Forward 50 2014
It’s hard to imagine a more disturbing violation of a sacred Jewish space than the one of which Orthodox rabbi Barry Freundel is accused. In late September, someone saw the 62-year-old Washington, D.C., rabbi plug in a clock in his synagogue’s mikveh. The clock was spotted again on October 12, and synagogue officials gave the…
At 39 and in only his third term in office, Jared Polis is already drawing attention in political circles, thanks to what a Politico profile of the Colorado Democrat called “too much self-confidence and too little self-awareness.” But in his race to the top, the self-made millionaire whose Jewish parents were peace activists in the…
Marshal Klaven does exactly what any one rabbi would do for any one congregation. He just does it with 110 congregations in 13 states. As the outgoing itinerant rabbi of the Mississippi-based Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Klaven, 35, has spent the past five years traveling among underserved communities from Oklahoma to Virginia. His…
Despite her comparative youth, debut author Molly Antopol, 36, is something of a throwback. In her 2014 short-story collection, “The UnAmericans,” the San Francisco-based writer chronicled the gamut of the 20th-century American immigrant experience. Her keen eye and knack for mimicry enabled her to expose the lives of a wide array of characters — East…
This year saw Maggie Gyllenhaal, 36, step into the spotlight in a new way. Although she’s been a leading actress for more than a decade since the eccentric 2002 comedy “Secretary,” she has mostly been known for her supporting roles in films such as “The Dark Knight” and “Crazy Heart.” In this year’s television series…
Sheryl Sandberg’s gospel of female self-help reached the Orthodox world in 2014, thanks to The Jewish Woman Entrepreneur — a not-for-profit organization that provides resources for traditionally observant Jewish women launching and maintaining their own businesses — helmed by Chaya Appel-Fishman, 25. Founded just three years ago, The JWE had its second annual conference in…
I was sitting at my desk, trying to write. But all I could focus on were the sounds outside my apartment: a helicopter’s propeller whirred against a steady percussion of Molotov cocktails, fireworks and stun grenades, all punctuated by the occasional wail of sirens. I was on deadline for an article about the closure of…
In a summer that claimed 72 Israelis and more than 2,100 Palestinians, one individual provided succor to the Israeli public, even as she was grieving her own loss. Rachelli Fraenkel is the American-Israeli mother of Naftali Fraenkel, the 16-year-old yeshiva student who was kidnapped while hitchhiking with Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah in the Israeli-occupied…
The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. Read the discussion and vote for what you think is the best response to this particular quandary. You can email your own questions, which will remain anonymous,…
Not Letting Go Of Jewish Actress Idina Menzel
When I heard that The Public Theater was mounting a musical adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s “The Fortress of Solitude,” I was skeptical of what kind of hot mess it might become. I’d read the book when it came out in 2003 and deeply admired both its encyclopedic evocation of 1970s Brooklyn and its astute understanding…
די אַנטאָלאָגיע ווערט באַגלייט מיט פֿילמעלעך, וווּ באַקאַנטע פּוילישע פּערזענלעכקײטן לײענען אָדער דערצײלן איבער די מעשׂיות.
100% of profits support our journalism
