Forward 50 2013
When superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman and celebrity cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot appeared at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in February, their musical director was hardly at the top of the bill. That is par for the course for Hankus Netsky, who helped mastermind Perlman and Helfgot’s “Eternal Echoes” project. For more than 30 years, Netsky, 58, has…
When Chris Hughes, the millionaire co-founder of Facebook, bought The New Republic in 2012, there was a minor flap in the blogosphere over fears that the blond, Lutheran-raised Internet mogul would purge the venerable liberal magazine of its Jewish editorial staff. In fact, the opposite has been true, starting with the rehiring of Franklin Foer…
Jane Katz came home from Israel this year lugging unusual souvenirs: 13 medals from the 19th Maccabiah Games, including 11 for each of the Masters swimming events she entered, one silver for the medley relay she participated in as part of the U.S. team, and one gold for the women’s freestyle relay. These souvenirs are…
Two thousand thirteen has been an inside/outside kind of year, a time of agonizing introspection for the Jewish community as a whole, and one in which individual American Jews played dramatic roles on the national stage. It was a year of thrilling gains and heartbreaking loss, a year when new words crept into our vocabulary,…
When Eric Rosenthal, 49, won this year’s Charles Bronfman Prize, which recognizes the work of Jewish humanitarians under 50, he was stupefied, and not just because it came with a $100,000 stipend. “I never really brought my personal and professional life into such close connection,” he told the Forward in July. “The idea that this…
The biggest story of 2013, and possibly the decade, has been the exposure of the National Security Agency’s domestic and international surveillance program, including the extent of intelligence-sharing between America and Israel. At the center of this story — its conduit — is Glenn Greenwald. As a columnist for the Guardian, Greenwald came into contact…
When David Stern was named commissioner of the NBA in 1984, television ratings were so low that playoff games were shown on tape delay. By 2012, Game 7 of the NBA Finals, which were part of a television deal worth $1 billion, drew more than 26 million viewers in the United States. During his 30…
“Orange Is the New Black” is this year’s new paradigm-shifting television show. The daring comedy-drama about a well-to-do woman from New York who serves a year in a minimum security prison has been a critical hit. Though not eligible for a 2013 Emmy, it is the most successful series to have streamed on Netflix. And…
Journalism has undergone a turbulent few years. With business models imploding, foundational ideas in question and the advent of digital publishing, every corner turned has brought a crisis. Nicholas Lemann, 59, who stepped down this year from his decade-long post as dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, has attempted to meet these challenges…
While many NBA players choose to spend their summers vacationing on luxury beaches, New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire, 30, used his off time to strengthen his connection to Judaism. In July, Stoudemire — who was in Israel serving as the coach for the Canadian men’s basketball team participating in the Maccabiah Games — applied…
On the hit series “Homeland,” Mandy Patinkin plays CIA Division Chief Saul Berenson, a father figure with a strong sense of ethics. The role has catapulted Patinkin back into the national spotlight, but it’s only the latest step in a career that has made the 60-year-old performer, who got his start singing in his temple…
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