Forward 50 2013
Political scientist Wallace Stanley Sayre once said: “Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low.” When it comes to Jewish studies professor Ruth Wisse, the politics have certainly been fierce, but the stakes have hardly been low. Wisse, 77, is the Martin Peretz professor of Yiddish…
What was Jewish about Angelina Jolie’s decision to have her breasts surgically removed? Everything. The Hollywood superstar stunned million of fans with the stark and eloquent announcement that she had chosen to proactively undergo the procedure to reduce her risk of contracting breast cancer. Jolie, whose mother died from breast cancer, explained that she took…
David Coleman, president of the College Board, finds himself at the heart of the latest culture wars, entangled in the struggle between conservatives and liberals over the role of government in education reform. Coleman, 43, is widely referred to as the architect of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a set of academic goals that…
When Solon Beinfeld, co-editor-in-chief of the new Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, was on a Fulbright scholarship in Paris in the 1950s, Yiddish wasn’t part of his graduate work. But having been raised in a Yiddish-speaking home, Beinfeld couldn’t help but gravitate toward the city’s Yiddish-speaking community, and especially to its Medem Library, named after the Bund…
While reporting on Hurricane Sandy, Forward reporters witnessed scores of flooded basements, wrecked storefronts, and crumbling synagogue walls. Yet in the aftermath of such a tragedy, we were inspired by the work of those who selflessly answered the call to rebuild our damaged communities. One such volunteer was Starbuck Ballner, 27, the operations and administrative…
Though ineligible for our main list because of her anonymity (hence no photograph), the bravery of one young ultra-Orthodox woman merits special note. Despite massive communal opposition and threats she stood up for Orthodox victims of sexual abuse. Prior to the 2012 trial of Nechemya Weberman, the Satmar community raised $500,000 for the accused and…
Spearheading the Jewish invasion of Sweden this year was Arieh Warshel, 72, the Israeli-American chemist who shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Michael Levitt and Martin Karplus for “the development of multi-scale models for complex chemical systems.” This translates roughly to creating computer programs that simulate complex chemical processes — mirroring real life, but…
Unless you are a professional foodie, there’s a good chance you aren’t familiar with Mitchell Davis. But you have surely tasted his impact. As executive vice president of the James Beard Foundation — America’s foremost culinary organization — Davis is one of the most influential individuals on the nation’s foodways. Davis is the weekly host…
The choice of Josh Block, 40, to head The Israel Project, one of the Jewish community’s fastest growing pro-Israel organizations, marked a clear shift for the group and in Block’s professional trajectory. A former media relations professional, Block was best known as the combative spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he served…
Of the Three Horsemen of Jewish sexual misdoing of 2013, Bob Filner was by far the worst. Anthony Weiner’s sexting episode, which came repeatedly to attention during his botched New York City mayoral run, was weird and embarrassing. Eliot Spitzer’s dalliance with hookers, which came up again during his failed New York City comptroller campaign,…
Eli Pariser has an aw-shucks wholesomeness born of his upbringing in small-town Maine. He also has a razor-sharp knowledge of the Internet that quickly won him an eight-figure injection of venture capital. He’s even faster at garnering a million online signatures to end an injustice in some far-flung corner of Kansas or Kazakhstan. At 32,…
בײַ ייִדן איז פֿאַראַן אַן אַלטע טראַדיציע צו שרײַבן רײַסישע סגולות מיט ייִדישע אותיות.
