Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
I nearly died in the mid-’90s and urgently needed to feel the sense of spiritual belonging that community prayer affords. Yet, my profound exhaustion and seizures made it impossible to attend my own temple. I would be homebound for years. At some point, I contacted what is now the Union for Reform Judaism and spoke to a rabbi about the possibility of providing services online. She said it was too difficult with the available technology. It only was years later that I discovered that there now was a smattering of services online. I jumped from one service to another — until I found Rabbi Rubinstein at Central. It’s been my home away from home for years. Rabbi Rubinstein not only makes his thousands of cyber-congregants feel welcome by acknowledging their presence (even answering letters and providing past sermons as counsel), but also — and perhaps even more importantly — he is a profound thinker.
— Wendy Rafilson Black
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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