In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Opinion
Swing a Fish for Kapparot
Thousands of Orthodox Jews are preparing to swing live chickens over their heads before Yom Kippur, symbolically transferring their sins to the chicken. The chicken is then slaughtered and donated to the poor for consumption. This practice is called ‘Kapparot,’ which literally means “atonement.” Using fish, money or chickens are acceptable methods of performing this…
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Opinion Israel Can Never Be Too Jewish
Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…
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Opinion Unholy Alliance of Orthodox Judaism and Political Power Harms Israeli Democracy
Last June, Forward editor Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world…
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Opinion Chemical Weapons Are Different. Here’s Why.
One of the strangest aspects of the Syria debate is how much energy and passion is going into it, on both sides — for and against American air strikes — and how little light is being shed on the central issue, namely chemical weapons. Secretary of State John Kerry, in his supposedly game-changing speech August…
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Opinion American (Hasidic) Apparel
We’re used to seeing adolescent-looking girls posing like wannabe porn stars in American Apparel ads. That probably makes Yoel Weisshaus the most unorthodox American Apparel model ever. His dark blond peyos long and bouncy, the Hasidic 32-year-old college student poses in what is surely the company’s most modest ad ever, wearing a white button down…
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Opinion Proud Jews Are Also Committed to Inclusiveness
Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…
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Opinion For Israeli Military, Armor’s Out, Cyber Is In
Officers in the U.S. Army have long envied the “short drive” they claim the Israel Defense Forces has to reach its front lines, bemoaning the tyranny of distance when deploying to places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Having relatively short distances to go when meeting a threat means that the IDF is able to go in…
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Opinion Michael Bloomberg, Leave Dante de Blasio Alone
After 12 years and three terms as mayor, Michael Bloomberg somehow still can’t figure out how the average New Yorker thinks. The out-of-touch billionaire who bought a trifecta free pass to Gracie Mansion is leaving office this year. But he couldn’t resist the urge to make an idiot of himself on the way out the…
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Opinion Israel Should Allow Freedom of Jewish Faith to All
Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…
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Opinion The ‘Unsavory’ Among Us
My neighborhood association is disturbed by a recent and ongoing surge in the number of “unsavory” people who use the neighborhood’s plentiful benches for sleeping. It proposes installing bench railings every three feet, which would render stretching out for sleep impossible. In 1968, the federally established minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. That works out…
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Opinion In Israel, Religion Is Reduced To Simplistic Categories
Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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