You Never Would Have Failed Hebrew School With This Teacher

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
You’ve never heard the Aleph Bet like this. A new music video released by Israeli artist Victoria Hanna flies through the sounds of the Hebrew alphabet with an energy you couldn’t imagine as your mom drove you to Hebrew school on Sunday mornings.
Hanna performs the various sounds in a rhythmic chant, dressed as a school teacher in front of a mesmerized class of girls. But then the video explodes into the alphabetic acrostic prayer of “hoshana”, traditionally recited in synagogues on Sukkot.
Victoria Hanna is the daughter of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, and has performed with Bobby McFerrin and the Israeli group Balkan Beat Box.
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