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.
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.
Israel has become a defining fact of Jewish life for Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews alike
In the fallout from NBC News’ revelations that teachers in Texas were told to teach “opposing perspectives” about the Holocaust, many people are asking what teaching “opposing perspectives” of the Holocaust looks like. I know from personal experience, since I attended a Holocaust class that invited us to consider the Nazi perspective in middle school….
The capital murder case against the perpetrator of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting is dragging on; the Poway shooter who committed his synagogue attack six months later has already received a sentence of life in prison without parole. This week’s two-day evidentiary hearing was filled with testimony from police officers recounting antisemitic comments made by…
I am the least impulsive person I know. I don’t jump into things — I wade. It took me two years to utter the words, “I want a divorce,” even when I knew I desperately needed to; I update my Fresh Direct cart at least four times before ordering; and I research trips beforehand as…
There is no honor in boycotting a language and a people. And yet that is what Sally Rooney has effectively done, despite her statement to the contrary, by blocking Hebrew translation of her new novel, “Beautiful World, Where Are You” by Modan Publishing House. Hebrew belongs to no one nation state. It is an ancient…
It was already clear that something was up with acclaimed novelist Sally Rooney when I read her 2018 book “Normal People” and the characters randomly started bashing Israel: “They went to a protest against the war in Gaza…Marianne wanted her life to mean something then, she wanted to stop all violence committed by the strong…
The response to the column I wrote about my abortion story was unlike anything I’ve experienced in more than 30 years of journalism. Messages poured in via email and text, on Twitter and on Facebook, from people I’ve known forever and many I’ve never met. One woman I volunteer with at the food pantry just…
One of the hallmarks of Jewish tradition is its intense focus on debate and disagreement. Unfortunately, it appears that this value is being lost on many of the nation’s younger Jews — namely those currently enrolled in colleges and universities. A just-released survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education captures the voices of…
Growing up in Gaza, I studied in UNRWA schools from first to ninth grade. I owe a great debt to my school, teachers and the Palestinian curriculum for making me into the person I am today — an ardent believer in nonviolence and the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to lead secure, prosperous and…
Dear Ms. Rooney, No contemporary writer has gotten under my skin as you have. I have devoured your three novels and several of your stories, moved and astonished by the desires, anxieties and ambivalences of your characters and by the interplay among them; and not only moved and astonished but delighted by the quicksilver movements…
We received a slew of responses after publishing an Opinion article on Monday by Gitit Levy-Paz about the novelist Sally Rooney’s decision not to have her latest book translated into Hebrew by an Israeli publisher. Rooney, a celebrated Irish author who was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2018, said in a statement on…
Editor’s note: The headline and body of this opinion piece were updated on Tuesday, Oct. 12, after Sally Rooney released a statement clarifying her stance on translation of her latest novel into Hebrew. She said that she is boycotting Israeli publishing houses, not the Hebrew language — and would allow a Hebrew translation of her…
100% of profits support our journalism