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
An Israeli Ex-Pat Addicted to Grief
On a day like today, an Israeli in the Diaspora needs his fix of grief and bereavement. Today is Israel’s memorial day, a unique and emotional time for all Israelis, as they remember and honor those who fought to protect the Jewish nation, and prepare for the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. Remembering has a very…
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Opinion Don’t Blame the Medium
Facebook has been characterized as many things. It’s a rabbit hole into which free time can disappear. It’s a portal that can be used to dip into the past — hey, whatever did happen to that high school boyfriend? It can show a new dimension to an acquaintance, and it can allow people to share…
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Opinion CBS’s ‘Strategic Terror Attack’
A controversial report aired by CBS News has pitted Israel’s top envoy to the United States against the network’s flagship news show and now has the Jewish community up in arms. The report by senior “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, sought to explore the plight of Christian Palestinians, a dwindling population caught between the hardship…
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Opinion The Message From Hamas
The Forward’s exclusive interview with Mousa Abu Marzook, who is widely considered the second most important leader of Hamas, sends a message that is stunning and sobering. The very fact that the meeting happened will empower those who believe — or need to believe — that the terrorist organization is softening and maturing as it…
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Opinion Egypt: Gas Deal Cut Over Pay Dispute, Not Politics
Israeli media, quoting government sources in Jerusalem, say the controversial cancellation of the Egyptian-Israeli natural gas agreement is not diplomatic in nature, but rather has to do with a commercial dispute between private companies and the Egyptian state energy company that is currently before the courts. Globes, the authoritative Israeli business journal, reports (in Hebrew)…
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Opinion Is Our Tradition Liberal or Conservative?
Is the Jewish tradition inherently liberal or inherently conservative? The answer to this much-debated question is in fact quite simple: yes. If by “the Jewish tradition” we mean the sacred texts of our people, they can be read to defend a very wide variety of approaches to the world of politics. You certainly won’t find…
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Opinion What Stirred Hornet’s Nest?
One positive thing you can say about Peter Beinart’s critics is that none of them has smacked him in the face with a rifle butt. Not yet, anyway. That might not be far off, though, judging by the overall tone of the published reactions to his new book, “The Crisis of Zionism.” I was going…
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Opinion What Gunter Grass Really Said
German Nobel Prize writer Gunter Grass’s publication of the poem “What Must Be Said” touches on a host of issues surrounding the Holocaust, German-Israel relations, anti-Semitism and Iran’s threat to Israel and the entire Middle East. Comments by any Western intellectual claiming, as did Grass, that it is Israel, not Iran, which is a threat…
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Letters Finding Their Place in Community via Hebrew
In his April 13 memo to American Jews, David Hazony makes a strong case for the importance of Hebrew, and in typical Jewish fashion, readers lob back counter arguments. Ten years in Hebrew-as-a-second-language education have taught me that students who are genuinely engaged with Hebrew find the question of Hebrew’s importance moot — they have…
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Letters A False Dichotomy
In the April 13 op-ed “American Jews: Learn Hebrew!” David Hazony argues that American Jews have to learn Hebrew in order to connect themselves not only with Israel, but also with the future of “Jewish cultural life” worldwide. As a second-year Hebrew student at the University of Washington in Seattle, I have to disagree. While…
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Letters The Truth Lies in the Middle
How interestingly ironic that the April 13 editorial section includes Jane Eisner’s piece “Debating Spinoza, Again,” about the classic example in Jewish history of Jewish intolerance and the excommunication of the Portuguese Jewish philosopher residing in Amsterdam in the 16th century, and Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s piece about Jewish pluralism presumably because Jews “are not a…
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