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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Letters
‘Women’s Ordination Would Have Been Unthinkable Without Pioneering Halachic Critique’
To the Editor: The assertion that thirty years ago, traditional leaders of the Conservative movement employed a “sociological argument masquerading as a halachic argument” when they opposed rabbinic ordination for women is patently false . In fact, today’s Open Orthodox endorsement of women’s ordination would have been unthinkable without the pioneering halachic critique and template…
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Opinion How To Talk About Refugees at Your Jewish Thanksgiving Table
I think it’s safe to say that a lot of U.S. governors — 31 at last count — have very different Thanksgiving dinner conversations than I do. “Guess who’s coming to dinner? Not Syrian refugees!” It’s enough to make me think we should have a national holiday celebrating the rescue of refugees fleeing religious persecution,…
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Opinion What Does Meditation Have To Do With Fighting ISIS Terror?
What does a meditation retreat have to do with the attacks in Paris? I asked myself this question as my co-teachers and I sat down to plan the details of the upcoming Elat Chayyim Meditation Retreat, a week of silence, meditation and davening that takes place around Christmas. It felt incongruous to mull over the…
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Opinion Imam Consoles Jewish Community Over Murder of Ezra Schwartz
After Ezra Schwartz of Sharon, Massachusetts, was tragically killed on Friday in a West Bank terror attack, his Jewish community was heartbroken. Thousands gathered at the funeral for Schwartz, who in his 18 years did so much to brighten his community, and who died while spending a gap year in the country that he loved,…
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Opinion Don’t Excuse Terrorism by Talking About ‘Root Causes’
One of the great challenges following the horror in France is how best to react to the savagery of the Islamic State group. As we have seen, there have been a variety of recommendations. Some are focusing on reaching a negotiated agreement in Syria, while others are recommending stepped up military campaigns, including the use…
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Opinion Should We Call It ‘Radical Islam’?
Timothy McVeigh was an American terrorist who, 20 years ago, detonated a truck bomb in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 and injuring more than 600 — a toll in casualties that far exceeds the carnage experienced in Paris in the past week. McVeigh was raised Catholic and was obsessed with…
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Opinion Why No Facebook Filter in Solidarity With Israeli Victims?
(JTA) – “Show your support for the people of Paris by temporarily updating your profile picture with this new template we created,” read the Facebook-sponsored text promoted not 24 hours after the terror attacks in Paris. The social media giant invited users to overlay their profile picture with the blue, white and red colors of…
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Opinion How Hillary Clinton Came Out Stronger From the Paris Terror Attacks
The November 13 terror attacks in Paris by the Islamic State group are scrambling the 2016 presidential race in ways nobody could have predicted a month ago. For now, at least, the horror has put national security back at the top of the public’s concerns. That usually works to the Republicans’ advantage. Democrats prefer to…
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Opinion Where Jewish Democrats Stand on Syrian Refugees. Plus: Secrets of ISIS
Two magazine length articles on ISIS are circulating on the Web these days that, taken together, are must-reads if you want to get a handle on what this thing is, what makes it tick and what the odds are of beating its threat. I’ll describe them below and explain how they complement each other and…
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Opinion Are Jews Who Support Republicans Duped — Or Deliberately Blind?
Recent polls have indicated a slow trickle of American Jews joining the Republican Party. How extreme, insane and ignorant does the party have to become before these people wake up? Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that FiveThirtyEight and other “big data” sites are correct, and that neither Ben Carson nor Donald Trump will…
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Opinion How Can We Call Ourselves Jews and Bar Syrian Refugees?
When the Islamic State group attacked Paris on November 13, the photos stunned us with their horror. We mourned the loss of life. We stood with the French in their shock and sadness. And then we heard speculations that one of the terrorists had arrived on European shores, hidden among the wave-drenched Syrian refugees. Soon,…
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Opinion Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear
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Film & TV How Jon Stewart evolved on Israel — at least on ‘The Daily Show’
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Opinion I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel
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Opinion A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza
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Opinion Israelis want out of the Gaza war. But all the exit routes feel like traps
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Fast Forward Antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein are proliferating — and entering the mainstream
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Fast Forward Israelis lament their divides, and cling to them, as they mark a holiday commemorating the toll of disunity
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Opinion On Monday my son was sworn into the IDF. I spent that afternoon protesting the Israeli government.
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