March 25, 2011
75 Years Ago in The Forward
One thousand Jewish women began Hadassah’s annual meeting, hosted by funnyman Eddie Cantor, with laughter, but ended it in tears. Cantor admitted that he was there not to be funny, but to raise money for a special Hadassah fund to help Jewish children get out of Germany. Cantor brought $4,000 of his own money, he said, in order to help 500 Jewish kids escape. Actively engaged in this refugee work, Cantor spoke about it so touchingly that he brought his audience to tears.
50 Years Ago in The Forward
Previously sitting in a London crematorium, the ashes of martyr Arthur (Shmuel) Zygelboim arrived in New York in order for his remains to receive an honorable burial. Zygelboim, the Bund’s representative to the Polish government-in-exile in London during the war, committed suicide in order to bring attention to the fact that no one was doing anything to help the Jews of Poland as the Germans were liquidating them and destroying their ghettos. A committee of Jewish labor figures is being created in order to organize a proper funeral for Zygelboim.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
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And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
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