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.
October 14, 2014 is a day my wife and I will never forget. On that day, my wife, Emma, discovered that she was a victim of voyeurism by the now-infamous Rabbi Barry Freundel. A respected rabbi whom we had relied on proved that he was not worthy of trust. The world felt less safe. Then,…
Jared Fogle, Subway pitchman turned child sex offender, will now be heading to jail for five to twelve years. It’s conventional wisdom that he, like other sex offenders, will be sexually assaulted while he’s there – and many people are happy to think so. A New York Post’s front page headline, for example, taunted him…
It looked like a big coup for a small-time player when a pro-Palestinian group in Spain’s third-largest city, BDS Pais Valencia, managed to convince an international reggae festival to cancel a closing-night performance by the American ex-Hasidic star Matisyahu. Instead, it blew up in its face. Spanish and international politicians, musicians and newspapers protested what…
When I was four years old, my father introduced me to his colleague, Jing. “Are you Chinese?” I asked, eyeing her shrewdly. “Yes,” she replied. “So am I,” I said. “And shoe-ish, too!” My father likes to tell this story, I think, because it illustrates my self-assurance: Even at that young age, I knew exactly…
Israel’s military intelligence corps has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a surprising report assessing the opportunities and threats that the Iran nuclear deal poses for Israel. What’s startling about the report is not its substance, which is mostly a predictable mix of standard arguments presented for and against the deal: No nukes for 10 years,…
The righteous uproar over the Matisyahu fiasco has dissipated as quickly as it started. Disquieting and galling as the Spanish music festival’s initial decision to disinvite the musician was, we really ought to celebrate: It’s one of the few victories we’ve had in a bad streak of stinging defeats. The cherry on top is that…
In 2003, I served as the U.S. Coalition official responsible for “administering” the province of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. At the time, I was struck by how the different communities intermarried, spoke each other’s languages, and loved each other’s cultures. In an attempt to defuse tensions emerging from the struggle for power after the overthrow…
The popular New York City-centric news site Gothamist has been nominated six times for the prestigious Bloggies award, and was dubbed a “Best of the Web” by Business Week and “Blog of the Year” by Wired magazine. The New York Times once that it “reflects everything worth knowing about this city.” You’d think a publication…
Israeli police beefed up security last week for the American ambassador, Dan Shapiro, after he received a series of death threats related to U.S. support for the Iran nuclear deal. At least three explicit death threats were delivered in writing last Wednesday alone, following an undisclosed number in the preceding days to his home and…
This editorial was translated from Yiddish by Chana Pollack Frank is dead. The tragedy ended with blood and murder. The hand that persecuted the unfortunate one for more than two years didn’t rest until it made an end to his young life. A heavy hand! A cruel hand! This is the same hand that held…
I have no doubt that the Forward’s Larry Cohler-Esses has . The trouble is, he seems to have seen and learned only a sliver of a vastly more nuanced and tangled reality. As a result, he ends up reinforcing some half-truths, served up by the regime to well-meaning foreign media, which they take up and…
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