Laden...
| JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. ➤ Give a tax-deductible donation
A WEEKLY LETTER FROM OUR EDITOR IN CHIEF A WEEKLY LETTER FROM OUR EDITOR IN CHIEF Mazal tov to Cameron Bernstein, Jake Cohen, Hannah Einbinder, Rabbi TomGutherz, Debbie Nathan, Sabrina Sojourner and Elliot Steinmetz There’s a cook, a coach and a comic. No, this is not the start of some Jewish joke. It’s our new end-of-year list of American Jews who were in the news – or should have been.
They range in age from 23 to 71. They live on Long Island and in Los Angeles, in El Paso, Texas, and Charlottesville, Virginia, in western Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. One served in Congress and another is nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe. There’s a rabbi, a hazzanit and a Yiddishist (actually two). They are fathers and daughters, writers and readers, activists and community-builders.
There are seven of them, and they are, in a word, fascinating. For 26 years starting in 1995, Forward editors created an annual list of the 50 “most influential American Jews.” It was called the Forward 50, which has a lovely alliterative ring, and many who landed on the lists proudly included it in their bios. (I know I was both tickled and honored to be among the Forward 50 of 2012, when I was named Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times.)
Fifty people a year for 26 years. That’s 1,300 people, though some appeared more than once, like Rabbi Angela Buchdahl (2020 and 2014) and Abe Foxman (2010 and 2007) , and we sometimes doubled up, as with music-producers Aaron Dressner and Jack Antonoff last year.
When we sat down to compile 2021’s list, we thought: 50 is too many. Too many for readers to absorb. Too many to make being on the list truly meaningful.
We also didn’t love the framing of “most influential.” Influence can, of course, be positive or negative, and we got blowback for including on our Forward 50 lists notorious characters who had indeed helped shape the news, but who readers found unworthy of end-of-year recognition.
Plus, we want each year’s list to feel fresh, introducing readers to people who might not dominate the headlines but are having meaningful impact on our world -- any honest assessment of “most influential” American Jews would include the likes of Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Janet Yellen and the heads of major Jewish organizations over and over.
As I have written before, I believe the key to innovation is distinguishing between traditions and habits. It’s something I learned from the executive editor of The Times, Dean Baquet, but it’s particularly relevant in a Jewish context, given our relationship with both halacha and minhag.
Traditions are the core of who you are and what you do. For the Forward, that’s about independence and integrity, storytelling and community connection. Habits are the way you express those traditions based on the needs and opportunities of the moment.
The Forward 50 began as a special print section distributed at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly. I’m told it was a very big deal, as all the machers at that annual conclave competed to be first to find out who among them had made the vaunted list.
We no longer live in that world – we no longer publish in print, for one thing. So we’re no longer making that list.
Instead, I asked our staff – and our readers – to nominate a relative handful of American Jews they found fascinating this year. We thought we’d try an equally alliterative Forward 5 or Forward 15, but alas, we ended up with seven, so we’re dubbing it “Forward Shortlist.” When we sat down to compile 2021’s list, we thought: 50 is too many. Too many for readers to absorb. Too many to make being on the list truly meaningful. The cook is Jake Cohen, who published a best-selling book this year and has more than 1.5 million followers across TikTok and Instagram. The coach is Elliot Steinmetz, who has led Yeshiva University’s men’s basketball team on a historic 50-game (and counting) winning streak – and is also the father of the first Orthodox player drafted by Major League Baseball.
The comic is Hannah Einbinder, who wears a Star of David pendant in interviews and stars in the TV series “Hacks.”
The Shortlist also includes Debbie Nathan, a crusading journalist-turned-immigration advocate; Rabbi Tom Gutherz of Charlottesville, where hate was put on trial this fall; Cameron Bernstein, the first and most prominent Yiddish TikToker; and Sabrina Sojourner, who combines work for racial justice and LGTBQ rights with cantorial leadership on oft-unconventional occasions.
All but Einbinder answered questions that aimed to go beyond their work. Three of the six chose Passover as their favorite holiday. Breakfast = coffee for half of them. Sojourner selected her mother as her hero; Steinmetz, his children.
They’re reading memoirs by Katie Couric and Qian Julie Wang, watching “Unorthodox” and “Star Trek: Discovery” and listening to a whole host of great podcasts.
They are inspiring as well as fascinating – and humble, too.
“I’m not a big trophy guy, I don’t really care for rings or trophies,” Steinmetz said in an interview]earlier this year. “For me, the goals are always the same: to get better every day, try to win every time you’re out there, and to represent the university and the surrounding Jewish community in a positive way.”
Click here to read the seven profiles and Q/As with our Forward Shortlist 2021.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Jewish Day at the Movies! Questions/feedback: [email protected]
YOUR TURN: EPIC TYPOS When I wrote last week about the brain science behind typos and shared some of the epic mistakes I've made in both my journalism career and my personal life, I didn't even think to ask readers to share stories of their own mistakes. But they poured in anyhow! They're funny, they're human -- and they're a little racy. Check them out here.
A FREE, PRINTABLE MAGAZINE OF STORIES TO SAVOR OVER SHABBAT AND SUNDAY An essay by Victoria Myers about Lucille Ball, antisemitism, and the new Aaron Sorkin movie "Being the Ricardos" -- which I loved -- is our most-read story of December so far. Also in this week's edition: Andrew Silverstein debunks the Christmas cheesecake shortage; Michele Chabin reports on Israeli parents pushing back against the custom of secret burials for infants who do not survive a month; Louis Keene on a family's journey from the Holocaust to the NBA; and PJ Grisar's classic on why Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas.
Download the printable (PDF) ➤ WATCH: BEYOND THE BYLINES Get to know Benyamin Cohen, our news director and host of our essential morning briefing, "Forwarding the News." He's basically been training for this gig since he was 5 years ago, curating the news for friends, family -- and now all of you. In this video, Benyamin reveals some of his secrets, including how much coffee he drinks while making the magic happen each morning, how many Google Alerts he has set up and why he has all those headphones in his office.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Support Independent Jewish Journalism The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law.
"America’s most prominent Jewish newspaper" — The New York Times, 2021 Copyright © 2021, The Forward Association, Inc. All rights reserved. The Forward Association, Inc., 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter. To stop receiving all emails from the Forward click here. |
Laden...
Laden...
