Opinion

• Opinion

  Did Jewish Media Screw Up by Focusing on Donald Trump?

  (JTA) — On Monday, one day before Election Day, I received a call from a reader. She identified herself as a Reform Jew, 46, from Chicago. She had praise for JTA and our daily newsletter, but also a complaint: Our emphasis on the Trump campaign, including charges over the weekend that a campaign ad of…

  By Andrew Silow-Carroll

  5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why Is This Election Different From All Other Elections for the Jews?

  I’ve been reading a novel written by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1935, that imagines the alarming rise of a populist leader with fascistic roots, champion of the appropriately named League of Forgotten Men. As Buzz Windrip becomes president of the United States, and then, in short order, its dictator, he aggressively blames Jews for the…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 8, 2016 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Definitive List of Who’s To Blame for This Horrifying Election Season

  As Election 2016 lurches to its noxious conclusion, the mass media seem to be filled with quickie analyses of who or what is to blame for the debased state to which our public discourse has declined. If you’ve been struggling to follow the discussion and make sense of this debacle, struggle no more. You’re in…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 7, 2016 | 6 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman A gunman attacked a Michigan synagogue. Here’s what happens to the community next

  

• Dan Perry Israelis and Americans deserve to know why they are still at war

  

• Emily Tamkin Gavin Newsom just confirmed the demise of the Democratic party’s support for Israel

  

• Jay Michaelson Antisemitism is exploding on the right but the Jewish establishment is focused on the left

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Fear and Loathing on the (Jewish) Campaign Trail

  (JTA) — Some of us are voting for Trump. Most of us are voting for Clinton. But we Jews are all afraid. There are the scandals, yes. There are emails and sexual assault allegations and emails and fraud and racism and anti-Semitism and emails. There are issues like refugees and settlements and Iran and not…

  By Ben Sales Nov 7, 2016 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  3 Jews Explain Why They’re Voting for Donald Trump — Despite Everything

  Ahead of election day, the Forward invited three Jews to explain why they will be voting for Donald Trump — and, in particular, to explain why they are undeterred by the charges of sexism, racism and anti-Semitism in Trump’s camp. Here are their responses, in their own words: Joshua Seidel: Trump’s Personality Is Not the Point…

  By Joshua Seidel and Lena Epstein and Eugene Greenstein Nov 7, 2016 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  5 Ways Our New President Can Foster Israeli-Palestinian Peace

  After a drawn-out and divisive campaign, the American people will finally go to the polls on Tuesday and elect a new president. A new leadership presents an opportunity for new thinking and a chance to redefine relationships, including with Israel, a strategic ally in a volatile region. The United States and Israel share the same…

  By Aviva Klompas Nov 7, 2016 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Misogyny Was Enough To Tarnish Donald Trump — but Neo-Nazism Wasn’t?

  On November 9, 1938, the Nazi paramilitary force known as the SA led a pogrom against German Jews that is now known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass. They torched synagogues, smashed Jewish businesses and ransacked Jewish homes, sending an estimated 30,000 of their occupants to concentration camps. The two-day orgy of…

  By Lisa Goldman Nov 7, 2016 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  WATCH: Iranian Goes To Extreme Lengths To Avoid Stepping On Israeli, U.S. Flags

  Need a little something hopeful to break our tense political mood right now? Look no further than this video of Iranian scholar Sadegh Zibakalam. A well-known professor at the University of Tehran, the 68-year-old is seen performing some very unique physical and political gymnastics as he enters a building at another university. Even as everyone…

  By Sigal Samuel Nov 6, 2016 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Let ‘Loving’ and Its Jewish Lawyers Make You Feel Great About America Again

  I went to the movies on Saturday night to escape the dread everyone I know is feeling in the last few days of this dispiriting election season. At the theater, I watched images of a husband and wife dragged from their bed in the middle of the night — she very pregnant — and thrown…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 6, 2016 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Three Jewish Practices in Solidarity with Standing Rock

  If you’ve been following the news or social media recently, you’re probably familiar with the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). If not, here’s a run down. Energy Transfer Patterns, a privately held company, is attempting to build a $3.7 billion dollar pipeline from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery…

  By Lana Adler Nov 4, 2016 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Beyond Trump and Clinton, it’s Time to Pray for Our Country. Here’s How.

  I suspect you are feeling the way I am: anxious about the election, concerned about what it will trigger, confused about the feelings and motivations of about half the people in this country, and yearning for a way to knit ourselves together again, to reclaim the sense that we are Americans, and not warring, disparate…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 4, 2016 | 2 min read