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
Change Sexist Attitudes — Not Ancient Prayer
Josh Halpern’s essay, Should Men Thank God They Were Not Born Women? sensitively and articulately outlines many of the tensions facing those of us who are committed to the halacha and Orthodoxy and at the same time live in a world a seemingly incongruous world: a world where women are first-class politicians, lawyers, doctors, educators…
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Opinion Saving Polari
A push in underway to save a most unusual language. Polari is a language — or to be exact a lexicon of 500 words approaching a language — used over the years in Britain by sailors, criminals, circus performers, prostitutes, immigrant Jews and Italians, and the gay community. In short, a bunch of people that…
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Opinion Should Men Thank God They Were Not Born Women?
Late this spring, my sister asked the administration at her Modern Orthodox high school if it would consider instituting a change to the morning prayer service. Instead of the usual practice of hurrying through the morning blessings, she wanted the male hazan to pause after reciting the blessing of “Shelo Asani Isha” (“Blessed are you…
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Opinion News Quiz: Nixon, Weiner and Ginsburg (Oh, My!)
You’ve got Richard Nixon to kick around again this week, thanks to newly released anti-Semitic tapes. There’s also Anthony Weiner and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — but not together!
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Opinion Kippah in Crosshairs as Quebec Mulls Ban
You may have heard that if Quebec’s government has its way, we’ll be seeing far fewer yarmulkes on the province’s streets. We certainly would be seeing none of them on the heads of people working or receiving services at government offices, and public schools, daycare centers and hospitals. The governing Parti Québécois party’s proposed “charter…
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Opinion Sequestration’s Jewish Toll
Lest you think that the thoughtless, cowardly attempt to reduce federal spending, known as sequestration, was nowhere near as bad as it sounded, listen to Nancy Volpert. She’s the director of public policy for the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, the oldest charity in L.A. and one of the largest, an organization dedicated to…
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Opinion Who Tests the Genetic Tests?
Testing the Testers: The Coriell Institute and Genetic Testing from Doni Bloomfield on Vimeo. What happens when you can’t trust a test meant to stave off a fatal disease? When, even if the test is 99% percent accurate, you don’t believe what it reports? That’s a question that keeps geneticists like Dorit Berlin up at…
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Opinion Democracy’s Creative Tensions? Take That Back!
Our old friend Ofer Shelah, former Maariv military and sports reporter, former Forward Israel correspondent and currently Yesh Atid Knesset caucus whip, has come out against the phenomenon of “nationality laws” that seek to define the relationship between Israel’s Jewish and democratic qualities or assign preferential standing in law to one over the other (usually…
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Opinion March on Washington Won Freedom But Fell Short on Jobs
Well, the big news is out. As we mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s immortal “I have a dream” speech, it seems racial inequality hasn’t improved over the years the way we’d hoped it would. In some ways it’s hardly budged. And we still can’t figure out why. If you’re following the…
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Opinion Abbas: We’ll Sign Deal To End Conflict With Israel
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas told a visiting group of Knesset members on Thursday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement will mean an end to Palestinian demands from Israel, and that Palestinians did not aim to return to “Haifa, Acre and Safed.” As the British Guardian newspaper reported: In remarks possibly aimed at reassuring Israelis who…
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Opinion Justice Calls for Boycott of Ariel
In a recent column, I concluded with a passing reference to the city of Ariel, a Jewish enclave that juts into the West Bank 10 miles beyond the Green Line. The column dealt with boycotts, and specifically with the EU’s recent announcement that it will withhold any scientific collaboration, investment or the awarding of grants…
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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