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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Letters
November 5, 2010
Opposed to Happiness? It is one thing to oppose gay marriage, but it is quite another to oppose the happiness of gay people. Your article “N.J. Jewish Paper in Knots over Gay Nuptials,” in the October 15 issue, identified an incredibly disconcerting trend among those against marriage equality. Not only do some oppose gay marriage,…
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Opinion The Growing Gender Gap
One year ago, the Forward surveyed the 75 largest Jewish communal organizations and discovered that only 11 of them — 14.3% — were led by women. And three of the 11 women in the very top spots were in interim positions. The dismal ratio surprised even veteran observers of American Jewish life, especially since three-quarters…
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Opinion Report: Bibi OKs Swap of Gilad Schalit for Marwan Barghouti, Who Either Is or Isn’t Palestine’s Mandela
One of the most important news stories of the week was also one of the least noticed. According to a Saudi newspaper quoted in the Jerusalem Post and in Ynet, Israel may be ready to free Marwan Barghouti as part of a prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit. Barghouti is the most popular leader on the…
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Opinion Rights of Return and Recognition Cannot Be Swapped
In a recent New York Times essay, published Oct. 14, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael B. Oren, argues forcefully on behalf of the call by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. “Affirmation of Israel’s Jewishness,” he writes, “is the very foundation of…
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Opinion The Tea Party Test
What are Jews to make of the Tea Party in this maddening election cycle? The raw anger directed at Democratic incumbency is understandable but highly disconcerting, since that anger promises to be far more destructive than constructive. The longing for a return to a constitutional nirvana is also understandable, but too often displays an appalling…
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Opinion And on the Seventh Day . . .
In 2007, a study by the JCC Association revealed that two-thirds of the Jewish Community Centers in America were open at some time on the Sabbath. Since then, faced with pressure from members who would rather sweat on the elliptical trainers than sway with Shabbat prayers, the number of JCCs with Saturday hours has increased….
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Letters October 29, 2010
Pledging Our Troth As even your editorial (“An Unworthy Oath,” October 22) concedes, Israel’s self-definition as a Jewish state is hardly a new development. Israelis disagree as to whether that self-definition is a matter of religion, nationality or some combination of the two — but that’s not exactly breaking news, either. So why all the…
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Opinion Obama’s Still Popular With Ex-Generals
Somewhere around midnight Eastern time on November 2 we should have a pretty good idea whether President Obama is about to turn into a swan or a pumpkin. If he holds onto one or both houses of Congress, he’s the ugly duckling that became a swan. If the Republicans sweep both houses and Obama ends…
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Opinion Guest Editor: Morris J. Vogel
This fall, eight guest editors are helping to shape the Forward Forum by commissioning opinion pieces. This week, it’s Morris J. Vogel, the president of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum since June 2008. He graduated from Brandeis University, received a doctorate in American social and urban history from the University of Chicago, and served…
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Opinion For Jews, a Permanent Stake in the Immigration Debate
American Jews instinctively understand their deep stake in the national conversation about immigration. While it would be hard to point to any policy consensus, it is clear that many Jews are troubled — even offended — by the anti-immigrant hysteria growing in the blogosphere and by the demagogic exploitation of the issue in the political…
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Opinion Immigration Fairness for Gays
The U.S. government forced Rabbi Gail Diamond to make aliyah. She and her family have a good life in Israel — she teaches at a yeshiva in Jerusalem and her children are happy in school. But she didn’t move to Israel entirely by choice. She had to leave the U.S., and her Massachusetts congregation, when…
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