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
Could Stanley Fischer Make the Perfect Fed Chair?
As the clock ticks down to Barack Obama’s final decision on Ben Bernanke’s replacement to head the Fed, it seems more and more certain that Larry Summers, the controversial former Treasury Secretary, will get the nod. But in elite financial circles, it has been Stanley Fischer, a naturalized-American and the former head of the bank…
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Opinion A Clarifying Moment of Disunity on Yom Kippur
Sometime around noon on Saturday, September 14, Jewish life around the world will experience something of a climactic moment — a peak instance of unity that will also be, paradoxically, a moment of unmatched division. Unity, because Yom Kippur is the one point on the calendar, research shows, when most of the world’s Jews come…
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Opinion News Quiz: Andy Samberg’s New Gig
As we enter the New Year with all its promise, we can’t help but ponder a few mysteries of life: What has King Solomon left for the ages? What is Andy Samberg doing this fall? And what job has a young Hasidic man snagged that is as surprising as gefilte fish at the Oyster Bar?…
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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 What If Matthew Shepard’s Murder Wasn’t an Anti-Gay Hate Crime?
How important is historical truth? The obvious answer is “very.” Just think of Holocaust denial, which is anti-Semitism built upon historical distortions. But what if an effort to counter hate is based on an inspirational story — and that story is a lie? That’s the moral quandary at the heart of journalist Steve Jimenez’s newly…
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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 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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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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News This Jewish activist was arrested and deported for her book ‘Lesbian Love.’ 100 years later, will NYC apologize?
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Culture Ever the restless spirit, Tel Aviv-born architect and designer Ron Arad is still reinventing himself and his art
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News New Jewish-Arab political party debuts in Israel, aiming to topple Netanyahu
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Fast Forward Trump says Syria would do a ‘better job’ of fighting Hezbollah than Israel