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
The Benefits of Airing Deep Splits Among Jews
Though the phenomenon has been in decline for some time, I think 2015 finally brings an end to the era of concerns about “airing our dirty laundry in public” on the messiest of Jewish communal issues. As Jews mirror the larger American political polarization of right and left, it is hard to imagine sustaining an…
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Opinion The Back-to-the-Future Bagel
Noted food writer and bagel connoisseur Mimi Sheraton once wrote in The New York Times longingly about proper, old-fashioned New York bagels — small, dense beings with the perfect chew to their center and snap to their crust: “I remember them well…. Their like will not come this way again.” Three years later, bagels are…
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Opinion Playing Game of Chicken Over ICC ‘War Crimes’
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas may have opened the door to his government’s joining the International Criminal Court on New Year’s Eve when he signed the Rome Statute, the 2002 treaty that created the court. But that doesn’t make the Palestinian Authority — or the State of Palestine, as the United Nations now calls it —…
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Opinion In the Shmitta Year, Lifting the Burden of Pay Day Loans
The beginning of 2015 is also the halfway point in the year of shmitta, the once in seven years when the Bible commands that land be left fallow — a tradition that is followed today in a number of symbolic ways. One of the powerful practices of the shmitta year is society coming together to…
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Opinion Did We Get USY’s Interfaith Dating Shift Wrong?
lior zaltzman Ever since publication of my Dec. 23 story on the decision by United Synagogue Youth to relax its rules barring teenage USY board members from dating non-Jews (“USY drops ban on interdating”), JTA has found itself at the center of a firestorm about coverage of the Conservative youth movement’s decision. Rabbi Julie Schonfeld,…
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Opinion Did Barack Obama Snatch Victory From Jaws of Victory in U.N. ‘Palestine’ Vote?
(Haaretz) — American Jewish organizations utilized a rare opportunity to lavish praise on Tuesday night on the Obama administration, in general, and on John Kerry and Samantha Power, in particular, for their “leadership” in thwarting the Palestinian proposal to the United Nations Security Council. Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents extolled Kerry’s “tireless diplomacy” while…
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Opinion Does Home Invasion Signal Beginning of End for French ‘Israelites’?
It is thanks to the sort of crime usually relegated to local police blotters that France will need to reflect, in 2015, on the sort of republic it wishes to be. In early December 2014, three young thugs broke into a young couple’s apartment in the Parisian suburb of Créteil, tied up the couple, ransacked…
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Opinion Palestinian U.N. Bid Fails by 1 Vote. Was That the Plan?
The Palestinian effort to have the U.N. Security Council set a deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank failed to win the necessary nine votes for approval this afternoon. Palestinian spokesmen had spoken confidently before the vote of winning nine or even 10 votes. But two nations whose support they said they expected, Nigeria…
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Opinion Is Ted Cruz a Big Draw in Kosher Vacationland?
(JTA) — Imagine your ideal Passover getaway. What would it include? Sandy beaches? Emerald green fairways? Kosher haute cuisine? Sen. Ted Cruz? If the Prime Hospitality Group is any judge, you’ll want all of those things. Especially the last one. Politico is reporting that the Prime Group, which specializes in offering lavish getaways for religiously observant…
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Opinion Why Jewish #BlackLivesMatter Activists Should Take Back Seat
The Black Lives Matter movement that has erupted in the past few months in response to the killing of unarmed African-Americans — the most well-known of whom are Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice — has struck a deep chord with Americans of all races and backgrounds. As the protests continue, more and more…
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Opinion Sticking by Shabbat Was Real Story at USY
(Haaretz) — The Jewish Telegraphic Agency wire service ran an article about the United Synagogue Youth’s annual international convention, under the headline “USY drops ban on interdating.” Unfortunately, this headline, which was widely circulated among Jewish news outlets, failed to capture the real issue that emerged from the confab. A more apt headline would have been…
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Yiddish וואָס איך האָב אַנטדעקט בעת מײַן וויזיט אינעם שוועדישן גן־עדןWhat I discovered during my visit to the Swedish paradise
לייזער בורקאָ באַשרײַבט שוועדנס ווייניק באַקאַנטע מיליטערישע געשיכטע.
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