The Forward turns 125

Help us celebrate this landmark year!

By Rachel Fishman Feddersen April 18, 2022

Dear reader:

At the cornerstone laying for our historic building in lower Manhattan, Forward founder Abraham Cahan said, “The Forverts changes. But our mission never does, for it belongs to you.”

Whether you’ve been with us for decades or just recently subscribed, Ab’s words still ring true in this, our 125th anniversary year. All of us at the Forward are so grateful to readers like you for helping us reach this landmark moment.

As we kick off this 125th anniversary as an award-winning, digital-first, 24/7 news organization we have big news to share: we’ve relaunched the Forward website.

In response to reader feedback, the new Forward.com connects you easily, in a clean, new format, to the unbridled news reporting and rich cultural coverage you told us you valued:

Breaking national news: We’ve expanded our newsroom with journalists working around the clock to explain what is going on and why it matters to you. And we’re proud to keep winning coveted journalism honors like the Rockower and Deadline Club awards.

Uncompromised engagement with the great diversity of Jewish life: We’ve significantly increased our coverage of and by Jews of color and other underrepresented groups to ensure that every American Jew feels heard, seen and reflected in our pages.

Diverse and provocative opinion pages: More than ever, we’re leading the American Jewish conversation from the left, right, and center.

Cultural coverage that remains a reader favorite: We’ve reintroduced our historic advice column, “A Bintel Brief,” as a podcast that connects listeners across generations, with season 2 launching soon.

Visit the new Forward.com and tell us what you think in this 1-minute survey.

In the coming months, you’ll see special 125th anniversary features that salute our past and illuminate our future. We’ll share indelible moments from 125 years of great journalism and offer a peek at what the next 125 might look like.

Thank you for making the Forward what it is today. Here’s to the next 125 years!

Warm regards,

Rachel Fishman Feddersen

Publisher and CEO

Rachel Fishman Feddersen is the publisher and CEO of the Forward.

News releases are written by the Forward’s communications staff on behalf of The Forward Association, its nonprofit publisher.

About the Forward

The Forward delivers incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews. Its rigorous reporting and balanced commentary on politics, arts and culture have won numerous awards year after year and made it the most influential nationwide Jewish media outlet.

Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily, the Forward soon became a national paper, the most widely read Jewish newspaper anywhere. The English Forward was launched as a weekly in 1990 and moved to fully digital publication in 2019. (Read more)

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO