Newt Gingrich, the GOP presidential primary frontrunner, derides the U.S. State Department as “incapable of articulating the cause of freedom.” Former Senator Rick Santorum threatened to take a “meat ax” to it as his first order of business if elected president. And Rep. Michele Bachmann, another GOP presidential hopeful, called on it to more forcefully…
When I met biologist Lynn Margulis, she spoke with such authority and passion, that I immediately dubbed her “Rabbi Lynn.” She would have laughed at that. At best, she thought of religion as a useful tribal activity of anthropoids, but one that could be superstitious and antithetical to the search for truth. When she heard…
Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich’s claim that the Palestinians are an “invented” people brought the issue of Israel and the Middle East to center stage in Saturday’s Republican candidates’ debate in Iowa. For Gingrich’s rivals, especially Mitt Romney, who has seen his once-safe lead slip away, the issue of Israel and Palestine posed somewhat of a…
This holiday season will be the last for two iconic discount clothing retailers with historic Jewish roots: Filene’s Basement and Syms, which acquired the former in 2009. Both recently declared bankruptcy and will cease operating in January. While the commercial legacy of the Filene family may end soon, founder Edward Filene’s social legacy, as an…
When Guy Rilov lights his Hanukkah menorah, he will literally be carrying a torch for tradition. The trees from which he harvests olives for their oil are more than a millennium old and, he believes, powered the menorahs of generations past. “There isn’t another crop in Israel where the same trees are being harvested today…
More than 100 Orthodox rabbis have signed onto a statement in opposition to same sex weddings, saying that gay marriage is a “desecration of Torah values.” The statement was a response to a November wedding between two men that was officiated by the Orthodox-ordained rabbi and longtime gay rights activist Steven Greenberg. Hailed as an…
YIVO Benefit at Center for Jewish History Honors Jacob Frenkel, Chairman of JPMorgan The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research’s 86th annual benefit dinner, held on November 30 and honoring JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman Jacob Frenkel with a lifetime achievement award, was as much a gathering of financial gurus as it was of Yiddishists, intellectuals…
The Forward’s annual salary survey covered 76 national Jewish organizations. The following is a searchable chart of the organizations and their leaders. Men are indicated in black, women in blue. Individual salaries and organizational expenses are indicated in dollars. Benefits are not included.
In this week’s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by Forward editor Jane Eisner and Larry Cohler-Esses to discuss our annual feature survey of the salary of the highest paid leaders of groups representing the Jewish community. They also talk about why the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee are not raising as much…
Two of America’s oldest, largest and most prominent Jewish organizations are suffering massive slides in public contributions as Jews appear to be turning away from large, multi-issue advocacy groups and toward single-issue organizations. The Anti-Defamation League has lost more than $20 million in annual contributions over the past five years, going from more than $73…
In the battle for the Republican pro-Israel vote, Newt Gingrich lacks Mitt Romney’s broad base of prominent Jewish donors. But he has something potentially more powerful: the support of one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s most significant American backers, and a relationship with the Israeli prime minister himself that stretches back decades. Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson,…
