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
Hagel, the Israel Lobby and Kerry’s Peace Bid
The Daily Beast just posted a magazine-length article by yours truly looking back at the Chuck Hagel confirmation battle and the role (or lack thereof) of the Jewish community and the notorious “Israel lobby” in the affair. What’s surprising about the whole affair, on close reexamination, is how absent the Jewish advocacy community was from…
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Opinion Israel’s Illogical Grudge Against the European Union
A mystery: At first blush, Israel’s irritation with the European Union is perfectly understandable. The EU has informed Israel that it must explicitly state that any EU-Israel partnership agreements are not applicable to the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem. The new guidelines restrict any scientific collaboration, investment or the awarding of grants to institutions…
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Opinion Detained as Security Risks: 2 Cases. Compare.
Two weirdly similar articles showed up in my email this morning. Both are by political activists who don’t particularly regard themselves as political activists but as voices of reason. Both ran into intrusive law enforcement, in the name of national security, that violated the freedoms each one values—freedom of inquiry in one case, freedom of…
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Opinion Feel-Good Stories Obscure Ugly Mideast Truths
The Israeli government invests considerable effort in promoting its image in the foreign media. It’s called “hasbara,” which comes from the Hebrew root “to explain.” Israelis tend to be patriotic, with many believing their country is unfairly vilified in the foreign media. And so they embrace hasbara as a legitimate corrective measure. But for critics…
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Opinion When Israel’s Help for Injured Syrian Children Is More Than Craven Hasbara
If you look at Israel and see only the occupation, any news in which Israelis come off positively is nothing but distraction, spin or — to use that vilified Israeli term — hasbara. This is an understandable sort of cynicism, even for those of us who are not of the BDS left. After all, Israel…
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Opinion News Quiz: Jerry Lewis, Craigslist and the Cronut
Not every creative endeavor is a great one, as we note in this week’s quiz, which touches on a Jerry Lewis movie and a Craigslist personal ad that may or may not bring joy (and boy) to its writers. But at least we’re hoping for that last one.
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Opinion Sam Horowitz, Bar Mitzvah Role Model
The short clip of Sam Horowitz’s burlesque show-themed bar mitzvah celebration received significant criticism last week. Rabbi David Wolpe, writing in the Washington Post, called it “egregious, licentious … awful” and “a travesty.” Debra Nussbaum Cohen wrote that Wolpe “forcefully and gracefully articulated what many of us were thinking.” We should be commending this young…
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Opinion When Judaism Is All About You
After 40 years in the same congregation and almost 50 since my ordination, I should know what to say in my High Holy Days sermons. It should be easy. But this year it’s not. Sure, I can readily address the perennial themes of High Holy Days preaching: repentance; Israel; Jewish identity versus American assimilation; life’s…
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Opinion Sinai’s Surge in Islamist Terror Gives Israel Jitters
A surge in terror activity by Al Qaeda affiliates in Sinai is frightening tourists in the southern Israel resort town of Eilat, and that’s making city officials and business leaders very nervous. It’s infuriating the Egyptian military. And it’s hardening Israeli attitudes toward the peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Not surprisingly, it’s also reopening the…
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Opinion Egypt Isn’t Syria. One Is Fixable. One, Not So Much
Israel’s Walla News site offers a fascinating and, I think, crucial insight (in Hebrew) into the turmoil in Egypt and Syria. It’s by Dror Ze’evi, a professor of Turkish and Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev. He writes that the two conflicts, however similar or related they might appear on the surface,…
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Opinion When Jewish Toronto Fought Back — 80 Years Ago
Was the carving of two swastikas into a Toronto golf course last weekend a random hate crime — or a twisted nod to history? Police think it was a run-of-the-mill act of anti-Semitic vandalism. But some note the crime took place on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the historic Christie Pits riots, when…
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News That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
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Opinion As an Israeli political scientist, I resisted thinking this war was a genocide. Here’s what changed my mind
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Opinion I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel
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News In a first, Orthodox rabbinical school ordains an out gay rabbi
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Fast Forward What does the Star of David represent? A new ruling offers a legal answer
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BINTEL BRIEF I prepare bodies as part of my synagogue’s burial society, but I’m an anti-Zionist. Is that OK?
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Books Amid the terror of war in Ukraine, a stirring debut novel demonstrates the power of love and art
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Opinion Hamas should release all the hostages. But it’s foolish to think that would end the war
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