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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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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Opinion Solve the Refugee Crisis at Its Source — in Syria
Now, the crisis cannot be ignored. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are pouring out of strife-torn countries, risking their lives in desperate sea crossings and overland treks, crowding train stations and jamming borders, for the uncertain promise of rescue. How could we not cry out, as human beings, as Americans, as Jews? Every nation’s true…
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Opinion Where’s the Orthodox Counterpoint to All Those OTD Books?
Compelling personal essays and well-promoted books by “off the derech” writers — Jews who were raised Orthodox but are currently elsewhere — have become something of a cottage industry. Some of the accounts are somewhat condescending, even cynical, embodiments of the perennial phenomenon of intrepid youth discovering truths to which their parents are lamentably oblivious….
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The Latest
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Opinion What Is the Most Jewish Subway Line?
In a coffee shop in Manhattan’s Washington Heights, I overheard two young men in kippot arguing over which New York City Subway line was “the most Jewish of all.” One young man argued for the A — it goes through Washington Heights, the Village and the Lubavitch heartland of Crown Heights. The other argued for…
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Opinion From Black Hats to Egalitarian Prayer — and Back?
Growing up in an Orthodox environment, there was a word I kept hearing. It was dirty. Worse, it was said with derision. It signified weird people who were non-traditional. Or worse, non-observant. Egalitarian. But I eventually left yeshiva and entered college. I was observant, but I started getting a crash course in Judaism-that’s-not-like-my-Judaism. It was…
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Opinion No, Ann Coulter Is Not an Anti-Semite
(JTA) — During the course of the second Republican presidential debate, Ann Coulter, the well-known commentator, writer, speaker and provocateur, tweeted: “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?” Her explanation was that she had grown frustrated with the candidates’ remarks that concentrated on things nearly all Republicans agree on…
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Opinion Boehner’s Successor Will Be Pro-Israel. Here’s Why Netanyahu Should Worry Anyway.
Here’s a sure bet: the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives will be just as supportive of Israel, in general, and of Benjamin Netanyahu, in particular, as John Boehner ever was during his almost five years at the helm. In today’s Republican Party, unabashed backing for Israel and whatever policy it pursues is…
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Opinion The Last Time Children Were This Vulnerable Was World War II
Preparing for the High Holidays, I ask myself: “Have I done enough this year? Have I made a difference? What more can I do?” This year, these questions brought a particular picture to mind: the haunting image of Aylan Kurdi, the little Syrian boy whose body washed up on the shore of a beach in…
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Opinion How Israel Can — and Should — Help Refugees
The kerchief-covered mother, a refugee desperately holding her children, reminds me of my aunt as she desperately held her child, wandering over the ruins of Europe. The refugees begging frantically to board the trains remind me of the relatives I never knew, who boarded trains to their death. For us as Jews, the Holocaust always…
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Opinion Hey, What Ever Happened to the ‘Existential Threat’ of Iran?
The recently retired chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, gave an important talk this morning at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, summing up the current state of Israeli security. You can watch the whole thing (it’s in English) here. I’ll have a fuller analysis of what’s new…
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Opinion What Jimmy and Tim Taught Me About Catholics and Jews Getting Along
Several months before the Second Vatican Council adopted its landmark document, Nostra Aetate, my family moved about a half-mile across our New Jersey hometown. That minor distance spanned the dividing line between the attendance zones for two elementary schools, meaning that at age 10 I was abruptly separated from my childhood friends. Though I went…
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