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
Israel’s Shas, Right-Wing Kingmaker Party, Takes Sharp Turn to Left
Barely four months after the political earthquake of the January 22 Knesset elections, Israeli politics are about to undergo another seismic shift. This one will bring less drama, but it just might have a deeper impact on the system. The catalyst is Arye Deri, the onetime Haredi wunderkind and convicted felon, who returned on May…
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Opinion Congregation Needs To Be Involved in Israel To Make a Difference
Thirty members of our synagogue community are in Jerusalem, standing by the side of the road in Gilo, looking at the security barrier, Bethlehem and a new settlement in the distance. An educator from Ir Amim, which advocates for “a more viable and equitable city,” explains the horizon before us. We knock our heads against…
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Opinion In Kansas City, Backyard Issues Higher on Agenda Than Israel
For my congregation, Israel is not the most important matter on the agenda. Oh, members care about Israel, want it to succeed, pray for it, support it and sometimes visit it. But it’s not our central focus. So when people ask me how I handle the many divisive feelings around Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,…
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Opinion Don’t Allow Views on Israel To Overwhelm Congregation
A few years ago, I sat on a panel about Israel/Palestine with two of my friends at a local liberal arts college: a Methodist minister and a Palestinian Muslim. The moderator did not control the panel or the crowd, and the evening got hijacked by anger and emotion. In Mississippi we are passionate about Israel….
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Opinion Make Israel a Personal Issue for Congregation
Thank God the world is obsessed with Israel! I’m even more grateful that the younger generation of Jews — millennials, for instance — are also passionate about Israel. But you wouldn’t always know it from events that are planned around the Jewish state. We’ve had numerous Israel Friday night dinners at our synagogue over the…
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Opinion A Wide Tent on Israel, of Respectful Tension
At Kolot Chayeinu , our congregation’s stance on Israel has been the result of a series of conversations, meetings, dialogues and decisions. Our Statement of Values says: “We believe that Jews have an obligation to grapple with the many issues and emotions connected to our historic attachment to Israel and the current political situation in…
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Opinion Rabbis Must Speak About Israel, Warts and All
For most of my congregants, Israel is an accepted and welcome fact of life at the top of our communal agenda, not a point of contention. People care about Israel and identify with it. They love it in the unconditional way in which parents love their children. They are at peace with it. Every Sabbath,…
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Opinion Use Israel To Build Bridges Not Walls
“They should be ashamed,” a friend wrote me recently. He was referring to the resistance of some Orthodox Jews to joining the Israel Defense Forces. His communication joined the lists of emails and conversations I have had recently with many a friend on the rising tension between the so-called “Orthodox” and “secular” Jews in Israel….
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Opinion Shavuot Reading: Hunger, Gleaning & Marx (Zeppo)
The festival of Shavuot has begun, which means it’s time to read the biblical Book of Ruth. It tells the story a non-Jewish woman who marries a Jewish man (no mention of rabbinic conversion, by the way), becomes a widow and ends up on welfare — or, as it was known in those days, gleaning…
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Opinion Brief History of Stephen Hawking’s Hypocrisy
Got wheels, Mr. Hawking?
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Opinion Funny: Jon Stewart on the IRS Tea Party Witch Hunt
In case you missed it, last night Jon Stewart took on the IRS-Tea Party and Justice Department-spying-on-reporters scandals and, as they say, nailed it. In an inspired burst of hilarious, impassioned (and profanity-laden) outrage, he summed up exactly why the reports of a Nixonian-sounding IRS witch-hunt against right-wing and Tea Party groups are, beyond their…
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