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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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Opinion White? Jewish? Why I Always Check the ‘Other’ Box.
“No dogs, radios, bicycles or picnics.” This enigmatic list posted on a series of wrought iron fences made clear — though without explanation — what items were once barred from the “Backs” in Cambridge, England. Honoring this proscription was the small cost of using the private meadows owned by the colleges next to the river…
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Opinion Google ‘Responsible’ for Dissemination of Holocaust Denial
In two scathing Guardian articles, this week and last, Carole Cadwalladr outlines how right wing extremists have gamed the Google algorithm in order to present Holocaust denial and vitriolic anti-Semitism as “authoritative” internet responses to “Did the Holocaust happen?” and “Are Jews evil?” In her December 11 “Google is not just a platform” she tells…
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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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Fast Forward Toronto man arrested after allegedly shooting at Orthodox Jews outside a synagogue
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Fast Forward Labour politician is booed as thousands rally against antisemitism in London
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News Remembering Abe Foxman, the longtime ADL leader known as the ‘Jewish pope,’ who always answered my calls