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
Bibi Forbids Aides To Find Any Upside to Fatah-Hamas Pact; JTA Attacked for Reporting Facts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his cabinet ministers to stick to a single message regarding the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement, Israel’s Channel 10 News reports on its Nana-10 website. The message: “there is no possible positive component in the reconciliation agreement.” That’s right:Cabinet ministers are forbidden even to speculate on any conceivable upside. You…
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Opinion Yesterday Abbas Couldn’t Make Peace Since He Didn’t Speak for Gaza. Today He Can’t Because He Does. When Can He Eat Cake?
Boy oh boy, Jews say the darnedest things, don’t they? You’ve got to love it. We’ve been hearing for years now that the Palestinian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas isn’t capable of making peace with Israel even if it wants to because, among other things, it doesn’t speak for Hamas, which controls Gaza (see here, here…
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Opinion America Must Lead
September 1, 2010: President Obama hosts the leaders of Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in what is optimistically billed as the opening meeting of a year-long effort to finally arrive at a two-state solution for Mideast peace. Eight months later: Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak is deposed, King Abdullah of Jordan is clutching onto power,…
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Opinion Birth Pains
Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution stipulates that the president must be a “natural born Citizen.” Scholars agree that the reason for this narrow exception to an otherwise broad description of eligibility was the well-founded fear, back in 1787, that a European prince or duke might immigrate to America and seek to install…
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Opinion A Changing of the Guard
One of the things I learned early on in journalism is to be good to your staff members, because you’ll never know when one of them will become your editor. Sure enough, that happened to me a few months after I arrived at the Forward in 2008, when the position of opinion editor opened up…
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Opinion Who Is To Say When It’s Okay To Cry ‘Fire’?
Lately there’s been a lot of talk about the importance of restoring civility in community discourse. Here’s what I think: It totally sucks. It’s not that I’m against civility as such. Treating others with the same respect and kindness one wishes to receive in return is a nifty rule of thumb for any civilization. It…
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Opinion Maximizing Animal Welfare in Kosher Slaughter
There are legislative attempts around the world to require stunning of animals prior to religious slaughter. I do not get involved in the politics of this issue, but the following discussion may help clarify where there are problem areas. Over the past 30 years I have worked closely with the kosher industry to ensure that…
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Letters State Tuition Aid for Rabbinical Students Is A Matter of Fairness
Regarding your April 15 editorial “A Cynical Giveaway,” what is cynical is the editorial’s tone and substance. The New York State Legislature’s decision to finally make state tuition assistance available to students in undergraduate rabbinical colleges, on a par with other undergraduate colleges, is more than long overdue; it is an expression of elemental equity….
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Letters A Closed-Minded Cartoon
It is disturbing that as 2011’s Festival of Freedom began, a Passover cartoon in the Forward by Eli Valley slammed StandWithUs and Israel (“The Four Sons,” April 22). Drawing on the four sons of the Haggadah, the cartoon implied that, like the son who doesn’t know enough to ask, StandWithUs supports Israel blindly, never raising…
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Opinion In the Eye of Jerusalem’s Archaeological Storm
Archaeological activity in Jerusalem has been sucked into a whirlwind of conflicting political agendas, and the site commonly referred to as “the City of David” is in the eye of the storm. At issue is a place of seminal importance for the Jewish people and indeed for anyone who cherishes the heritage of Western civilization….
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Opinion Refusing To Let Go of Tomorrow
With my eyes closed, just listening to the singing, it is hard to imagine that I am not, in fact, at a Kabbalat Shabbat service at B’nai Jeshurun, the Upper West Side’s deservedly fabled synagogue. But on opening my eyes and glancing out the open door, the illusion is revealed. I am in fact in…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
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Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
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