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
Retracing Zionist Steps in Benzion Netanyahu’s Manhattan
Seventy years ago, Benzion Netanyahu stood on the balcony of his small Manhattan apartment and wondered how his world had suddenly turned upside down. Then 31 years old, the Zionist activist had arrived from Jerusalem in the spring of 1940, brimming with optimism about his mission of mobilizing American support for creating a Jewish state…
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Opinion The Floating Palestinian Pep Rally
The Plaza Hotel has had its ups and downs. Once the very embodiment of Old New York elegance, it was purchased in 1988 by real estate billionaire Donald Trump, who said he would treasure it as a “masterpiece” but sold it in 1995 to pay for his divorce. The purchaser was Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince…
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Opinion Daring To Dream With God
Everything that we have and are is a gift. None of us ever did anything — none of us ever could have done anything — to earn the gifts that are life and consciousness. This, Maimonides stunningly suggests, is what Psalm 89 means when it tells us that the world is built on chesed —…
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Letters October 1, 2010
We’re Fighting the Freeze The Jewish Telegraphic Agency report printed in the Forward of September 24, “The Right Waits for Netanyahu’s Move,” regarding the pressure being exerted on Israel to extend the 10-month freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, incorrectly claims that even those American Jewish groups that support these communities are not…
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Opinion Times for Rhetoric, Times for Action
Now and then, one gets carried away by rhetorical devices. The words are seductive, even if they distort their author’s intent. That, I fear, is what happened to me just last week in the course of writing a column about the artists’ boycott of the new cultural center in Ariel. My arguments in favor of…
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Opinion Must Reading: The Plot Against Obama
From The Root, a very cool black-interest webzine, this essay by Sherrilyn Ifill is the smartest piece I’ve seen on what happened to the Obama presidency (though it badly loses steam at the very end). Here’s the bottom line: The legitimate anger and frustration of voters at the massive bank bailout, and the pressures of…
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Opinion Abbas Extends a Hand
President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority have opened a new front in the Middle East conflict: a charm offensive. One can wonder why it has taken so long, yet welcome the move just the same. Truth is, American Jewish leaders have long been in some sort of dialogue with Palestinian officials. “I met with…
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Opinion Guests in our Sukkah
When Daniel Treiman, the Forward’s opinion editor, asked for a leave of absence for a couple of months this fall, we decided to mix things up on our Forum page. In a season when it’s traditional to invite guests into a sukkah, why not invite guests to edit our pages? So starting today, an illustrious…
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Opinion The Week in Fratricide: Miliband v. Miliband, Manning v. Manning
’Tis the season of family drama. The three-week holiday season opened last week on Rosh Hashanah with the reading in synagogue of the biblical story of Abraham attempting to butcher his son Isaac. The season will close next week on the holiday of Simchat Torah, the Rejoicing in the Law, with the reading of the…
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Opinion Tunes for Atonement II: Who Shall Live, Who Shall Die, Who Shall Get Eaten by a Big Fish
Now we’re coming into the home stretch. Coming up are Leonard Cohen, Hasidic crooner Mordecai Ben-David, Abbott and Costello, Louis Armstrong, Barbra Streisand, Meir Banai and The Band getting us, finally, released. Berosh Hashana: On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the fast day of Kippur it is sealed, who shall live and who…
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Opinion Tunes for Atonement I: Kol Nidre and Father of Night
We’re back for Week 2 of our High Holy Day songfest as promised, this time in two parts. Part One includes Bob Dylan, Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt and Joe Cocker, plus the legendary Cantor Moishe Oysher, Jerry Lewis (in a serious moment, sort of), Larry David and the Red Army Chorus performing with the Leningrad Cowboys….
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