Opinion

• Opinion

  It’s Time To Stop Patronizing Russian Jews

  A black and white film. Moscow’s snow-covered streets. Lines of silenced Jews. Then: protests of Jewish youngsters shouting, “Let my people go.” Avital Sharansky appears, then the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Finally, the Berlin Wall falls, planeloads of Russian Jews arrive in Israel, a new era begins. “Because of us, the USSR fell apart,” activists say proudly….

  By Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Can My Kid Be an American Jew Without Losing Her Russian Culture?

  In my family, we do Judaism like jazz does covers of popular songs — it only sometimes resembles the original. We celebrate Passover, but we always have fluffy Russian cakes because you can’t have a meal without a good dessert. We rarely light Shabbat candles, but when we do, we usually have a movie going…

  By Vicki Boykis Aug 10, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m a Mizrahi Jew. Do I Count as a Person of Color?

  Am I a person of color? You’d think there would be a straightforward answer to a question like that. And for a while, I thought there was. I thought the answer was yes. When I look at my grandparents — four Mizrahim, or Jews from Arab lands — I see people who were born in…

  By Sigal Samuel Aug 10, 2015 | 8 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman My brother-in-law’s kibbutz weathered Oct. 7. Then came the Iranian missile strikes

  

• Nora Berman Zohran Mamdani is right about what ‘intifada’ means — well, kind of

  

• Dan Perry Might Iran become Trump’s Iraq? Americans are wary — but shouldn’t be

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times

  

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  Opinion

  For Each Day of the Gaza War, These Jewish Women Are Fasting

  At the protest tent, I am with three friends from my northern Galilean village. We are greeted warmly by the women already in the tent and about to end their fast. Each woman wears around her neck a sky-blue cloth sign that says ani bi’tsom (“I am fasting”). One by one the women ending their…

  By Rachel Tzvia Back Aug 9, 2015 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  How To Stabilize the Declining Jewish Middle — Or Even Reverse It

  In 2013, the Pew Research Center completed a landmark national study of American Jews. “Portrait of Jewish Americans” found evidence that the number of Orthodox Jews in America is rapidly increasing, and the number of active, Conservative, Reform and other engaged Jews is rapidly declining, with far fewer age 30-49 than among those age 50-69….

  By Steven M. Cohen Aug 8, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  On Shabbat, Mom Works So You Don’t Have To

  It’s No. 4 of the Ten commandments. “Remember the Sabbath Day, To Keep It Holy.” It sounds simple. We have to remember, to keep it holy. But as those who keep Sabbath know, sometimes the remembering and observing of it comes in direct conflict with keeping it holy. Whether preparing a household for 25 hours…

  By Elissa Strauss Aug 7, 2015 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  I Won’t Give Iran a Hall Pass to Nuclear Warfare

  During a presidential debate in 2012 referring to the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, President Obama declared to the American people that “the deal we’ll accept is the end of their nuclear program.” In the coming weeks, Congress will debate the Iran Nuclear Agreement recently announced by the president. After reading the deal, I participated…

  By Dennis Ross Aug 6, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s Time To Fight Hate From the Day of Love

  The evening of July 30 should have ushered in a joyous day on this year’s Jewish calendar. That Thursday night and Friday, July 31, was Tu B’Av — the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av, and the Jewish festival of love. It’s traditionally a holiday dedicated to putting aside our habitual mourning over…

  Aug 6, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Best Thing About Growing Up Indian and Jewish

  In my country — India — God is everywhere. At school, at work, even in a taxi ride, the average Indian encounters God in a million daily interactions. Instead of steering away from religion, we steer toward it without hesitation. And “religion” here doesn’t always look the way you might expect it to. In Mumbai’s…

  By Nathaniel Jhirad Aug 5, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Subversive Death Notices Mourn Israeli and Palestinian Alike

  Since the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade stabbing that killed teenager Shira Banki, and the arson in the Palestinian village of Duma that killed toddler Ali Saad Dawabshe, grief and outrage have permeated Israeli society. Now, those emotions have given way to stark images that are trending on social media. Death notices, in the style of…

  By Jonathan Paul Katz Aug 4, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Problem With Netanyahu’s Response to Jewish Terror

  When you leave Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza through the Dung Gate out of the Old City, your gaze turns naturally southward toward another hill glimmering in the distance, across the Valley of Hinnom. Christian tradition calls it the Hill of Evil Counsel, where the high priest Caiaphas consulted his aides before ordering Jesus arrested. In…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 4, 2015 | 4 min read