A Living Museum in Nahariya
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
Near the door of Andreas Meyer’s home in Kfar Vradim hangs an old photograph of trees alongside a stream, Nahal Ga’aton, which cuts through the city of Nahariya. Opposite is a photo, from 1908, of Meyer’s grandfather and two uncles. Both images serve as a window into 90-year-old Meyer’s life and home, as well as the history of Nahariya.
Meyer immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1937, arriving directly in the northern coastal city of Nahariya, which had been founded two years earlier. He made his living as a welder, a profession he had acquired as a boy in Germany.
“It was difficult in school for Jews during that period,” he relates. “My father had a small factory and one of his workers took me on as an apprentice, even though it was forbidden to apprentice Jews. When we immigrated [here], my father was wise enough to take some of our work tools on board the ship, and when we arrived in Nahariya we had an advantage. My brothers and I later opened a welding shop.”
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.
