Yid Lit: Ben Greenman
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Ben Greenman is an author and an editor at The New Yorker magazine who is worried about the state of written communication — now that the lightening speed of email has replaced the patience and thoughtfulness required to send someone you care about a hand-written note.
The stories in Greenman’s new collection, “What He’s Poised To Do” (Harper Perennial) span time and space, but letters link them together: a young mother writes of love and sibling rivalry in 1960s Nebraska, a real estate broker recounts an affair that began in a Chicago apartment he tried to sell, and a son adjusts to his family’s new life in a colony on the moon.
Greenman recently visited the Forward studio to discuss the rich Jewish history of letter-writing and the future of the medium — now that we’re more likely to click on a mailbox than to walk to one.
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.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
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