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Defying Stereotypes, Jewish Life in the South Is Flourishing
When Courtney Ferriter arrived six years ago in the predominantly Protestant community of Auburn, Alabama, she needed a place where she felt like she belonged. “You feel like you’re a bit of an outsider, so the natural inclination is, you want to go find your people,” Ferriter said. Ferriter, a graduate student at Auburn University,…
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Presidential Candidates Head to Israel — But Who Foots the Bill?
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson visited Israel on a tour organized by a for-profit company that has since ceased most of its activity. Ted Cruz took the trip on the dime of a hawkish advocacy group with neoconservative ties. Rand Paul had an anti-gay Christian group pay his way to Jerusalem. And Carly Fiorina, a…
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Forward 50 2015 Mendy Reiner
It’s a rare group of people who can say they saved another person’s life. But dozens of Jews, most of them ultra-Orthodox, are saving lives every year by committing a profound act of altruism — becoming a live kidney donor to a stranger. That’s thanks to Mendy Reiner, 38, a soft-spoken ultra-Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn….
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Forward 50 2015 Alan Gross
When Alan Gross was released from a Cuban jail in December 2014, people would have forgiven him if all he wanted was to retire to his Maryland home for a quiet life with his wife, Judy. During his five years in captivity, he lost 100 pounds, considered committing suicide and missed saying goodbye to his…
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Forward 50 2015 Evelyn Witkin
When Evelyn Witkin received the National Medal of Science from President George W. Bush in 2002, at age 81, she might have suspected that it would be the high point of an illustrious career. Perhaps it would be the icing on the cake of the 2000 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal, awarded for distinguished service to…
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Forward 50 2015 Wendy Sherman
Israel and the American Jewish establishment fought furiously against the nuclear deal that Wendy Sherman forged with Iran as America’s key negotiator. But Sherman, ironically, credits the Jewish values she learned from her parents for her determination to push through during two years of grueling multilateral talks. They are, she says, the same values that…
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Forward 50 2015 Evan Wolfson
When Evan Wolfson wrote his Harvard Law School thesis on gay marriage in 1983, it was considered a fringe idea. Thirty-two years later, Wolfson had his “I told you so” moment when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015. “Love won,” Wolfson wrote in The New York Times that day. As…
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Forward 50 2015 Justin Hartfield
Justin Hartfield believes that the medical effectiveness of marijuana is going to be the big news story of this century. Hartfield’s business Weedmaps — the Yelp of weed — helps patients and recreational users find and rate marijuana dispensaries across the country. It’s a practical and useful service in California, where Weedmaps is based, which…
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Forward 50 2015 Ruby Sklar (and Rachel)
For years, Rachel Sklar played the role of the feminist single woman to perfection in New York’s glittery tech and media world. She was an indefatigable networker and promoter (for herself and others) who knew how to attract the limelight — to win the TV gigs and the Twitter followers to her own creative brand….
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Forward 50 2015 Amy Schumer
2015 was the year of Amy Schumer. When she wasn’t making viral waves on “Inside Amy Schumer,” being named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2015, writing and acting in the hit comedy “Trainwreck,” trading text messages with Jennifer Lawrence, winning Emmys and making surprise appearances at Billy Joel concerts, Schumer, 34,…
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Forward 50 2015 Carolyn Hessel
As the executive director of the Jewish Book Council for over 20 years, Carolyn Starman Hessel has been called the “Jewish Oprah.” She helped launch the careers of writers such as Nathan Englander, Jonathan Safran Foer, Francesca Segal and Dara Horn. Most of all, she made a small Jewish organization into a powerhouse of the…
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