Reporters’ Roundtable: Hasidic Police Services; Inspirational Israeli Protests
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
This week host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by Forward fellow Naomi Zeveloff and Matt Shaer, a contributor to Harper’s, to discuss the rival Hasidic police services in Crown Heights. Then editor Jane Eisner drops in to explain why she thinks the housing protests in Israel should inspire American Jews. The group then turns to the Hasidic enclave of New Square where fire officials have declared that over 60% of buildings are not up to fire code, but that the town’s political clout keeps them from being able to enforce state rules. Finally Ezra Glinter, who edits the Forward’s The Arty Semite blog, joins the group to discuss the sometimes-controversial Hasidic pop of Lipa Schmeltzer.
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
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
