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 Real Truth About Those Anti-Semitic Flyers in Donetsk
The world has roared with indignation at the anti-Semitic flyers distributed by masked-men outside a synagogue in Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine. The flyers ordered local Jews to register with the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, in light of the fact that Jewish leaders in Kiev supported the Ukrainian “junta”. Since the Donetsk People’s Republic controls all…
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Opinion What Jews Can Learn From Rwandans
A woman consoles a fellow Rwandan at a genocide commemoration ceremony / Getty Images I am no Shmuley Boteach, God knows. But I have recently learned from the Forward that Boteach and I have one thing in common – we are both rabbis who have visited Rwanda. This February, on the eve of Rwanda’s commemoration…
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Opinion 2 Women Put a Darfuri Survivor Through College
Guy Adam In the fall of 2010, I had recently arrived in Tel Aviv and had started my New Israel Fund Fellowship at ASSAF, a humanitarian aid organization helping asylum seekers and refugees in Israel. I met Guy around then at the ASSAF offices. He spoke English, so I explained to him that I was…
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Opinion Israel’s Uncomfortable History of Racist Engineering
Late in March, Ebony magazine apologized after one of its senior editors made a racially charged dismissive comment on Twitter. Last November, two students at Lee University apologized for wearing blackface, with one noting, “We are deeply sorry for those we have upset.” Two recent incidents in Israel mirror these events, but the result was…
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Opinion Family Amulet Captures Jewish Life in India
When my grandmother was pregnant with my dad, she got a terrible — and somewhat mysterious — mouth infection. It kept her from eating and talking. It was so painful that it landed her flat on her back; for days, all she could do was lie in bed. Then her bedroom door creaked open to…
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Opinion Does Israel Advocacy Belong on British Campuses?
Young British Jews stake out a liberal stance on Israel. / YouTube American and British Jewish communal institutions alike are presently grappling with the question of what to do with the “evil son” — he who, in the words of the Passover Haggadah, “by divorcing himself from the community…denies our very essence.” In the United…
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Opinion How Uganda Helped Me Mark Passover
Getty Images Freedom is always a primary theme on Passover, but this year, after travelling in Uganda for ten days as part of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) Global Justice Fellowship, the idea is heavy with real-world implications. The Haggadah instructs: “In every generation, everyone must think of him or herself as having personally…
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Opinion Virtues of the Marathon Rabbi
Even before my first day on the job, 44 years ago, as I was stocking up at a supermarket for my new residence, a soon-to-be congregant approached me in the parking lot. “You won’t last one year in Congregation Neve Shalom,” the congregant said. Your predecessor was too beloved, and you’ll never fill his shoes.”…
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Opinion Will Chelsea Clinton Be a Jewish (Child’s) Mother?
(JTA) — Chelsea Clinton’s announcement Thursday afternoon that she and Jewish hubby Marc Mezvinsky are expecting their first child has set off a fairly predictable wave of reactions Jewish-wise, not unlike the interest their 2010 wedding generated. Interfaithfamily.com quickly seized the pregnancy as an “opportunity to share with ALL expecting parents” its various resources for…
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Opinion I Believe in God — Kind Of
This is how I feel about God. I have no reason to believe in God. I can’t defend the existence of a supernatural being on any ground, and most certainly not on any rational or scientific ones. I have no convincing anecdotal evidence to rely on either, no visions or other visceral experiences upon which…
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Opinion When Jesus Died at Auschwitz
YouTube The most tasteless YouTube video ever has just been released – by our friends at Jews for Jesus. Entitled “That Jew Died for You,” it is – I am not making any of this up – a three-minute video showing Jesus Christ among a group of Jews arriving at Auschwitz. And you thought the…
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