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
How Israel Brought U.N. Resolution on Itself With Irrational Settlement Push
The controversy over the U.S. decision to abstain rather than veto a UN Resolution supported by every other member of the Security Council diverts attention from the most important threat to a secure future for Israel. The single path forward for Israel to maintain its status as both Jewish and democratic is to realize upon…
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Opinion Our Great Moral Failure in Syria
Two thousand and sixteen was the year that America lost all claim to moral leadership, the year when apathy, prejudice and self-absorption finally destroyed our ability to act wisely in the world. The siege of Aleppo signified the end. For five years until now, we have watched as Syria descended into a civil war that…
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Opinion David Friedman’s Critics Are Wrong — Here’s Why
Is it possible to be too pro-Israel for some Jews? Apparently, it is – given the hyperventilated response to President-elect Trump’s nomination of David Friedman to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. I understand that Friedman has made some remarks that do not comport with the views of many on the opposite end of…
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Opinion David Friedman, What Do Your Donations to Radical Jewish Settlements Pay For?
Dear David Friedman, Congratulations on your nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel. I must say that I was alarmed to hear this news, as your rejection of decades of U.S. policy regarding a two-state solution and your smear of some liberal Jews as kapos should disqualify you from this position. T’ruah, the organization I…
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Opinion That ‘Shameful’ UN Resolution Actually Blasts the Settlements — Not Israel
Relations between Israel and the United States sank on Friday to their lowest point in years after the Obama administration declined to veto a resolution in the United Nations Security Council (full text here) declaring Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, “including East Jerusalem,” to be illegal under international law. Israeli leaders reacted with fury….
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Opinion Are These Colleges ‘The Worst’ for Jews?
Everyone loves lists. Lists are fun and informative, and ranked lists in particular help us make decisions more efficiently. But lists are also deceptively powerful: it’s really hard for a person to properly judge the objective value of something distinct from its ranking once they’ve seen it on a ranked list, whether that “something” is…
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Opinion Betraying Your Community for the Sake of Your Schooling
The Orthodox, as Steven M. Cohen demonstrates, are growing in importance in the American Jewish community. Growing demographic power brings them increasing clout in terms of setting the broader communal agenda, but also attaches higher stakes. There will be difficult choices between legitimate internal needs and responsibility to the broader civic order, one that the…
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Opinion Why Ivanka Trump Is Sure To Be a Jewish ‘Stranger’ in Liberal Washington
Jewish D.C. has been abuzz in the past weeks since the election about a possible new family in their midst: the Trump/Kushner family. How will residents of their chosen community accept the couple and their three children? Reports have been mixed. Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, married to Jared Kushner, is the ultimate ger in…
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Opinion What Ambassador David Friedman Means for American Jews
Given the political uproar surrounding Donald Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel, you could be forgiven for overlooking the event’s larger significance as a disruptive moment in American Jewish history. Most of the hubbub has been focused on the hawkish Greater Israel opinions of the nominee, Long Island bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman. Those opinions would…
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Opinion 7 Reasons Why I Mildly Resent Christmas
I’ll tell you a secret, I’m pleased about Christmas. That the whole world is willing to celebrate the late September birth of a nice Jewish boy on December 25, I’m kvelling. I mean, it’s not really a Christian holiday (hence the dislocated date), it’s just a thin veneer of paint on the Roman holiday —…
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Opinion Herzl Against His Christmas Tree
With his iconic black beard, stately tuxedo, imposing physique and stern visage, there was no mistaking him for anyone else, and I was delighted when he motioned me to come over and join him for a coffee and sachertorte. “Again they are sullying my reputation,” he protested. “One recollection scribbled more than a century ago…
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