The year was 1897. Here’s what Jews were doing.
125 years ago, the Forverts entered a vibrant Jewish world
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Life Should I drop out of school to help with my siblings?
The original Bintel Brief column was founded at the Forward in 1906 and ran through the 1980s. Written in Yiddish, letter writers sought advice on heartbreak, poverty, religious quarrels, family disputes, love triangles and more. Legacy Bintel revisits these original Bintel Brief letters. Many appear here in English for the first time. They have been…
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Culture Q&Archives: Telling old stories in new ways with Chana Pollack
This piece originally appeared on the Urban Archivist. Newspaper collections are not always the most impartial historical documents, but they provide a unique account of past events, both important and mundane, as primary resources. Since the vast majority of our partners’ collections are architecturally-focused, the two documentary-style newspaper collections that are available on our platform…
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Archive From the archives, Influenza 1918: Till death do us part
September 1918, normally a time for celebrating the upbeat Sukkot Jewish harvest holiday, instead saw the first influenza obituary published in the Forverts. It made front page news with this clickbait headline about George Abbot of Yonkers, NY: “Sought To Marry Before Dying, And Died Preceding Wedding.” Twenty-six-year-old Abbott died of influenza at St. John’s…
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Archive From the archive, 1959: Passover in Castro’s Cuba, yearning for freedom
In the very first edition of the Forverts newspaper, published during Passover 1897, Cuba made headlines. “Bravo Kubaners,” read our story in support of an independent Cuba, freed of Spanish rule. A century or so later, as we celebrate Pesach 2020, Ben Weitz figured it was the perfect time to tell the tale of his…
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Archive From the archives, influenza 1918: “Eat healthy—and change your underwear!”
October 28th, 1918 the Forverts published a curious ad on their 6th page—in an issue featuring, above the masthead, a one thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the attempted murder of butcher workers’ leader Isidore Korn. He had been stabbed only that last Wednesday, while addressing a socialist gathering on…
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Archive From the archive, Influenza 1918: Reb Velvele’s shiva adjustments
October 28, 1918, the Forverts published what is likely their first rabbinic pronouncement on the influenza epidemic. Written by New York’s Chief of the Rabbinic Courts, Rabbi Gavriel Zev Margolis, it could be found above the fold, technically speaking, but on the very last page of the secular Yiddish Forverts. The informal, chatty headline made…
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News From the Forverts archives, Influenza 1918: Scenes from a Jewish drug store
Healthcare was similarly overloaded during the 1918 influenza as it is today during the coronavirus epidemic, as seen in this article originally published in the Forverts 11/6/1918. Yente Serdatsky, a staff writer at the Forverts, was a contentious figure known for her stories, novellas, and dramatic sketches. Here, she uses her descriptive talents to paint…
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In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish אַ ייִדיש־לערער פֿאַר אַלעמען: זכרונות װעגן מרדכי שעכטערן אױף אַ קאָנפֿערענץ צו זײַן 15טן יאָרצײַטHe taught us all Yiddish: Sharing memories of Mordkhe Schaechter at a conference for his 15th yortsayt
אַ סך פֿון זײַנע תּלמידים האָבן נישט געשטאַמט פֿון ייִדיש־רעדערס; פֿאָרט האָט ער זיך אָפּגעגעבן מיט זיי, סײַ װי תּלמידים סײַ ווי מיטאַרבעטערס.
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News Critic of yeshiva education promises ‘independent’ coverage of Haredi issues in new publication
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Film & TV Haredi Jews won a legal battle against conversion therapy — a new film shows the fight’s not over
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Culture ‘We enjoy being in shul together’: Tony Kushner talks about his friendship with Steven Spielberg