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
-
Opinion
Why I Detest Hanukkah, and Why All Right Minded Jews Should Too
Even a curmudgeon couldn’t hate Hanukkah, right? A miracle of light in the winter? The little festival that could? But if you look at it closer, it’s the little festival that could… could do what? Could celebrate the victory of fundamentalist zealots over a tolerant cosmopolitan Empire, slaughtering co-religionists on the way? Could encourage the…
-
Opinion How I Fell in Love With Tacky Hanukkah Sweaters
(JTA) — Ever since I moved to the U.S. from Israel, every late November felt like the beginning of a month-long assault. Every store, business and doctor’s office blared Christmas songs, streets were decorated with ostentatious light shows and seemingly everything became green and red — which, as an art school grad, I found personally…
-
Letters We Need NGOs To Secure Our Civil Rights
In 1951, thirteen parents from Topeka, Kansas filed a class action lawsuit to allow their children to attend public schools closest to their homes. The result was a landmark Supreme Court case we now know as Brown vs. Board of Education, which overturned the doctrine of “separate but equal” – a principle of American law…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion When It Comes to New Israel Envoy David Friedman, Bibi Should Be Careful What He Wishes For
Oh, the hawkish corner of American Jewry is jubilant with President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of David Friedman to be his ambassador to Israel. The Republican Jewish Coalition is kvelling on Twitter. Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, declared that Friedman — a bankruptcy lawyer with no diplomatic experience — has “the potential…
-
Opinion Anti-Semitism Is on the Rise From Both Sides. Just Not How You Think.
Appearances notwithstanding, this year’s presidential election campaign did not introduce anti-Semitism to America. It did, however, bring the ancient hatred out of the shadows and into the spotlight in a way we haven’t seen in years. To paraphrase Abe Foxman, the sewer covers are off. It’s been a sobering time. Still, along with widespread alarm…
-
Opinion Why We Need Hanukkah’s Message of Righteous Rebellion in Age of Trump
We Jews, as an outnumbered and persecuted people, have literally hallowed the principle of communal unity. We espouse it not only as a practical value, but also as a religious injunction. The agents of destruction of the Second Temple were the Roman legions. Yet the Talmud tells us that the truer, underlying cause was Jewish…
-
Opinion How Trump Sends Mixed Message With David Friedman Pick for Israel Envoy
Donald Trump’s choice of bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman for ambassador to Israel may possibly signal a dramatic policy move in the direction of the Israeli right. Or it might not. It depends on how you read the tea leaves. The messages coming out of Trump Tower are unusually scrambled, even for that gold-plated hothouse. Friedman,…
-
Opinion Three Reasons Why the Electoral College Must Reject Trump
A month ago, the Electoral College blocking Donald Trump was a Democratic pipe dream. Now, the electors who will convene across the country on December 19 have a sacred duty to withhold their votes from Trump, and three constitutional reasons to do so. Such an action would be unprecedented, and our shared religious, ethical and…
-
Opinion Lessons from the Israeli Left: Civil Society Is No Substitute for Smart Electoral Politics
In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, many Americans disappointed by the results of the election are looking to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as a panacea to combat hate and preserve the values they hold dear. The ADL has benefitted from a marked uptick in donations. Writing in Ha’aretz on “How to…
-
Opinion Don’t Just Move One U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem — Move Two of Them
The seat of the Israeli government — its legislature, executive offices and courts — is comfortably nestled along the stone-lined streets and hillsides of West Jerusalem, but for more than a decade, no foreign embassy has been based there. Ever since Costa Rica left in August 2006, followed quickly by El Salvador, the world has…
-
Opinion Why I Hate Chrismukkah and So Should You
East Asian civilizations identify themselves through their use of chopsticks, European ones have universally adopted the knife and fork, but not one significant civilization has ever embraced the spork. The reason that this highly practical spoon-shaped eating utensil with short tines at the tip has not become a favorite is because it’s a compromise. Neither…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News When observant Jews gathered to challenge Israel orthodoxy, verbal sparring and walkouts ensued
- 2
Opinion Trump has forced an impossible choice on American synagogues amid antisemitic attacks
- 3
Opinion The one crucial domain in which Iran outwitted Israel
- 4
Fast Forward Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack dead after ramming car into temple, police say
In Case You Missed It
-
News A government takeover could save a struggling Brooklyn hospital — while unsettling the Orthodox Jewish community it serves
-
News Joe Kent, Trump official with white supremacist ties, resigns over Iran war and blames Israel
-
Fast Forward Dueling letters from Jewish groups dispute prevalence of antisemitism at UCLA
-
Culture An astonishing history of wartime Berlin that reads like a thriller
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
