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
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Opinion
Few Religious Jews Join Israeli Cost-of-Living Protests
As protesters against the high cost of living in Israel flood the country’s streets, one demographic is noticeably absent: the religious sector. While, to be sure, individual yarmulkes can be seen here and there — including on the evening of July 30, when up to 150,000 people demonstrated in multiple locations — the general disinterest…
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Opinion Music for the 9th of Av: On Jerusalem, Exile and Homelessness
I agonized over this. We’re now in the nine-day mourning period approaching Tisha B’Av. Music is not appropriate. Can we observe by listening to music of the season? Well, I decided to go with it. It’s for those who haven’t thought of observing the mourning period, to get you in the mood. There are versions…
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Opinion See the Charts: Where the Taxes Come From, Where They Go
My latest column on taxes, deficits and debt, “Taking From the Poor and Giving to the Rich,” has stirred up quite a bit of discussion, which is fine. Much of it revolves around the credibility of my numbers, which is unfortunate. Herewith, a guide to the websites where the numbers are available, so you all…
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Opinion We Jews Are a Peculiar People
It will not come as a surprise if I suggest that we Jews are a peculiar people. For all the talk of escalating assimilation, we remain, in important respects, quite different from most other Americans. I report here on a massive survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a survey of…
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Opinion Why JDub Mattered to a Younger Generation of American Jews
The following is by one of our intrepid interns, Pnina Kessler, who has put together her thoughts on the demise of JDub (which we recently covered in our pages). It’s an insightful commentary on how much more needs to be done to appeal to young American Jews on a cultural level. As a seventeen year…
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Opinion Taking From the Poor and Giving to the Rich
If you’re like me, you’ve been watching the news about the federal debt negotiations for weeks, thinking something smelled fishy but unsure what it was. On one hand, everyone agrees the national debt is too high. It makes sense, then, that spending must be cut sharply. That’s life. If you’ve spent yourself into a hole,…
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Opinion It Is Political
Has the Arab Spring arrived in Israel? Are we seeing a Jewish Summer? That’s the popular perception of the surprisingly large and robust protests that have taken over nearly every major city in Israel, peaking with a march of 30,000 in the streets of Tel Aviv on July 23. The issue at stake is the…
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Opinion Must-See TV: Jon Stewart on Fox Fears of Anti-Christian Bias
If you haven’t seen Jon Stewart’s hilarious Wednesday night report on the aftermath of the Norway massacre, you’re only hurting yourself. He brilliantly skewers the protests of Fox News and the right over the bigotry of the media’s identifying the accused shooter as a “Christian extremist.” There are numerous layers of hypocrisy to peel away,…
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Opinion ‘Why Isn’t Mommy Jewish?’: When Christian Moms Raise Jewish Kids
JTA has a fascinating story by their intrepid Sue Fishkoff about non-Jewish spouses (read wives) in interfaith marriages who are raising their kids as Jewish The story doesn’t get into the interdenominational and Israel-Diaspora politics of the issue, for a change. It’s about the part that the politicians and scholars too often overlook: real, live…
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Letters Turning Jewish Life Green
A quarter of the world’s population still lacks access to electricity, yet as we seek to right that wrong, we cannot continue to replace it with another harmful injustice. For it is much of that same, impoverished population that has already started to suffer on the frontlines of climate change impact. Many Jewish organizations throughout…
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Opinion Lesson of Norway: Mutual Respect
An act of depravity like the mass murder on Norway’s Utoya Island can evoke many emotions, from anger to pity to mourning for those lost, sympathy for the bereft or simply despair over what our fellow humans are capable of. One response it should not evoke, though, is satisfaction, however mixed. No end can remotely…
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