Opinion articles that represent the views of the Forward’s editors.
Editorials
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Opinion No Place for Nasty
Now that the presidential election is finally over, it’s time to be blunt: The extreme nastiness of the discourse on Israel, coming mostly from those who opposed President Obama, did a great disservice to the American Jewish community. Well-funded advocacy groups, shadowy organizations and wealthy individuals poisoned the atmosphere and polarized the conversation. They resorted…
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Opinion How To Fix the Vote
The difficulty that some voters had to endure simply to cast a ballot in the November 6 election is a stunning testament to their civic dedication and a disgrace to our system. In hotly-contested swing states like Florida and Virginia, people waited on line for as much as nine hours to vote. Nine hours! Americans…
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Opinion What a Waste
Six billion dollars. Six billion dollars. That’s the amount spent on the 2012 election campaign, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by the Center for Responsive Politics. It is by far the most money spent on an election in American history — probably in human history — and that is thanks in…
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Opinion Great Expectations
Perhaps the great national achievement was not electing the first African American president. Perhaps the great national achievement was electing him again. The next four years — even the next four months — will present monumental governing challenges, especially in a Washington that, on the surface at least, looks remarkably as it did before the…
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Opinion Sandy’s Lessons
The city that never sleeps was uncharacteristically quiet as Hurricane Sandy swept through on Monday, October 29: Mass transit shut down, residents scattered to their homes, commerce halted, the usual frenetic energy on streets and byways dialed back to zero. It was as if the entire metropolitan area were taking one big Shabbat nap. But…
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Opinion Inequality Hurts Us All
Biblical Judaism knew what to do about income inequality: observe the sh’mitah, the sabbatical year. Every seven years, according to the laws of Leviticus, debts are to be forgiven and all agricultural activities — plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting — are to be suspended. The gap between rich and poor, those who have and those…
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Opinion The Courage of a Girl
Nearly 11 years ago, flushed with what we thought was victory over the Taliban, then-first lady Laura Bush led a noble campaign to highlight the poverty, violence, poor health and illiteracy endured by the women of Afghanistan. “That regime is now in retreat across much of the country, and the people of Afghanistan, especially women,…
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Opinion Eat Your Vegetables!
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 has gone into effect, requiring public schools to follow new nutritional guidelines to receive extra federal lunch aid, and — surprise, surprise — the kids don’t like it. As The New York Times reported, students are organizing protests and boycotts, creating YouTube parodies, dumping perfectly good food in…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Jared Kushner donates $1 million to Chabad of United Arab Emirates after rabbi murdered
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Fast Forward Far-right politician who praised Nazi collaborators shocks with top finish in Romanian presidential election
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News For Israelis still displaced from their homes, reclaiming the kitchen can be an act of hope
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Yiddish בער קאָטלערמאַן געווינט די י. י. סיגאַל פּרעמיע פֿאַר זײַן בוך דערציילונגען „סאַמאָיעד“Ber Kotlerman wins J. I Segal award for his collection of stories, ‘Samoyed’
די העלדן אין דער זאַמלונג זענען אוקראַיִנער ייִדן וואָס לײַדן פֿון אַ שווער לעבן אָבער בלײַבן פֿאָרט לײַטיש.
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