God on the Trail
James Besser of The Jewish Week takes a look at the heightened role of religion in the 2008 presidential race.
News
-
An Ancient Shibboleth
Sam Sherman of Voorhees, N.J., has an interesting question. It has to do with a story in the 12th chapter of the Book of Judges about a battle between the Gileadites, who lived to the east of the Jordan River, and the Ephraimites, who lived to the west of it. When the Ephraimites were defeated,…
-
-
Coleman vs. Franken
First quarter fundraising numbers are in, and while a lot of ink is being over the presidential race, it is also worth noting that Al Franken nearly matched Senator Norm Coleman up in Minnesota.
The Latest
-
Yid.Dish: Charoset: A Rememberance of Mortar Used for Pharaoh’s Construction Projects
We remember! We remember! (We also recommend adding a little more wine to [this recipe][1].), for optimal construction qualities). [1]: We remember! We remember! (We also recommend adding a little more wine to this recipe, for optimal construction qualities
-
110 Years of News in the Forward
Since the Forward began sending out reporters 110 years ago, the paper has been on top of nearly every major news event. The Forward’s mission was political but its first commitment was to telling its readers what they needed to know and telling them straight. Here is a selection of seven particularly decisive stories of…
-
A Newspaper That Was No Mere Newspaper
The men and women who founded the Jewish Daily Forward were not business people out to make a buck. They were socialist intellectuals and labor activists who wanted to create a new tribune for Yiddish-speaking workers. On January 30, 1897, they met in a rented hall on Orchard Street to make plans. Unlike the leading…
-
A Friend to Those Who Struggle — Then and Now
‘Victory!! Bravo, Hurrah, Cap Makers! Cheers to the entire Jewish quarter, which helped win this amazing battle! Hurrah to all the unions!” Thus read the Jewish Daily Forward’s front page in 1905 in response to a huge victory by the cap makers’ union. The Forverts published in red ink to honor the workers’ victory. At…
-
A Community of Readers
For the thousands of Jewish immigrants who flooded into America during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Jewish Daily Forward was far more than a newspaper — it was a lifeline, an advocate and a basis of community. Led by its legendary founding editor, Abraham Cahan, the Forverts helped generations of newcomers adjust to…
-
Forverts!
For this week’s anniversary issue, I’ve been asked by the editors of the Forward to write about how the paper got its name. This is in some ways easy to do and in some ways not. What gave the Forward’s founder, Abraham Cahan, the idea of calling his new Yiddish paper Forverts when it first…
-
On the Radio
Since 1922, when radio was exceedingly new, Forward business manager Boruch Charney Vladeck had dreamed of a transmitting tower atop the Forward building — already the most imposing structure on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In 1932, Charney Vladeck convinced his boss, Abe Cahan, to come up with $250,000 to bail out New York’s faltering radio…
-
The Newspaper That Speaks Your Language
In 1970, soon after my bar mitzvah, at the instigation of my uncle — late Yiddish linguist Mordkhe Schaechter — I joined in a demonstration with family and friends in front of the old Forward offices on East Broadway, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, demanding that the paper clean up its language. No, it was…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
- 2
Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
- 3
Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
- 4
Culture An Israeli genocide scholar looks to Israel’s history to understand ‘what went wrong’
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Elected PA Jewish judge leaves Democratic party, citing ‘disturbingly common’ antisemitism
-
Fast Forward At Abraham Foxman’s funeral, an elegy for the last generation with direct ties to the Holocaust
-
Fast Forward Israeli report on ‘systematic’ Oct. 7 sexual violence seeks to shift debate from denial to accountability
-
News Mamdani supersizes NYC hate crimes office, as tensions simmer over synagogue protests