A Piano to the Rescue

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
“I didn’t have a bad childhood, but I was pretty lonely. I spent a lot of time alone in my room, listening to music and dreaming my little dream of making music, and appearing in concerts.” This is how Tzvika Lorber, known as Tzvika Force on stage, describes his start as an artist.
Force, 24, was born into a religious family in Be’er Sheva. He re-worked his feelings as an outsider into his musical compositions. He resists flattering self-descriptions claiming he overcame adversity, and emphasizes that his childhood had no tragic dynamic, such as religious parents opposing the artistic inclinations of their secular boy.
His family supports him, Force emphasizes; they attend his concerts. Nonetheless, the alienation of a young teenager who had artistic yearnings unknown to other members of his family constitutes the creative foundation of his music today.
"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.
