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
-
Opinion
The Grinch Stole Chrismukkah
In my opinion, Jews shouldn’t celebrate Christmas. And that was the sentence that launched a thousand lips. I encapsulated my feelings on Jews and Christmas in a blog post I wrote for Kveller, a Jewish parenting website for which I am a contributing editor. I wrote that “if you really look at the meanings of…
-
Opinion The Israel Factor — Minus the Women
Let me begin by saying that I have great respect for The Jewish Journal, a smart Los Angeles-based newspaper and website. The Forward is part of the Journal’s new iPad app, the first in the Jewish world. And nobody covers Jewish Hollywood better. So I’ve been following the work of Shmuel Rosner, a well-known Israeli…
-
Opinion Hanukkah in Santa Monica
We are starting to get in the spirit of the holiday here at the Forward. And who better to help us than the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (hat tip to Shmuel Rosner for pointing us to this foot-tapper). This makes me love America:
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion Havel Was Friend of Israel and Jews
In the summer of 1990, the newly elected president of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, caused not a small degree of controversy when he announced his attendance at the Salzburg Music Festival in Austria. Classical music galas tend not to be scenes of political dispute, but this involved the resurrection of European ghosts other than Mozart. Austria’s…
-
Opinion Women Honorees Barred From Science Award Stage
The following article was posted today (December 20) on the Hebrew-language website DoctorsOnly.co.il (the translation is mine). It pretty much speaks for itself. Thanks to Chemi Shalev for flagging it on Facebook. Exclusion of Women in the Health System: Two female researchers who won an award were not permitted to come up on stage to…
-
Opinion Beyond the Protests
There’s the committee. And then there’s the person. The Trajtenberg Committee was formed last August by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and charged with devising policy responses to the social justice protests that were sweeping the nation. The committee presented its report at the end of September, and it’s been the subject of government action…
-
Opinion Darfuri Helps Fellow Newcomers Get Start
I intended to write about an Israel too often overlooked. I wanted a feel-good story for a change, a story that did not include the word “however.” And I had, so I thought, exactly such a story, the truly inspiring story of a 30 year-old man — we’ll call him Hamza — with whom I…
-
Opinion Yeshiva U. Students Can Talk Sex
When one of my editors at the YU Beacon, an online magazine produced by a group of Orthodox students at Yeshiva University, sent me an essay she had received from a friend, I responded to the submission with two words: “Love it!” The anonymous nonfiction piece described a Stern College student’s first sexual experience, in…
-
Opinion Jack Abramoff Says He’s Sorry, Sort Of
When lobbyist Jack Abramoff appeared in federal court, where he was eventually convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy, he faced a sartorial dilemma. Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew, wondered whether he wear his kippah and risk smearing the Jewish people with his transgressions? Or should he cover his silver mop with a fedora, which would diminish…
-
Opinion Remembering Christopher Hitchens
A journalist friend of mine emailed me at 1 am Friday morning to tell me that Christopher Hitchens had died. The news brought with it a deep sadness and I instantly recited the Jewish prayer upon hearing of the passing of a friend, “Blessed is the true Judge.” That instinctive religious action captured the paradox…
-
Opinion Devilish Pact With Europe’s Right Wing
Economic upheaval and strife in Europe have historically begat fierce nationalism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Faced with a serious debt crisis, severe budget cuts, grim austerity, rising unemployment and creeping inflation, the current depression is no exception. Since the fall of 2008, reported incidents of anti-Semitism have risen across the continent. In Britain, a record number…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News A pioneering Reform synagogue makes way for a booming Iranian Jewish community
- 2
News Hampshire College closure reverberates for alumni who treasured a Yiddishist hub
- 3
Opinion Who’s responsible for deadly antisemitism? Everyone will hate the answer
- 4
Opinion Viktor Orbán may fall. Netanyahu should be next
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Who’s responsible for deadly antisemitism? Everyone will hate the answer
-
Looking Forward Stumbling across Jewish history in a vintage store
-
Film & TV Remembering Siskel and Ebert’s great debate: Mel Brooks or Woody Allen?
-
News A Jewish gun club teams up with the NRA, in pursuit of self-defense
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
