Opinion

• Opinion

  Tough Decisions: Reproductive Choice and Jewish Genetics

  As Sarah and her husband were checking off last-minute wedding preparations and appointments, they got a suggestion from their rabbi. He asked them if they’d been genetically tested for diseases common among Ashkenazi Jews. The couple, both Ashkenazim, took the rabbi’s advice and headed to their local JCC for a blood test. They figured it…

  By Lana Adler

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump’s 2nd Amendment Rhetoric Has Terrifying Implications For Domestic Violence

  This past Tuesday, Donald Trump told crowds at a North Carolina rally that “if [Hillary] gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” The statement was widely greeted with shock: suggesting that violence should be used against…

  By Talya Zax Aug 11, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Canada’s Green Party Leader Might Resign — Over BDS

  Are left-wing movements in North America inappropriately obsessed with Israel? That’s what many are asking after the intense fallout from the Movement for Black Lives criticism of Israel — and now the crisis threatening to envelop the Green Party of Canada over support for BDS. After a pro-BDS vote at Canada’s Green Party convention, party…

  By Mira Sucharov Aug 11, 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 Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

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  Opinion

  What the Movement for Black Lives Teaches Us About the Appeal of BDS

  Why did the newly released Movement for Black Lives platform call Israel an “apartheid state” and accuse it of “genocide” against Palestinians? Mainstream Jews and radical activists want to debate the justice or morality of the platform, but neither group is interested in explaining how it came to be. But that means they are missing…

  By Raphael Magarik Aug 10, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Politics From the Pulpit? Be Careful What You Ask For in the Age of Trump

  For years, conservative evangelicals have argued that federal law should be changed to permit churches to be more politically active, including allowing their preachers to endorse candidates from the pulpit. But this year, they may want to be careful about what they ask for. Ironically, in the Age of Trump, it’s the more liberal churches…

  By Jane Eisner Aug 10, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Pokemon Go the End of Religion?

  To fans, the smartphone-based Pokemon Go is a delicious addiction. To detractors, it’s a dangerous one. Its real significance, though, runs deeper than anyone is saying. Pokemon Go is the most successful “augmented reality” game yet, superimposing Pokemon characters on real-world settings taken from your smartphone’s camera. Rather than players leaving the real world to…

  By Jay Michaelson Aug 9, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Avigdor Lieberman Is Sorry-Not-Sorry for Comparing Iran Deal to Hitler Deal

  The long-simmering tension between Israel’s generals and their politician bosses flared up in early August into a near-crisis in U.S.-Israel relations. It’s an almost comically complicated caper, so pay close attention. You can’t make this stuff up. It began as an attack on President Obama by Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, over last year’s Iran…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 9, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  This Mosaic Is Uniting Jews and Arabs Across Israel

  The many issues that divide people in Israeli society tend to drag me down, so I try to focus on projects that build community to hearten and inspire me. Since December, I’ve been involved in one such endeavor that’s connecting people regardless of religion, background or age. As a liaison in Galilee Medical Center’s International…

  By Sharon Blassberg Mann Aug 8, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What They Confiscated from My Daughter at the Western Wall

  This is not a story about Women of the Wall. That is a story for someone else to tell. So many women have been dedicated to that cause for so many years. I am just a sometimes joiner. A tourist, if you will. But my daughters really wanted to go. So, despite my dislike of…

  By Leah Bieler Aug 8, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop Being So Arrogant, White Jews. Black Lives Matter Is Not About You.

  Last week, the Movement for Black Lives released a comprehensive and provocative platform called “A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom, and Justice.” Because of a sentence that ambiguously called for divestment from Israel, Jewish media outlets immediately declared the document A Vision for the Destruction of the Jewish State. Thankfully…

  By Laura E. Adkins Aug 8, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Black Lives Matter to U.K. Jews — Unless Israel Gets in the Way

  Until now, Black Lives Matter has been seen as a U.S. movement; its website lists Toronto as its only international chapter. That all changed on Friday, as Black Lives Matter U.K. hit the headlines when, as part of a coordinated day of action, the movement blocked roads across the U.K., most notably the route to…

  By Joseph Finlay Aug 7, 2016 | 4 min read