Image by Nikki Casey

By Ian Fist February 25, 2018

Dear Reader:

It is with excitement that we announce that this will be the final issue of the Backward as you have known it for five thousand years.

After several re-envisioning sessions, numerous re-imagining focus groups and senior management offsite retreats in Hawaii, the Bahamas and the spas of Jerusalem (the eternal capital of the Jews), the leadership of the Backward Association has decided to shutter both this publication and the YidNist.

These focus groups led us to ask important questions, like, What is our mission? Is it to explore Jewish life as it is lived, and to hold the most powerful to account? Because that’s a lot of work, and it’s not clear that anybody pays attention, let alone subscribes. Or is it to encourage young, horny Jews to engage in erotic acts and reproduce, thus producing more Jews? That sounds like a lot more fun, and cheaper, with a non-union labor force.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

This is not at all related to the decision of Backward and YidNist writers to unionize. That is their legal right. This is an entirely different matter. Totally unrelated to this.

The Backward Association has decided to launch a new multi-platform tool specifically designed to promote Jewish continuity across the internet of things.

J-Sideways, our new initiative, will be a wine appreciation and Jewish dating entity provided free to anyone who has been on Birthright, who had a bar or bat mitzvah or who owns a Drake track (Spotify plays are also acceptable, as are screenshots of “Hotline Bling”). Using AI, VR and a dedicated drone fleet, fertile heterosexual Jews will be inextricably connected by J-Sideways.

Instead of Alexa or Siri, J-Sideways has a purpose-built AI interface called Dr. Ruth that comes with a choice of two separate middle European accents.

The mission statement of the new multi-platform entity — “To imbibe and connect Jewish partners from generation to generation” — captures the essence of our very being. And we believe that we successfully explain our aims with the ad line, “Drink and have Jewish babies.”

All of us at the Backward are so grateful to clients like you for helping us reach this landmark moment. And stay tuned, logged in and subscribed — because the best is yet to come.

Warm regards,

Ian Fist
Supreme Dictator of the Backward CCEIO of J-Sideways

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

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

$90 $180

$360

Other amount