Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at zax@forward.com or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.
Talya ZaxOpinion Editor
By Talya Zax
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Culture Betsy DeVos Allegedly Plagiarized This Education Organization. Here’s Their Response.
Tuesday, January 31 brought an unexpected development in the already fraught battle over the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary. As The Washington Post reported, written responses DeVos delivered to Senator Patty Murray, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension, appeared to plagiarize multiple sources,…
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Culture WATCH: How Charlie Chaplin Captured the Immigrant Experience 100 Years Ago
Hopeful individuals and families cross an ocean, only to arrive in a strange country where, still culturally and financially at sea, they scrape by dint of their wiles and compassion for one another. Yes, Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 short film “The Immigrant” presents a romanticized caricature of the immigrant experience. Still, in a time when the…
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The Schmooze Can Shabbat Be Sexy? I Went On a Mission to Find Out.
In case there were questions on the subject, let it be known that it is, in fact, difficult to eat soup while blindfolded. On the plus side, if everyone around you is blindfolded, too, you don’t have to worry about them silently decrying your marked lack of daintiness. So went one attendee’s distinctly un-spiritual train…
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Culture The 26 Books We’re Sure To Be Reading This Year
Winter is theoretically a fabulous time for curling up with a hot drink and a book, although that’s a peculiar sentence to write on a 60-degree day in New York. Still, the cold weather will inevitably return, and with it the need to read, read, read. Our favorite picks for the endeavor —in fiction, nonfiction,…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History of the Doomsday Clock
In 2017, contention for the title of the day’s worst piece of news is tight. Is it the portent of a coming crackdown on voting rights? The felony charges for 6 reporters covering protests of President Donald Trump’s inauguration? (Ok, that was earlier this week, but still.) The doubling of membership fees at exclusive clubs…
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The Schmooze Scarlett Johansson Rumored To Split From Husband
Actress Scarlett Johansson has reportedly split from her husband, Romain Dauriac. Johansson and Dauriac, formerly the editor of the French urban art magazine Clark, wed in 2014. They have a two-year-old daughter, Rose Dorothy. Reports of the pair’s split are, as of yet, unconfirmed by representative of either party. People Magazine cited an unnamed source…
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Culture Worried About Dystopia? ‘1984’ Isn’t The Only Novel You Should Read
On Sunday, Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, suggested that when Press Secretary Sean Spicer spouted falsehoods about the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration during a Saturday press conference, he was not lying, but simply relying on “alternative facts.” If a portent of doom can have unintended positive consequences, that phrase…
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Culture Anne Frank Center Hits Back At Trump Over Looming Immigration Orders
News broke yesterday that President Donald Trump would, today, sign executive orders that require the construction of a Mexican border wall, halt entry to the country for Syrian refugees, and suspend entry for travelers from majority-Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Today, the Anne Frank Center For Mutual Respect, the Otto Frank-founded American affiliate…
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