Neoconservatives have variously been pigeonholed as crazed former Trotskyites, duplicitous Straussians and American Likudniks. Often, “neoconservative” seems to simply be used as shorthand (or code) for “conservative Jewish intellectual.”

Since the Iraq war, however, the term has entered popular usage. What it means now is a little difficult to put one’s finger on, as a passage from a recent article in Time Out New York demonstrates. Explaining why she doesn’t date guys of her own ethnic background, a Korean-American woman, identified only as Jane, told the magazine:

My problem with most of the Korean guys I’ve dated is that they usually want to go out with girls who are just like their mothers. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m no neocon, and I won’t be slaving over your kimchi in the kitchen.

I wonder what Irving Kristol has to say to that?

Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief

You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.

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.

That’s where you come in. Gifts of any size keep the Forward free and accessible to everyone and ensure we have the resources we need to power the Forward at this critical time for American Jews.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Will you support our work today?

— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT