Dear Reader,
This year started out with the terrifying hostage-taking at a Texas synagogue, and seems likely to close with a seemingly endless spiral of antisemitic vitriol. Our journalists have covered every bit of it, with integrity and insight.
And in between, they have curated the 150 best Jewish pop songs and 125 most Jewish movie scenes of all time; investigated New York’s kosher pizza offerings; traveled to the borders of Ukraine to chronicle the struggles of refugees from the war; penned odes to the Choco-Taco and the founder of Entenmann’s; dove deep into Jewish life and Israel politics at George Washington University and into an all-Mormon production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Brigham Young; and chronicled the last days of a small-town synagogue.
This year, our fundraising team asked me to pick my favorite story, to kick off a week of emails from our journalists highlighting their favorites. I told them that was like asking me to pick my favorite child. (Though in terms of my own byline, I am rather partial to this summertime rant against camps posting photos…)
But more importantly: The Forward isn’t about a single blockbuster story. It’s about having a variety of news and feature articles, a range of diverse opinion columns, videos, live-journalism conversations and podcast episodes and social media conversations and games and recipes and personal essays that always add up to more than the sum of its parts.
It’s about having a spectrum of on-ramps every day for every type and stripe of Jew to engage with their identities and interests. It’s about creating a platform for civil discourse on what divides us. It’s about bringing a Jewish lens, and Jewish values — and sometimes a dash of Jewish humor — to bear on our complicated world.
That’s why, as Hanukkah begins this Sunday, you’ll hear from some of our journalists themselves: sharing the stories that stood out to them this year. You’ll get an inside look at what makes our coverage possible: what inspires our writers, how this work impacts them, and, ultimately, why these stories make a difference.
If you, like me, are inspired by the breadth and depth of our work this year, I hope you’ll join me in making a gift to support our work as we enter 2023.
