An Anti-Orthodox Bias
Both the September 16 article, “How an Anti-Terror Program Became a Jewish Earmark,” and accompanying editorial are guilty of anti-Orthodox bias. For example, the authors admit that the Reform movement has, in large part, decided not to apply for the Homeland Security grants because it feels there is a church-state issue. But the authors then condemn Orthodox institutions, and especially Chabad, for receiving a disproportionate number of the grants. What do they expect?
Furthermore, it’s completely disingenuous to claim that the Orthodox/Chabad world is somehow wired into Washington, thereby ensuring receipt of the grants. The three Jewish institutions that received grants here in Massachusetts this year (two Chabads and one Bais Yaakov) utilized the services of a grant writer who has no connections to Washington, but rather knows how to write good grants for deserving institutions.
Temima Cohen
Brookline, Mass.
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-chiefSupport our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
