Rabbi Aviva Fellman
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Even rabbis need to have rabbis. Three years ago we hired Rabbi Fellman, a fifth-year student at JTS, to read Torah and help out in our congregation. As the “senior rabbi,” my job was to serve as her mentor. Rabbi Fellman quickly became a colleague and an important part of our community, not just a student. By the middle of the year, we asked her to stay on as our associate rabbi. Rabbi Fellman has brought a new spirit of joy to our congregation, while dealing with two major hurricanes which devastated our community. During the first hurricane, while I was out of town, Rabbi Fellman managed to call all 300 families in our synagogue to check in on them. Most of all, Rabbi Fellman has inspired me to be a better rabbi. She is warm and caring. A Shabbat does not pass without guests at her dinner table. She teaches and lives Jewish values. Together we have learned and grown.
— Rabbi Mark Greenspan
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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