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
It’s Still the Economy — but More So
It’s pretty obvious by now what this election is about. It’s the economy. Folks are hurting, and those who aren’t hurting are scared. Too many people don’t have jobs; too many families are losing their homes. Too many kids can’t move out and start their lives. Too many parents saw their savings evaporate and don’t…
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Letters October 8, 2010
Of Rabbinical Pay and Congregational Possibility The issue isn’t that “Synagogue Dues Don’t Raise More Money Than Church Gifts,” as your September 17 headline states, but rather that synagogues and churches both do not receive more community support or new members. Perhaps the church approach makes it easier for one with financial hardship to participate…
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Opinion George Soros’s Money
J Street’s action regarding the funding it received from controversial billionaire George Soros is inexcusable. After years of claiming that he had not raised so much as a dime from Soros, J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, had to ‘fess up — only after the Washington Times, not exactly a friendly newspaper, pointed out that the…
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Opinion Modern-day Exodus
For anyone involved in the Soviet Jewry movement — from the Russians trapped behind the Iron Curtain to the ordinary Jews who took up their cause — our Gal Beckerman’s triumphant new book, “When They Comes For Us, We’ll Be Gone,” is a stirring reminder of the power of peoplehood. “Peoplehood” has become a word…
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Opinion Guest Editor: Sam Apple
This fall, eight guest editors are helping to shape the Forward Forum by commissioning opinion pieces. This week, it’s Sam Apple, editor-in-chief and publisher of The Faster Times, an online “new type of newspaper for a new type of world.” He is also the author of two books, “Schlepping Through the Alps” and “American Parent.”…
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Opinion Replace Hebrew School Books With Israeli B-Movies
‘Don’t be a shvitzer,” said the mother to her son as he left to join the IDF. This is but one of the wonderful bits of motherly advice in “Eskimo Limon,” the 1978 Israeli cult classic. “Eskimo Limon” is among the many hilarious Israeli movies from the ’60s and ’70s known as “Bourekas films”: tawdry,…
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Opinion Give the Mitzvah Tank a Makeover
The sound of Hasidic music blasting from tinny speakers can inspire dread in the hearts of some Jews. The tune portends contact with men straight out of Shalom Aleichem’s shtetl. With their beards and peyes, their black suits and beseeching eyes, these merry soldiers in the Rebbe’s religious army will inevitably approach and deliver a…
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Opinion Bring Hot Israelis to America
Picture yourself on a Tel Aviv beach: A parade of tanned, toned Israelis marching past like some alternative half-nude army, flashing butt cheeks in string bikinis as you revel in a paradise of sand, surf and Semitic good looks. Remember when God promised a free ticket to the Holy Land? This is what He had…
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Opinion Do as the Amish Do
The trouble with temptation is that it’s so damn tempting. This, it seems, is a problem when it comes to keeping Jews in the fold. But perhaps instead of seeking to steep young Jews exclusively in tradition, we should embrace the horrors of gentile ways. Insane? Maybe not. We need only look to another ethno-religious…
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Opinion Embrace Branding
We don’t have to wait for the 2010 Census results to know our numbers aren’t good. Will the Jews still be 2.2% of the U.S. population? Maybe 2.1%? Or 1.9%? I was just in Israel and saw dozens of Birthright trips, but at best, they only slow down the decline in our numbers. Judaism needs…
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Opinion The Intifada, 10 Years Later: Why Israelis Don’t Care About Peace Processing
Tomorrow, September 28, is the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the so-called Second or Al-Aqsa Intifada, the wave of Palestinian terrorism that left thousands dead and pretty much killed off Israelis’ faith in the possibility of peace with the Palestinians. Two surprising and very important articles appeared in the Israeli press today to mark…
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