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
Fighting Anti-Gay Hate on Purim
Demonstrators in Nairobi, Kenya rally against wave of anti-gay legislation in Africa. Getty Images. The ancient rabbi Hillel famously asked: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” I feel it is important to answer the first two questions…
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Opinion Why Vladimir Putin Will Keep Playing Jewish Card in Ukraine Crisis
The Kremlin has issued more condemnations of anti-Semitism in the past week than in the preceding decade. The danger of anti-Semitism was on the lips of the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and President Vladimir Putin himself. Not Russian anti-Semitism, of course. It was Ukrainian “Neo-Nazism, fascism and…
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Opinion The Dark Side of Purim
Esther denouncing Haman / Ernest Normand These days, many liberal Jews think of Purim as a play date for the kids and a night of drunken debauchery for the grown-ups. We think of costumes and songs and noisemakers, a kind of carnival spirit. But the levity with which we approach Purim is actually pretty astonishing….
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Opinion Leaving the Ultra-Orthodox World — With No Other Choice
A young ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman once contacted me with a serious question: ”Should I leave the ultra-Orthodox community?” My reply to her was, “Since you have asked, ‘Should I?’ — then the answer is, ‘No!’” Leaving the ultra-Orthodox Jewish fold is called in Hebrew yetzia bishe’elah — literally, “leaving with a question.” It is a…
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Opinion Letty Cottin Pogrebin Looks Back at ‘Free To Be’
Letty Cottin Pogrebin / Wiki Commons When I think back to my childhood record collection containing Burl Ives stories, the Broadway cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof, and Top Disco Hits of the 1970s, one LP stands out: the generation-defining, gender-equality kids album Free to Be You and Me. Released in 1972, the platinum…
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Letters No Conclusive Evidence on Circumcision Rite and Herpes
In its editorial, compellingly titled “Protect the Children,” the Forward implores Mayor Bill DeBlasio to not “go wobbly,” urging him to “curtail” Metzitzah B’Peh (often referred to as simply MBP), a part of many ritual circumcisions, which has been asserted to cause Herpes Simplex (HSV1) infections. The editorial is misguided in its medical and policy…
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Opinion 3 Ways To Support Our Jewish Troops and Build Community
In 2009, my husband, an active-duty naval officer, was deployed to Iraq for 12 months. To prepare for a year without him, my children (then ages 6 and 4) and I moved from our military base in Washington State back into the home we owned in the Washington, D.C., area to be close to our…
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Opinion Bernie Sanders Serious About White House Bid
Bernie Sanders protesting the furlough of federal workers, October 2013 / Getty Images Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders seems to be getting more serious about running for president. He discussed it last November with Salon’s Josh Eidelson, but didn’t have much to say about it; the interview was mainly about the issues that animate him. Now,…
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Opinion Battle Over Purim Children’s Book With Two Dads
(JTA) — The line between respecting diverse religious beliefs and violating the rights and dignity of gays and lesbians is at the center of a debate between gay advocates and the PJ Library over a children’s picture book featuring a family with two fathers. “The Purim Superhero,” by Elisabeth Kushner, was published by Kar-Ben Publishing…
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Opinion News Quiz: Bette Midler, Bernie Madoff and Miley Cyrus
Bette Midler and Bernie Madoff share more than just the same initials and religion. Now they’re sharing space in this week’s Jewish News Quiz, rubbing elbows with Ruth Westheimer. At least I hope it’s elbows.
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Opinion Questions for the IRS
The Internal Revenue Service is an easy target for anger and disdain, especially now, as the deadline to file income taxes approaches and the IRS hasn’t quite recovered from the public battering it is receiving over questionable audits of politicized organizations. We don’t mean to pile on. But the startling story reported by our Nathan…
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