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 Bernie Sanders Flipped the ‘Crotchety Jewish Socialist’ Script on Hillary Clinton
After a chaotic, crisis-ridden day of jeering Bernie Sanders supporters, hacked emails (what is it about Hillary Clinton and emails, anyway?) and a party leader humiliatingly deposed, the Democratic Party formally opened its Philadelphia convention on July 25 and quickly melted into rapture. For most onlookers, first lady Michelle Obama opened the emotional floodgates late…
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Opinion Hillary Clinton Answers This Jewish Mother’s Prayer
I remember just where I was on July 12, 1984 — about to return to the newsroom from maternity leave, anxious about leaving my first born, my precious little daughter, unable to imagine what it would feel like to satisfy the demands of both a job and a very young child because the workplace was…
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Opinion Tim Kaine Is the Least Jewish Democrat Ever. And That’s a Good Thing.
In Lenny Bruce’s terms, Tim Kaine is the most goyish Democratic nominee in years. And I mean that in a good way. In fact, much of the third night of the Democratic National Convention felt more Republican than Democratic — and that is very good indeed. You remember (or I’ll remind you) how the comedian…
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Opinion Why Pope Francis Must Move This Church From Auschwitz
(JTA) — This week, Pope Francis will be making a pilgrimage to Poland, visiting Auschwitz – the notorious death camp in Poland where 1.1 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Auschwitz is comprised of two camps: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, also called Birkenau. Birkenau is the actual “theater of death,” where the vast…
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Opinion Will Bill Clinton’s Spiritual Masterpiece Humanize Hillary for America?
Love him or hate him, former President Bill Clinton delivered a masterpiece of oration last night, a “Checkers” speech for the 21st century. He also reminded us why the spiritual is political and the political is spiritual. Clinton’s job was clear: humanize his wife, Hillary Clinton. Other people could talk about policy, or the threat…
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Opinion Tim Kaine’s Very Talmudic Approach to Politics
Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s pick for vice president, is a devout Catholic who sings tenor in the choir of the church he has attended regularly for 30 years. As he reminded his fellow Democrats last night, he went to a Jesuit high school and worked with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. He quotes freely from…
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Opinion The Tim Kaine I’ve Known for Decades Is a True Friend of the Jews
Tim Kaine is one of the best people I know. I am already on record with a somewhat lighthearted appreciation of how he brought hummus to Virginia and ran for governor just so my daughter could meet her husband on the campaign. But the man I have come to know and admire is not just…
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Opinion Both Republicans and Democrats Went Backward on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Now What?
For Americans, Israelis and Palestinians who still seek a two-state resolution to the long and exhaustive conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the platforms of the major American political parties are profoundly disappointing. Neither platform addresses the issue seriously. The failure to do so serves no one’s interests, especially not those of the United States….
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Opinion The Inconvenient Truths Stalking Hillary Clinton’s Democratic Convention
It’s hard to be a cheerleader when the world’s about to end. That’s how the Democratic National Convention feels right now. Everyone knows that Donald Trump’s post-convention boost is temporary. But still, to see a perfectly qualified, mainstream candidate — too mainstream for many — losing to a white supremacist demagogue with no knowledge of…
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Opinion 4 Ways Michelle Obama’s Speech Spoke to Jewish Values
Michelle Obama absolutely blew the nation away with her front-and-center speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. In a convention fraught with stressors like the Debbie Wasserman Schultz fiasco and lingering Bernie supporters in the throes of their histrionics, FLOTUS’s speech offered some much-needed unifying sentiments that the vast majority of people tuning…
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Opinion I Put (((Echoes))) on My Name To Teach WikiLeaks a Lesson About Anti-Semitism
When news broke about the anti-Semitic marker being used to identify Jews on Twitter — a sequence of three parentheses called “echoes” — the symbol was added to the Anti-Defamation League’s hate speech database within days. Many Jews, and even some non-Jews, immediately began putting the echoes around their names as an act of defiance….
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Opinion Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders?
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Music Remembering Ozzy Osbourne’s Jewish vow renewal
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Fast Forward Cuomo says key factor in his primary loss was Mamdani’s support from young, Jewish and pro-Palestinian voters
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Trump administration promotes official with history of antisemitic ties to lead U.S. peace efforts
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Opinion In a time of fear and despair, we can still feel and inspire awe
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Fast Forward 7 major US Jewish groups decline meeting with French official after ‘premature Palestinian state recognition’
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Fast Forward Why Bard College’s orchestra performed Mendelssohn at the site of Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies
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