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
Why Ted Cruz’s Preacher Sidekick Is No Friend of the Jews — or Israel
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has come under fire from Jewish groups after touting his endorsement from Mike Bickle, an evangelical leader being scrutinized for preaching that God sent Hitler to hunt the Jews. This single statement, though, is just one element of Bickle’s divisive repertoire. Bickle, a charismatic Christian who believes he receives prophecies…
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Opinion Why Accuse Israeli Singer Noa of Backing BDS, When She Rejects It Outright?
True story: Born in Israel to Yemenite parents, the girl was raised in the U.S. from a very young age. At 15, she went on a summer hiking trip in Israel and fell in love with an Israeli man. The next year she left her yeshiva in New York and moved to Israel, where she…
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Opinion VIDEO: Noa Talks Israel, Anti-Semitism, Sexism and Songwriting
Misogyny in the music industry, anti-Semitism in Europe and the glory of Carole King were just a few of the topics that Israeli singer Noa and Forward editor-in-chief Jane Eisner covered during a February 16 conversation at New York City’s Temple Emanu-El. Noa took to the stage earlier that evening, performing an hour-long set packed…
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Opinion No, Vassar Isn’t a Hotbed of Anti-Semitism. Trust Me, I Should Know!
My mom isn’t sleeping. Either she spends the night reading articles about anti-Semitism at Vassar, or she reads them during the day and then stays up at night worrying. I was admitted to Vassar three years ago this spring, and it was my parents who encouraged me to choose this liberal arts school out of…
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Opinion Can Supreme Court Take a Lesson from Jewish Law on Scalia Replacement?
Within minutes of the announcement of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, the wrangling started. Should President Obama nominate a successor in an election year? Should the Senate give the president’s choice a respectful hearing? I don’t have much to add to these debates. But I do worry about our current distorted sense of the relation between…
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Opinion Stop Trying To Steal Bernie Sanders’s Red Flag — and Mine
In the spring of 1968 I had a transformative experience that changed my self-awareness as a Jew and an American. I’ve been thinking about that moment a lot since Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign turned serious — and especially since the story of his kibbutz connection has gotten him slammed as a communist. I was spending…
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Letters Synagogues and Independent Congregations Are Allies, Not Enemies
I’m grateful to the Forward for reprinting the JTA story about the , a new partnership of communities that is attracting the young and unaffiliated. It is a great story, and there is one nuance I would like to lift up. While the tempting story to tell is one that links the declining synagogue affiliation…
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Opinion Would Talmudic Rabbis Approve of Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street Money?
During the Democratic presidential debate on the night of February 4, Hillary Clinton said to Bernie Sanders: “If you have something to say, say it.” She was referring to Sanders’s repeated indication that Clinton has compromised herself by taking money from Wall Street. Sanders did not answer directly, but he wasn’t dodging. He understood that…
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Opinion We Need To Out Bernie Sanders as a Jew — for His Own Good
Bernie Sanders is marching through his presidential campaign with a giant target on his back: his Jewishness. Unless the Democratic candidate begins to more publicly admit his Jewish identity (even though he doesn’t practice Judaism as a religion), it will become a huge vulnerability. If nominated, he will leave the Democratic Party susceptible to ugly…
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Opinion Israeli Opposition’s Plan for Jerusalem Makes No Sense. Here’s a Better Idea.
Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog has announced that, since a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not currently viable, Israel should take unilateral steps to manage the conflict. These steps include cutting off a number of Palestinian neighborhoods from East Jerusalem. “Then we’ll reunite the true Jerusalem, without hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, who…
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Opinion How Jewish Would a Bernie Sanders Presidency Be?
Bernie Sanders is the first Jew to win a presidential primary in New Hampshire, or in any other state. If he should go on to secure the Democratic nomination, and if he should then win the general election, he will have upended conventional wisdom by bringing a long-shot, socialist campaign all the way from Brooklyn…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
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Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward As Australian Jews call for action on antisemitism, prime minister unveils moves to curb hate speech
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Opinion I’m a 25-year-old semi-Zionist. Here’s what that means this Hanukkah.
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Fast Forward Ben Shapiro denounces Tucker Carlson at Heritage, urges policing of conservative movement
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Fast Forward Citing Sydney attack, police in London say they will now arrest those who chant ‘globalize the intifada’
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