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
American Jewry Loses Middle as Orthodox and Unaffiliated Grow
The past few decades have witnessed the “polarization” of American Christianity. Evangelicals have grown, but so have the religiously unaffiliated. Meanwhile, mainstream Protestant Church members have declined sharply, along with non-Hispanic Catholics. We now find parallel trends among American Jews. From a demographic perspective, the Orthodox are incredibly healthy. Their birthrates are far more than…
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Opinion Pew Findings Reject Bleak Narrative of Jewish Decline
The results of the Pew survey are not at all surprising, and the basic findings align near-perfectly with estimates that my colleagues and I at the Steinhardt Social Research Institute have reported. Pew’s estimate that there are 6.7 million American Jews — including more than 4 million adults who consider Judaism their religion — confirms…
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Opinion Bob Dylan, M.C. Hammer and the Joy of a Mitzvah
As we wove through the backroads of an 18th-century Italian estate in our rented Volvo, I questioned myself once more: What exactly was I doing there? It was the summer of 2004, my first time in Europe. And in truth, the Baroque home commissioned by one of the Doges of Venice and the site of…
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Opinion The Supreme Court’s Enigmatic Decider-in-Chief
While we’re all riveted to the hostage drama in the House of Representatives, there’s another lopsided showdown shaping up in more-or-less plain sight that puts some basic values and settled law up for grabs. Like the Capitol Hill farce, this one has a tiny band of fanatics determined to trash three generations of evolving American…
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Opinion Deb Tambor’s Bright Smile — and Potent Message
The smile — her smile — was remembered by scores of mourners. It was reflected in the crackling flames shooting out of a backyard pit, and in the grief-stricken smiles of loved ones. In a circle around the makeshift campfire, on lawn chairs set on the damp autumn ground, sat a group of people intent…
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Opinion Handshake to Hate — Caught on Video
It was almost a moving moment. A Palestinian child, only 6 years old, goes up to a Jewish child of Israeli settlers and offers him a handshake. The Palestinian boy isn’t even supposed to be there. The Israel Defense Forces closed off this area of the restive West Bank a few months ago to avoid…
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Opinion Bigger Population Estimate Means Wider Definition of Jewishness
If the United States had 6.7 million holders of a doctorate, and 1 million of these hold a doctorate partly, how many Ph.D.s are there in America? Or, to use another analogy, what’s the meaning of a partly democratic government, or of being partly pregnant? Few among the leading intellectuals in this country will object…
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Opinion Time for Rethinking What It Means To Be a Jew
Traditional Jewish sources place clear restrictions on counting people. Ironic, then, that we tend toward the obsessive about the numbers, beliefs and behaviors of our community. The Pew survey nourishes this tendency in healthy, responsible and fascinating fashion. A read of the report will find Jewish leaders drinking in the results from cups half-empty and…
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Opinion Feeding the Bad, Not the Good
David Barash, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington, tells an instructive story in a recent New York Times OpEd essay. The story, he tells us, is believed to be of Cherokee origin. “A girl is troubled by a recurrent dream in which two wolves fight viciously. Seeking an explanation, she goes to her…
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Opinion Increasing Diversity Means There Is No Such Thing as a Typical Jew
The findings of the Pew study point to an increasingly diverse Jewish population — one that defies generalizations. This diversity stems from several sources, especially the recent history of intermarriage and the increasing prominence and shift to the right of Orthodox Jews. Before I discuss the impact of these trends, I want to allay readers’…
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Opinion Editor’s Choice: Best From Across the Country
The Forward is partnering with other Jewish newspapers to offer our readers a peek at some of the best stories from around the country, as selected by the editors at those papers. We will offer a selection of unedited links with brief introductions from the editors of the papers. Now that the high holidays are…
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