Opinion

• 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…

  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

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry A US official just made history in the West Bank — did he imperil prospects for peace?

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

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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
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  Opinion

  I Don’t Care About Jewish Tribal Loyalty — And That Doesn’t Make Me Anxious

  The angst some American Jews feel over Jewish identity is captured beautifully in . As the outgoing opinion editor for the only national Jewish newspaper, he’s certainly had his ear to the ground. But it’s a very specific section of the ground: those who bother reading and debating in Jewish newspapers. I know those folks….

  By Paul Golin Aug 3, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  My Prescription for the So-Called Pathology Plaguing American Jews

  In his final act as the Forward’s opinion editor, . The story was illustrated with a bottle of Xanax, but in the text Beckerman refrained from making any prescriptions, leaving us instead with the simple lament that we Jews are plagued with a “fundamental uncertainty and unease of not really knowing anymore what it means…

  By Elissa Strauss Aug 3, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Blame All Ultra-Orthodox for Actions of One Stabber

  The death of Shira Banki, one of the six marchers stabbed at the recent Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, was a horrific exclamation point to the indefensible rampage. Indefensible as well, though, were some reactions to the stabbings. Forward columnist declared that the actions of the stabber, now murderer, Yishai Schlissel, were the result of…

  Aug 3, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Not To Cover a Gay Pride Parade Stabbing

  Instead of focusing on the violence involved, the human suffering or the actual blood being shed, some ultra-Orthodox newspapers focused only on philosophy. In response to the stabbings at Thursday’s Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, those ultra-Orthodox news sources that bothered to report the violence at all referred to the “toeiva” or abomination parade. Toeiva, the…

  By Rachel Delia Benaim Aug 3, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why We Should Ignore the Nuts on Both Sides of Iran Deal Debate

  Insiders say that mainstream American Jewish organizations are coalescing around opposition to the P5+1 Iran nuclear deal and will work hard to get 13 Democratic senators to give Republicans a veto-proof majority to reject it. Ultimately this would be a self-defeating strategy. But however one feels about the agreement, there are ways to have a…

  By Jay Michaelson Aug 3, 2015 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m an Orthodox Mom and I Want City To Probe Brooklyn Yeshivas

  Faigy Mayer took her own life on July 20, . Despite its geographical proximity to her birthplace, she was light years from her roots. Faigy was born into a Hasidic family in Brooklyn and didn’t mince words about her former life in what amounted to a suicide note posthumously published soon after her death. In…

  By Bethany Mandel Aug 2, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What Gay Pride Parade Stabber Has in Common With His Victims

  I wish Yishai Schlissel, the perpetrator of the crime at Thursday’s Jerusalem gay pride parade, had paused for a moment to first speak to the marchers. If he did, he would have realized how much he had in common with them. I know Schlissel. Not personally, but I know the personality. I grew up in…

  By Ysoscher Katz Aug 2, 2015 | 3 min read