Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Rachel Dolezal Story Hits Raw Nerve for Jews

  If we needed proof that there is no such thing as local news anymore, the case of Rachel Dolezal provided it. The story of a president of an NAACP chapter and African studies professor essentially building a career around a fabricated ethnic identity – telling the world she was of African-American heritage when she is,…

  By Allison Kaplan Sommer (Haaretz)

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Birthright Is Failing the Pro-Israel Cause

  “So you’re going to support racist nationalism to get a free trip?” That’s the question a college housemate asked me when I returned from Birthright. She had seen the freshly uploaded photos that decorated my Facebook profile that week: my friends and I slathered in clay at the Dead Sea, riding camels in the Negev,…

  By Madison Margolin Jun 15, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Prison’s Great Kosher Debate Hits ‘Orange Is the New Black’

  “While I am heartened that you appreciate the works of Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand, I think you’ve confused cultural Judaism with committed Jewish belief.” So says the Rent-a-Rabbi in OITNB’s season 3, episode 9, tantalizingly titled “Where My Dreidel At.” (If your binge watching hasn’t carried you this far yet, be warned: spoilers ahead!)…

  By Sigal Samuel Jun 15, 2015 | 3 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 Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Why Right-Wingers Are So Angry That Israel Hasn’t Bombed Iran Yet

  Amid all the fuss over Treasury Secretary Jack Lew getting heckled at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York on June 7, you might have missed the day’s biggest bombshell. I refer to the nasty smackdown that morning between Post columnist Caroline Glick, the poison-pen darling of the pro-Israel far right, and two of the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 12, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Henry Waxman, ‘Lobbyist’s Nightmare,’ Is Now a Lobbyist

  When Henry Waxman announced in January of 2014 that he would retire from Congress after 40 years of service, he was rightly hailed as one of the most influential liberals, and one of the most skilled legislators, of his generation. Waxman’s list of accomplishments is astonishing – expanding Medicaid, strengthening of the Clean Air Act,…

  By Anthony Weiss Jun 11, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Jewish Reaction to Jerusalem Passport Case Opportunistic — or Delusional?

  This week’s institutional Jewish responses to the Supreme Court case of Zivotofsky v. Kerry ranged from horrifying to opportunistic to deluded. This is the case, you will recall, of whether a Jerusalem-born American can list “Israel” as his country of birth on his U.S passport. Congress had passed a law mandating that, but the Bush…

  By Jay Michaelson Jun 11, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Wrong and Right Way to Beat BDS

  The movement to boycott, sanction and divest from Israel takes as its inspiration a statement issued in July 2005 by scores of Palestinian civil society groups, calling on their international supporters to adopt tactics similar to those used to mobilize worldwide action against South Africa’s apartheid regime. Who could have predicted that only a decade…

  Jun 11, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  From a Jerusalem Boy’s Passport to a President’s Powers

  When new parents Naomi and Ari Zivotofsky decided to file suit against the State Department, they were convinced they were acting to strengthen Jewish claims to Jerusalem. Instead, the Supreme Court, in ruling decisively against them on June 8, has revealed that this suit is one that supporters of Israel will likely regret for years…

  By Yishai Schwartz Jun 11, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  That Time I Swapped Genders Using Virtual Reality

  Earlier this week, my new friend Yuval Ben Ami came to me with a novel request: Would I be willing to swap bodies for the afternoon? Yuval, an Israeli writer, tour guide and musician, needed a partner for a gender swap virtual reality project that would allow him to visualize himself in my body and…

  By Naomi Zeveloff Jun 10, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Does Diane Rehm Think Bernie Sanders Is Israeli?

  No, Bernie Sanders does not hold Israeli citizenship. That much was apparent to all but a few internet oddballs. Or so we all thought till this morning, when nationally syndicated NPR host Diane Rehm quizzed the Jewish Democratic presidential candidate about the topic. In an interview on The Diane Rehm Show today, Rehm stated, wrongly,…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jun 10, 2015 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Zionist Students Don’t Need Safe Spaces

  At the end of , I asked “what is next?” Within hours, Yaman Salahi, a lawyer at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, responded with a detailed account of the various ways in which right-wing groups have used legal mechanisms and debates over funding to limit the Israel/Palestine debate on campus. Though many of these efforts are…

  By Jonathan Paul Katz Jun 10, 2015 | 3 min read