Opinion articles that represent the views of the Forward’s editors.
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Opinion Jews and Labor
The men and women who founded the Jewish Daily Forward 112 years ago believed they were creating a newspaper for the Yiddish-speaking workers of the New World. Their devotion to furthering the cause of unionized labor wasn’t just an intellectual exercise. When the Forward needed money in its early years, unions contributed to its coffers,…
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Opinion Torturous Questions
Amidst the debate on whether the Obama administration was wise to release Justice Department legal opinions on torture, and whether former Bush administration officials should be held accountable — and, if so, how — there is one uncomfortable question we must ask: How did this happen on our watch? How did we become a nation…
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Opinion Irish Lessons
The violence that tore into Northern Ireland last month seemed sadly, infuriatingly familiar. First, two British soldiers were killed in County Atrium, then only 48 hours later, a policeman was gunned down in County Armagh, the first murder of a Northern Irish police officer in more than a decade. A dissident Irish Republican group appeared…
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Opinion Seder With the Obamas
Four is a fine number when it comes to discussing a Passover Seder. Four questions. Four children. Four cups of wine. So here are four reasons why the Seder held in the White House on the second night of Passover 5769 was notable: This was the first time a president of the United States attended…
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Opinion Progress, But Not Equality
The ground shook beneath the Jewish world a few weeks ago at a synagogue in the Bronx. It happened quietly, not part of any noisy revolution — the person at the center of this historic change hardly looks or sounds like a rabble-rouser, not with her covered hair and modest demeanor, and her frequent praise…
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Opinion Freedom From Hunger
This Passover reminded us again of how food and freedom are inextricably linked. It’s not just that, around day six or seven, one wishes to be liberated from yet another meal of fried matzo and Seder leftovers. It’s that we are commanded to eat differently to better understand exodus, deprivation, longing and the need not…
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Opinion A Responsive Community
First, there was the stump speech, delivered without amplification from a makeshift podium. Then the fireside chat. Then the televised press conference. And now this — Barack Obama, a creature of the Internet age, recently conducted the first online town hall meeting ever hosted by a sitting president. Nearly 93,000 people submitted more than 104,000…
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Opinion Hearing Their Pain
The tale of the Palestinian youth orchestra players from the Jenin refugee camp who performed for Holocaust survivors in Israel is a classic illustration of the way giddy hope is squashed by political reality in today’s Middle East. It began with warm feelings and good intentions — bring Palestinian teenagers from one of the West…
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