we define the authentic remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, which today are protected and preserved by the Auschwitz Memorial? Should we define it as: 150 buildings, about 300 ruins, including those of five gas chambers and four crematoria in Birkenau that are especially important to the history of…
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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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