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
Hassan Rowhani’s Election Is Game-Changer for Iran, the West — and Israel
Israel’s government is trying to downplay the results of Iran’s presidential election, but the fact is that Hassan Rowhani is immensely different from the departing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Immediately after the elections results were announced in Tehran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the international community must not be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran…
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Opinion Not Too Late for Justice
Many Americans were shocked when the Associated Press reported on June 14 that a 94-year-old ex-commander of a Ukrainian Nazi SS unit, Michael Karcoc, had been living quietly in suburban Minneapolis for the past six decades. Karcoc’s former unit, the Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion, was involved in numerous documented atrocities during World War II, including the…
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Opinion Is Mahmoud Abbas Ready to Resume Peace Talks?
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is said to be willing to return to direct peace negotiations with Israel, reports Arab affairs correspondent Ehud Yaari of Israel’s Channel 2 TV News, who is probably Israel’s best informed and most respected reporter on the topic. Yaari claims that’s “what he [Abbas] is explaining in the corridors in…
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Opinion Time for Israel To Change Stance Toward Jewish Women
Is Judaism the problem or the solution to women’s equality? Try telling agunot, women who are chained to their husbands unable to obtain a get, a religious divorce, that they are equal to men. Overarching Jewish values like b’tzelem Elohim — that all people are created in the image of God — may teach equality,…
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Opinion Women’s Prayer Protests at Western Wall Are Just Childish Provocation
I am, in my religious behavior, somewhere between what Israelis would call a hiloni or “secular” Jew and a masorti or “traditional” one. My wife and I light candles on Shabbat, we celebrate the Jewish holidays with our children and grandchildren, and now and then, for one reason or another, I find myself in a…
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Opinion Kotel Struggle a Civil Rights Battle for Jews
Fifty years ago civil rights activists staged a sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s in Jackson Mississippi to protest the segregated seating which existed, mandating separate areas for black and white patrons. Young students from nearby Tougaloo College, both black and white, sat together at the “whites only” counter, waiting futilely to be served….
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Opinion Organized Labor and the Chutzpah of Power
What’s your definition of “chutzpah”? The classic case involves the kid who murders his parents, then begs for mercy as an orphan. Lately, though, I’ve discovered a few cases that bring the concept into sharper focus. The truth is, they add up to one big story, in which the American labor movement — and the…
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Opinion Foxman: Foes of ‘2 States’ Hurt Israel’s Credibility
As Washington and Jerusalem jockey over terms for renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman insists that his organization will continue to support Israel. But he warns that Israelis make the job harder and hurt their own cause by allowing hardline opponents of Palestinian statehood to speak for them. He singled out Israel’s…
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Opinion Why Jewish Baby Names Are So Important
What’s in a name? Roses by any other name would, as the bard would have it, smell as sweet. Because after all, a name cannot change a person’s inner essence and soul. Or can it? These are the questions that keep you up late at night as you wonder what you will name your unborn…
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Opinion Barack Obama Asks Americans To Trust Him When History Proves We Cannot
“Noting extensive deliberations in the Situation Room, [the President] added, ‘Unless you’ve been involved in those conversations, then it’s kind of hard for you to understand that the complexity of the situation and how we have to not rush into one more war in the Middle East.’” That’s how The New York Times reported President…
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Opinion A Bittersweet Holocaust Memorial in Berlin
While President Obama attended meetings in Berlin prior to his grand address at the Brandenburg Gate, First Lady Michelle Obama and their children, Malia and Sasha, visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Guided by the director of the site, Uwe Neumärker, the family spent half an hour among the 2,711 stone sarcophagi…
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Culture Why do Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas?
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Culture We tried to fix Hallmark’s Hanukkah problem. Here’s the movie we made instead
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Holy Ground One of America’s first Jewish farms was nearly lost to history. Now these Brooklyn parents are risking everything to keep their family’s legacy alive.
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