Gal Beckerman was a staff writer and then the Forward’s opinion editor until 2014. He was previously an assistant editor at the Columbia Journalism Review where he wrote essays and media criticism. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Bookforum. His first book, “When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry,” won the 2010 National Jewish Book Award and the 2012 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, as well as being named a best book of the year by The New Yorker and The Washington Post. Follow Gal on Twitter at @galbeckerman
Gal Beckerman
By Gal Beckerman
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Opinion A Statement on Your Seder Plate
Passover always feels both repetitious and fresh. Every year we are asked to tell the story of enslavement and redemption anew, asked to go through the same motions, dip our fingers in the wine again the same number of times. But there is another imperative — not just to remember our own historic moment of…
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Opinion Walt and Mearsheimer Are Ready for their Close-Up
So far this year, the Anti-Defamation League has felt compelled to issue press releases in response to a belligerent talking teddy bear, a mildly funny Saturday Night Live sketch, and a fictional character portrayed by Kevin Spacey. You might think the trigger-happy ADL was responding in these cases to anti-Semitic slights (its bread and butter,…
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Opinion Lapid to Haredim: ‘You Won’
A fascinating speech that Yair Lapid delivered last year has emerged. It offers a glimpse into his views on religion and secularity in Israel, and specifically on the role the Haredim play and will continue to play in Israeli society. For anyone interested in understanding what philosophy Lapid will be bringing to his role in…
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Opinion Siegelmania’s Greatest Hits, Ed Koch Edition
The death of Ed Koch reminded us that in our archives we have a couple of poems about the mayor by the late, great poet of the Forward, Stanley Siegelman. These are too charming not to share again, so without further ado, we offer a special reissue of Siegelmania’s greatest Koch hits. Ed Koch’s Grave…
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Opinion Who’s Afraid of Al-Jazeera?
When Al-Jazeera announced in early January that it was edging its way more aggressively into the American market (through the purchase of Al Gore’s fairly moribund channel, Current TV, for $500 million), the news was met with a predictable dollop of fear and loathing. Bill O’Reilly jumped to call the Qatari-based channel “anti-American.” Groups like…
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Breaking News Bolivians Accused of Trying to Extort Jacob Ostreicher
Six Bolivian government officials, allegedly involved with a scheme to rob and extort Jacob Ostreicher, an American Jewish businessman, were arrested on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Ostreicher has been in jail for the past 18 months on suspicion of money laundering. Ostreicher and his supporters have argued since his arrest that he was…
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Opinion Sympathy for the Undecided
We are days away from the end of this election cycle, which also means it’s open season on that much ridiculed, mystifying yet rare species: the undecided voter. A mock commercial on “Saturday Night Live” captured the general disdain toward the folks we are repeatedly told will tip this election. In it, a series of…
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Opinion Judging the Yad Vashem Debate
The final debate is over — the last one ever for Obama and for us this election cycle — and it’s time for some flash judgment. Israel, Israel, Israel: As anyone could have predicted, Israel was mentioned a lot. As “true friend.” As “greatest ally.” I think I counted 6 mentions by the president to…
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Fast Forward ‘Rabbi rebellion’: 33 Orthodox rabbis endorse Harris
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Opinion Almost all voting groups shifted toward Trump, except American Jews. Why?
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Opinion I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch
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Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
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Culture Should we call the violence against Israeli soccer fans a ‘pogrom?’
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Fast Forward How bad is antisemitism in Europe? Amsterdam ‘pogrom’ follows rising hostility
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Fast Forward Anti-Israel protester who allegedly threatened Jewish man on the subway gets hate crime charge
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