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.
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.
As Forward readers know, I have, on several occasions, criticized ultra-Orthodox/fundamentalist Jewish leaders for abuses of power, toleration of bigotry, failures to protect or educate their own communities, and selective manipulation of secular law to arrogate power to themselves and squelch the rights of others. So, when a photo circulated this week of a Hasidic…
Pope Francis is the darling of many liberal Catholics and the world expects he will make life easier for congregants who have not been following the letter of Church law for some time. But when the pontiff comes to Philadelphia on September 26 and 27 for the World Meeting of Families, with an enormous entourage…
Dozens of medieval churches across Europe are adorned with figures of Ecclesia and Synagoga, representations of the Church and the Jews that depict a triumphant Church and a vanquished Jewish people. At the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, they can be found on either side of the main entrance. While the details differ from…
It was late at night in central Paris. A group of Jews were enjoying themselves in their popular meeting spot, the Gamin de Paris, a café in the longtime Jewish quarter of the Marais. At about 11 PM, between 50 and 100 thugs, many of them Muslims, showed up to make trouble. Carrying Billy clubs,…
Pope Francis is the pope a lot of American Jews wish they had if they had a pope. In the two and a half years since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the 266th head of the Catholic Church, he has captured hearts and stirred longing well beyond his global flock of more than a billion Catholics….
We’re back with a Yom Kippur playlist. I’ve tried to follow the order of the day, starting with Kol Nidre, going to the evening and morning services, the cantor’s Hineni prayer (Here I Stand) preceding Musaf and so on. Our guests include Bob Dylan, Moishe Oysher, Chava Alberstein, The Beatles, Eminem, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Al…
That was some dinner. Good friends, great food. Think I’ll grab this tram and switch to another one in front of the Parliament. OK, here I am on the platform, waiting for my second tram. Midnight. What’s this on the bench? A mother, a sick-looking baby, two children, two men. Obviously Syrians. Oh how sad….
Looking at the public opinion polling on the Iran nuclear deal over the past few months, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that there are some sharp differences — among Americans in general and among American Jews in particular. What might surprise you are the differences between the surveys themselves. It seems a slight difference…
It’s not exactly news when Ann Coulter . Her business has long been to provoke — and business is good. But with the rise of Donald Trump in the Republican primary for the presidency, Ann Coulter has gotten more outlandish than ever, and in a brand new way. While the old Ann Coulter was insulting…
Dear Parent: I recently read in the Forward about a father (Neal) whose son has decided not to celebrate his bar mitzvah. There is no question that for many of us and our children the moment on the bima is full of meaning. Reading Torah, teaching a D’var Torah, leading the service. Our children learn…
The mainstream and Jewish media have both finally raised the world’s refugee crisis to the status it deserves in our news feeds and we, Jewish Americans, cannot help but feel immense sympathy for the Syrian refugees. We want to do whatever we can to help and we should. I have heard of a number of…
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