There Have Always Been Divisions
In David Hazony’s July 27 column, “The Death of Peoplehood,” his lament over Jewish ethnic diffusion and friction is understandable, but only to a point. The fact is that even apparent ethnic monoliths have internal tensions, and can go their own separate ways. One only has to look at America. America was founded by white English Protestants, yet their forbears had fought a Civil War in England and their descendants would ultimately fight another Civil War. As for American Jews, there were anti- and non-Zionists before Israel’s founding, just as there are today. American Jews might be moving away from a sense of “peoplehood,” but the forces of globalization, markets, and assimilation will erode most things. Just look at the Puritans. They conquered the American wilderness, but the American wilderness also conquered them.
Lloyd Green
Mamaroneck, N.Y.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chief