Playing on the Edge

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
A white minivan was spotted in the Western Galilee last week, heading through the Tefen Industrial Park to the Zikit Cultural Center. The mountainous landscape was awash with color, but this was no scenic tour for members of the Israeli Chamber Project. Armed with their music stands and instruments, they were on their way to work and perform with local high-school students majoring in music.
The trip to Tefen is part of a much larger journey the musicians are taking from the center to the periphery. In contrast, though, two weeks before their arrival in the Galilee, the group completed a tour of the United States with a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall before a full house and a spillover crowd waiting outside.
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