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 Israel Treats African ‘Infiltrators’
The new Anti-Infiltration Law presented by the Israeli government, after two previous iterations of the law have been voided by the High Court, is the culmination of the development of a completely unreasonable government policy toward the foreigners from Africa. Government officials and members of Knesset keep referring to Sudanese and Eritreans as “work infiltrators”…
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Opinion Eric Garner and Moshe Twersky Bound by History
Getty Images As I sit at my desk in a modern office building in lower Manhattan, the chants of angry protestors below grow louder. “I — can’t — breathe,” they shout, echoing the haunting final words of Eric Garner, whose death by asphyxiation I saw on video the day it occurred. It was in that…
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Opinion Farewell Philologos
Week in and week out, for 24 years, the person known as Philologos has graced our pages with an erudite, engaging and often surprising column about language. About Yiddish, English and Hebrew, French, Polish, Latin and Greek, Aramaic and Circassian and just about any other tongue humans have spoken. Ostensibly, Philologos answered readers questions about…
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The Latest
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Opinion Netanyahu Might Lose Election. Here’s How.
If the pre-election polls out of Israel teach us anything, it’s about the strength and weakness of pre-election polls. The strength is that they’re a pretty accurate reflection of what people are thinking. The proof of this is that the flood of polls coming every day from just about every media outlet, right, left and…
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Opinion Huge Israeli Arms Buy Nobody’s Talking About
The F-35 fighter jet is Israel’s latest big purchase / Wikipedia The Israeli parliament has become a turbulent place in the past few weeks — even more so than usual. What with key politicians getting fired, there’s been lots of chatter about what this shake-up will mean for the Israel-U.S. relationship. But it may not…
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Opinion How Elections Allow Leaders To Ignore Real Issues — in Israel and America
Election season: It’s just ended in America, just beginning in Israel. This seems the right moment to examine the striking parallels between the two countries’ political systems, and see if we can’t draw some useful lessons. Conventional wisdom says they’re poles apart. Most obviously, Israel has a dozen parties touting every possible mix of positions…
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Opinion I Don’t Want To Feel ‘Safe’ at Eric Garner’s Expense
A demonstrator cries while protesting the Eric Garner grand jury decision / Getty Images (JTA) — The words of Leviticus (19:6) admonish us not to “stand idly by while the blood of your neighbor is shed.” These words should sting our ears and shock our conscience in the wake of a Staten Island grand jury’s decision…
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Opinion Boycotting a Moses Named Christian in ‘Exodus’
Charlton Heston as Moses. Johnny Depp as Tonto. Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi. Laurence Olivier as Othello. Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. All white actors who have played non-white characters on the big screen. And now Christian Bale has joined their ranks, playing Moses in Ridley Scott’s upcoming biblical blockbuster, “Exodus.” The film, which tells the…
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Opinion Be Fruitful and Multiply — Please?
Thanksgiving was lovely this year, a happy gathering of four generations of family. We are a warm and compatible group who genuinely enjoy each other’s company and — not to sound too corny here — acknowledge the blessing of just being together. There is a sturdiness to this side of my family that I treasure….
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Opinion The Laws That Killed Eric Garner
My hands are quaking with rage right now, but I will choose to write rationally. I can’t believe this has happened again, and happened here, in my own backyard. “This” being a grand jury failing even to indict a white police officer for killing an unarmed black man. Not even a trial. Not even a…
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Opinion Why I’m (Reluctantly) Voting Against BDS at Berkeley
Pro-Palestinian demonstrator argues with pro-Israeli demonstrator at UC Berkeley / Getty Images On Thursday, my union as a graduate student at Berkeley, UAW 2865, is going to vote on a BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) resolution against Israel. I’m going to vote “no,” although I oppose the occupation and support selective, non-BDS branded boycotts targeting the…
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Fast Forward Jewish groups defend European media monitors banned for what State Dept. calls ‘censorship’
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Fast Forward British police drop case against Bob Vylan for ‘Death to the IDF’ chant, sparking outrage from Jewish groups
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Yiddish יהודה גור-אריה און שירי שפּירא געווינען רובינליכט־פּריז פֿאַר ליטעראַטורYehuda Gur-Arye and Shiri Shapira win Rubinlicht Prize for Literature
די רובינליכט־פֿונדאַציע טיילט צו יערלעכע פּרעמיעס פֿאַר ליטעראַרישער און קולטורעלער טעטיקייט אויף ייִדיש און לטובֿת ייִדיש.
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Yiddish אַ בריוועלע דער מאַמען (אַ דערציילונג) A letter to my mother (story)
בעת אַ ייִדישער סאָלדאַט ליגט אין אַ סאָוועטישן מיליטערישן שפּיטאָל פֿאַרמעסט זיך זײַן מאַמע קעגן דעם ייִדישן הויפּט־דאָקטער
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