A Year of Curses and Many Blessings
The Cubs’ Dealmaker and Cursebreaker Having overturned the 86-year-old curse of the Bambino for the Boston Red Sox in 2004, Theo Epstein brought similar good fortune to the Chicago Cubs. This year, the Cubbies won the World Series and toppled the 108-year-long curse of the billy goat. Anyone who knew Epstein’s family might have predicted…
At the Forefront of Syrian Refugee Relief This year, many Jews spoke out against the growing tide of nativism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. But for Mark Hetfield, the 49-year-old president of HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), stemming that tide was a matter of personal importance and professional pride. HIAS is the oldest international migration…
Meet ‘Hamilton’s’ Original Thomas Jefferson (and Marquis de Lafayette) If you dig far enough back in Daveed Diggs’s Instagram feed, you’ll find a blurry picture of a framed white poster on a yellowing wall. The poster, filled with a dense list of names, is topped with a brief, triumphant title: “Hamilton.” He took that photo…
In October, as women stepped forward to accuse then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual assault, odds were that they’d announce their accusations with one woman by their side: Gloria Allred. Allred, 75, a powerhouse attorney who specializes in cases of women’s rights, famously represented Norma McCorvey, to get McCorvey publicly known as the real…
Hillary’s Funder-in-Chief Seven-figure contributions will buy any political donor an open door and willing heart among presidential candidates, but in the case of Haim Saban and the Clintons, it’s about more than money. The Israeli-American media mogul has been a top donor and close friend to the Clintons for two decades. After contributing tens of…
Helping Disabled Children Ride Horses for 20 Years When CNN announced the 10 finalists for its “CNN Heroes” special, 86-year-old Harry Swimmer was eating lox and bagels with family and friends, keeping his best poker face. Swimmer knew he was a finalist, but he’d signed a confidentiality agreement and kept the news from even his…
Title IX Warrior Alexandra Brodsky began 2016 as a law student. She will end it with a degree from Yale, as a leading feminist activist, and one of the most respected voices on the hot-button issue of “rape culture.” She’s a senior editor at Feministing.com and a co-founder of Know Your IX, a not-for-profit that…
Leader of the Bernie Bros Influenced The Election During the first half of 2016, America was Feeling the Bern. Bernie Sanders, 75, rose to become a surprisingly formidable opponent to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, speaking truth to power in his Brooklyn Jewish accent all across America. Again and again, primaries and polls came…
The Jewish Afroculinarian A food historian, Michael Twitty, might be an unlikely voice of popular protest, but his blog, Afroculinaria, was one of the sites that people went to for passionate commentary on #BlackLivesMatter and the homophobic Florida nightclub shooting in June. Twitty, 39, is black, Jewish and gay, and has been writing about history,…
Judge Judy Still Tops After 20 Years Born Judith Susan Blum and known to the world as Judge Judy, Judith Sheindlin is an icon. Her television courtroom show, where she dispenses tough love with no nonsense, has made her ubiquitous and wealthy. 2016 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Emmy-Award winning show’s premiere. In that…
The New York AG Was a Vocal Trump Attacker New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, 61, learned earlier than most what Donald Trump and his allies were capable of. In August 2013, Schneiderman’s office sued Trump University, the GOP candidate’s now-defunct real estate seminar, for $40 million, claiming it had defrauded its students. The…
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