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
What does the Jewish mother make for dinner? Reservations. And what did the server ask her table? Nothing; they never let a man finish a sentence. This was the image of the Jewish American woman when men were the only ones telling the jokes. She was materialistic, tacky and a charmless striver; she was domineering…
I’ve lost too many people to opioids to be surprised by anything I saw in “Dopesick.” The eight episode miniseries by Hulu, premiering Oct. 13, dramatizes the criminally deceptive marketing behind OxyContin, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family and what led to a substance abuse crisis affecting millions of Americans. It is loosely based on…
A flier circulating in my home state this week depicts a Jewish politician seated at a table stacked high with gold coins. This incident is the third time in two months that candidates for the Virginia State Legislature have exploited antisemitic imagery for political purposes. In the first case, the candidate compared being a teacher…
Josh Mandel, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, is an awful amalgam of Trumpism, neo-fascism and faux-nationalism all wrapped in one spiteful 5-foot-8-inch bundle. His own family can’t stand him. Most of that is just boiler-plate Republican politics at the moment. Sure, Mandel wants to be a clone of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor…
Germany’s Jews had a strong ally in Angela Merkel, who confronted antisemitism head on throughout her 16 years leading the nation, and most recently during the May fighting between Israel and Hamas, when she condemned anti-Israel and antisemitic protests. This week’s federal elections have ushered in a new era for Germany. But it could take…
“I support a two-state solution.” Great to hear! But unless the year is 1993, it’s hardly a bold statement. The two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has sadly become one of the many causes that politicians love to say they support but then do little or nothing to actively advance. Nowhere has this dynamic been…
Five years ago, I started rewriting the Torah by reversing the genders of all characters. All of the men became women and all of the women became men. Divine influence was now moving through a mother-daughter lineage. Why would I do such a massive act of chutzpah? I’m an Israeli-American artist. In my art practice,…
On a recent warm night in Madrid, a young woman shared that she had travelled over 3,000 miles, leaving her husband and two young children in Montreal, to claim Spanish citizenship. Over glasses of the local Alhambra brew, she told me that her grandparents spoke Ladino, and that whenever someone would mention Spain around her…
A version of this article first appeared in Newsweek. Progressive House Democrats sparked a charged debate after they got their party to remove $1 billion of additional funding to Israel to replenish its defensive missile technology, Iron Dome, from a congressional bill earlier this week. Some praised the progressives for an act of resistance to…
Sukkot is one of the most beautiful and uplifting holidays on the Jewish calendar. As a young child, I was often taught that we leave our homes and spend time in our sukkot to remind us of the days when the Israelites were unhoused and wandering in the desert, on their way to redemption. The…
The first time I sprinted to a bomb shelter, it was a stairwell in a rental-car agency in Tel Aviv, Israel. The siren blared as my then-Burning Man fling (now husband) and I were finalizing the paperwork. He grabbed my hand and shoved me into the stairwell along with several employees. Ten seconds later, there…
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