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
Divergent Views of the Holocaust Form Root of Tension With Israel
Once upon a time, decades before the embittered encounters of Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli prime minister decided to publicly humiliate an American president whom he deemed disloyal. The men in question were Menachem Begin and Ronald Reagan, and the immediate cause of their confrontation in 1981 was Israel’s annexation of the Golan…
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Opinion Mom Told Strangers Her Holocaust Secret — But Not Me
Getty Images One day in 2002, my mother sat down in the living room of her Upper West Side, Manhattan apartment and told her life story to a stranger. The stranger was a volunteer, part of Steven Spielberg’s epic campaign to preserve the life stories of Holocaust survivors. For over three hours the stranger asked…
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Opinion Did Hillary Clinton Steal Hadassah’s Logo?
Which is Hillary’s logo — and which is Hadassah’s? (JTA) — Critics love to nitpick Hillary Clinton’s personal and policy choices, as they have during the recent email scandal and the Benghazi scandal. This time, however, the critics may have a substantial case against her. As soon as Clinton’s campaign was launched on Sunday, her campaign…
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Opinion Dear Stanford: Don’t Quiz Me on BDS Because I’m Jewish
Stanford’s Molly Horwitz, running for student senate, says she faced anti-Semitic questioning I am both a woman of color and a Jew. For much of my life, I struggled to embrace these identities. In high school people told me I was “not a real Latina” while also claiming it was my Hispanic ethnicity that got…
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Opinion Getting Memory Right: Preparing for Yom HaShoah
On Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2015, Abigail Pogrebin explained how to make the holiday meaningful year after year. Her message resonates just as strongly today. Tonight I will be reading aloud the names of strangers. The annual “Reading and Hearing of the Names” is coordinated by the JCC in Manhattan in honor of Yom HaShoah…
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Opinion Rabbi Angela Buchdahl sings “Remember”
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Opinion The Problem With Jewish-Only Holocaust Trips
March of the Living participants visit Auschwitz in 2009 / Yossi Selliger (JTA) — The evening before we visited Auschwitz, over pizza with a group of young people in Oswiecim, the town on whose outskirts lies that infamous symbol, one of my students approached me with tears in her eyes. Tears are hardly uncommon to…
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Opinion America’s Not ‘1984’ Yet — So Why Can’t I Refuse To Back Gay Marriage?
Some of us who consider the teachings of a religious tradition to define our purpose on earth have been feeling a bit like Winston Smith enduring Hate Week in ‘1984.’ The protagonist of George Orwell’s novel was distressed by his totalitarian society’s collective projection of ill will against a nebulous enemy. Thankfully, even 31 years…
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Opinion Are American Jews Too Loyal — to the Democrats?
These are challenging political times for American Jews. Rarely have loyalties and core values been so unsettled. It’s not just that America and Israel are at odds. Loyalty to the Jewish homeland seems in conflict right now with loyalty to the liberal values of most American Jews, and to the Democratic Party that champions them….
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Opinion The Sham Logic Behind Iran’s Holocaust Cartoon Contest
Carlos Latuff – Second place winner at the 2006 International Holocaust Cartoon Contest Let’s face it: When Iran announced it would be holding its second International Holocaust Cartoon Contest in May, it was nothing but cheap provocation. That’s it. You don’t have to be a cartoonist — as I am — to take issue with this…
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Opinion Jews Souring on Obama — Bad News for Hillary?
In what could be a warning signal for Hillary Clinton, President Obama’s approval advantage among American Jews dipped during the first quarter of 2015 to its lowest point since he took office in 2009, according to a Gallup poll published today. Obama’s approval rating among Jews averaged 54% over the first three months of the…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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Fast Forward In Britain, a Jewish Culture Month aims to move the conversation beyond Oct. 7
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News This Jewish activist was arrested and deported for her book ‘Lesbian Love.’ 100 years later, will NYC apologize?
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Culture Ever the restless spirit, Tel Aviv-born architect and designer Ron Arad is still reinventing himself and his art
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News New Jewish-Arab political party debuts in Israel, aiming to topple Netanyahu