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
What Yair Netanyahu’s Norwegian Dating Game Tells Us
It’s easy for liberal Jews to write off the hullabaloo regarding the dating habits of one of Israel’s better known sons as just that: Hullabaloo. Sound and fury signifying nothing, or maybe signifying a prurient interest in famous lives, or possibly signifying a helplessly stultified and hidebound worldview that has nothing to do with us….
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Opinion What Defines Us as Jews? Actions — Not Ancestry.
One of my daughters recently suggested that I investigate whether I’m eligible for British citizenship. It’s not a far-fetched notion. My mother was born in England, and so were her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and probably her mother. There’s a cemetery in Leeds where many of these women are buried; my mother…
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Opinion Pete Seeger’s Hometown Rabbi Remembers When
Pete Seeger never stopped singing — or fighting for justice. Just last month, he turned up at the Beacon Hebrew Alliance to explain why it was important to join the town’s Martin Luther King Day celebrations. If you move to Beacon, or even think about moving to Beacon, someone will tell you that this is…
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Opinion Love Israel. Oppose BDS. Reject SodaStream.
As counterintuitive as it may be, when you see Scarlett Johansson’s Super Bowl ad on Sunday, promoting a product that lets you make carbonated drinks at home, try to see through bubbles and think about the future of the Middle East. There is nothing wrong with the product itself. Under normal circumstances, I would buy…
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Opinion Can a Government Video Fight Racism in Israel?
A new anti-discrimination video campaign by Israel’s Ministry of Justice sends an important social message and packs a powerful emotional punch. But that doesn’t mean it’s enough to do the enormous job of eradicating racism in the Jewish State. Still, it’s a start. Discrimination on the grounds of race, religion or religious group, nationality, country…
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Opinion Pete Seeger Gave Folk Music Life — and So Much More
If Pete Seeger had written or re-discovered or adapted just “If I Had A Hammer” and “This Land Is Your Land,” even without so very many more, his passing would be a sad day. But he did way more than that. Essentially, he gave birth to a new life for folk music in this country….
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Opinion News Quiz: Bill de Blasio, Elvis and HBO
Bill de Blasio meets Elvis meets HBO in this week’s Jewish News Quiz – which also includes some Jews. We promise.
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Opinion Israeli Teacher May Lose Job Over ‘Leftist’ Views
A schoolgirl listens to language class on November 4, 2002 in Jerusalem. / Getty Images An Israeli high school teacher faces dismissal after a student complained that he expressed radical “leftist” views in the classroom. In a letter to Education Minister Shay Piron, 12th-grade student Sapir Sabah accused Adam Verete — who teaches philosophy in…
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Opinion Corporations Aren’t People — Especially When It Comes to Birth Control
Corporations are people, Mitt Romney famously said at the Iowa State Fair in 2011, and it’s easy now to dismiss the phrase as the awkward, revealing statement of a man so out of tune with the public that he lost an election he was supposed to win. But in March, the U.S. Supreme Court will…
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Opinion The Year Pete Seeger Didn’t Sing in Hebrew
Pete Seeger, California, 1950s / Public Domain In the spring of 1998, Pete Seeger headlined a free concert in Central Park celebrating Israel’s 50th birthday, sponsored by the Cantors’ Assembly. The event prompted a critical press release from the Zionist Organization of America, protesting the Cantors’ Assembly’s giving a platform to a harsh critic of…
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Opinion An African Asylum Seeker’s Hellish Journey to Israel
I was born and raised in Eritrea, where I was fortunate to be well educated. I studied business administration in college, and after graduation I taught high school math. At that time, I began helping opponents of the Eritrean regime flee the country. My life was at risk, and it became too dangerous for me…
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