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
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…
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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,…
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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…
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Opinion Why Is East Ramapo School Board Under Siege?
The Board of Education of the East Ramapo Central School District is under siege. There has been a relentless drumbeat in support of a bill pending in the legislature that, if enacted, would require the appointment of a “monitor” to exercise complete control over the school district. The elected Board of Education will be figureheads,…
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Opinion 6 Ways To Prevent More ‘Sauna Rabbi’ Scenarios
When I read the recent article in The New York Times detailing the accusations against Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center, I was deeply saddened. This is the synagogue and community where I grew up. My parents moved to Riverdale in the 1950s and are among the RJC’s founding members. Rosenblatt — like…
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Opinion Why the Forward Sent a Brave Reporter to Gaza
When the Forward sent Naomi Zeveloff to Israel last August to be our first full-time reporter there, the title she went with — Middle East correspondent — was chosen consciously and deliberately. Israel’s policies and actions in the region have simply grown too intertwined with those of its neighbors for her to cover only Israel,…
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Opinion What’s Behind the ‘Embarassing’ Heckling of Jack Lew at Jerusalem Post Conference
The most surprising thing about the heckling of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York on Sunday was how much surprise it evoked. Catcalls and Bronx cheers, mostly directed against the Obama administration but also at Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, have been a distinguishing feature of the annual event since its…
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Opinion 5 Most Bizarre Moments at the Jerusalem Post Conference
In no particular order, here they are. 1) Jack Lew Gets Booed First to mind, of course, is the hostile reception meted out to Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew. All he said before the first wave of boos started was: “We recognize that the threats to the state of Israel’s existence today are real. They…
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Books Israel Doesn’t Have a Monopoly on Great Hebrew Literature
The Sapir Prize for Hebrew Literature is one of Israel’s most important literary awards, and the most significant financially. Recently, the managing board of the prize decided to change its guidelines and enable only candidates who are residents of Israel to submit their work. This new rule caused an interesting and important debate, both in…
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Opinion 7 Reasons Nicky Is the Most Badass Jew on ‘Orange Is the New Black’
With the new season of “Orange Is the New Black” almost upon us (is it Friday yet?), there are seven glorious reasons why my inner Jewess is getting desperately excited — and all of them are Nicky. Yes, yes, I know — when you think “OITNB” and “Jewish,” you think “Larry.” But Larry is far…
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Opinion Why Caitlyn Jenner Is an American Triumph — and Challenge to Observant Jews
In ultra-Orthodox circles, Western culture, and the non-Orthodox Jews who embrace it, are often referred to as “Greek.” Though seemingly frozen in time, this epithet is actually quite apt. It points to the deeper meaning of debates surrounding religion in American life – and why progressives are winning them. Where Haredim say “Greek,” conservative Christians…
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אין בערלין דעבאַטירט מען פּאָליטישע ענינים דװקא אין טעאַטער — און דאָס הײַפֿל ייִדן אין לאַנד געפֿינט זיך אין צענטער
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Books In three centuries of Southern Jewish life in the Big Easy, no easy way to be Jewish
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Yiddish „קיין שוועדיש רעדט מען נישט!“ — אַ ייִדיש־טאָג בײַם לונדער אוניװערסיטעט ‘No speaking Swedish here!’ — Yiddish Day in Lund University
די 30 אָנטייל־נעמערס זענען געקומען פֿון גאַנץ שװעדן, נאָרװעגיע, פֿינלאַנד און אַנדערע אייראָפּעיִשע לענדער.
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Opinion We’re forgetting the lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
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