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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Opinion
How Ta-Nehisi Coates Helps Make Sense of the Mideast Conflict
In November 2014, Yusuf Hassan al-Ramouni was found hanged in the bus he drove. Israel deemed this a suicide. Palestinians said it was murder. The resulting strikes and riots fed rising violence that went on all year, claiming the life of an Israeli man, Alexander Levlovitz, on the eve of this year’s Rosh Hashanah, and…
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Opinion Why Won’t Trump Stand Up to His Anti-Semitic Fans?
“On social media, it seems that while not all Donald Trump supporters are anti-Semites, many of the vocal and vicious anti-Semites seem to be Donald Trump supporters.” That’s what Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and writer often accused of climbing into the pockets of “The Jews,” told me recently. The widespread anti-Semitism of Trump’s fans…
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Opinion When You’re Way More Into Judaism Than Your Partner Is
Over the High Holidays, many of us reflect not just on what kind of people we are, but also on what kind of Jews we can and should be. I suspect this is especially true for the less observant among us, for whom Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur make up a large chunk of yearly…
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Opinion As Reconstructionists Accept Rabbis With Non-Jewish Partners, Will Reform Jews Follow Suit?
Moved either by a brave spirit or by the notion that widespread intermarriage in the Jewish faith demands this change, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College recently announced that it is revoking its “Non-Jewish Partner” policy, which denied admission to students married to, or in a committed relationship with, a non-Jew. This decision is likely to have…
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Books Why Secular-to-Orthodox Memoirs Matter
“Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.” This quote from Ann Patchett sums up my feelings about writing — and it’s also how I feel about my chosen religious lifestyle. I grew up in a secular Jewish home and, as a young adult, was drawn…
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Opinion Why I Love Article VI — and You Should, Too
When Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said a couple of weeks ago that he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” the media spotlight suddenly was trained on a single phrase in Article VI of the United States Constitution. I was thrilled! That brief statement toward the end of…
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Opinion Why Israelis Are Fearing a Third Intifada
First it was clashes on the Temple Mount. Then a mother and father were shot before the eyes of their four children. Then two men were killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. Now Israelis fear the wave of conflict will only rise. Here’s why the violence began, how it’s escalated and what…
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Opinion The Alternative Vision of Israeli Security That Netanyahu Refuses To See
Former Israeli military chief of staff Benny Gantz, in his first major policy address since retiring last February, recently presented a Washington audience with what amounted to an alternative vision of Israeli security. Though his tone was understated and at times lighthearted, there was no mistaking his sharp disagreements with his former boss, Prime Minister…
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Opinion Why Judaism is Most Meaningful in Times of Grief
When life is full of ease, spirituality is like cotton candy: fluffy, airy and unserious. It’s easy to mock the privileged, entitled yuppies in their yoga clothes, or the perpetually processing privileged New Agers at their endless, fruitless seminars. Not to mention the reactionary flocks in churches and synagogues, with their absurd, prescientific beliefs. And…
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Opinion What Abbas Was Really Saying at the U.N.
Looked at from one perspective, you couldn’t find a better illustration of the dynamic that’s run Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts into their current ditch than the mudslinging that passed for Palestinian diplomacy at the United Nations at the end of September and the tone-deaf response of Israeli officialdom. From another perspective, though, the September 30 U.N….
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Letters Jews and Catholics In the Era of Pope Francis
Dear Editors; Jews and Catholics befriended each other long before their respective institutional hierarchies conferred permission to do so. Dorothy Day’s, Catholic Worker foundress, closest friends for twenty plus years included: Mike Gold, Judith Malina, Julian Beck and Rayna Simons When my hero Lenny Zakim of ADL in Boston died, half of the congregants at…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
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Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
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Antisemitism Decoded Some people are learning the wrong lessons from Ahmed al Ahmed
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Fast Forward At White House Hanukkah party, Trump says Congress ‘is becoming antisemitic’
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