History

The Forward is a legendary name in American journalism and a revered institution in American Jewish life. Launched as a Yiddish-language daily newspaper on April 22, 1897, the Forward entered the din of New York's immigrant press as a defender of trade unionism and moderate, democratic socialism. The Jewish Daily Forward quickly rose above the crowd, however; under the leadership of its founding editor, the crustily independent Abraham Cahan, the Forward came to be known as the voice of the Jewish immigrant and the conscience of the ghetto. It fought for social justice, helped generations of immigrants to enter American life, broke some of the most significant news stories of the century, and was among the nation's most eloquent defenders of democracy and Jewish rights.

By the early 1930s the Forward had become one of America's premier metropolitan dailies, with a nationwide circulation topping 275,000 and influence that reached around the world and into the Oval Office. Thousands more listened regularly to the Forward's Yiddish-language radio station, WEVD, "the station that speaks your language." The newspaper's editorial staff included, at one time or another, nearly every major luminary in the then-thriving world of Yiddish literature, from the beloved "poet of the sweatshops," Morris Rosenfeld, to the future Nobel laureates Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel. At the helm, guiding the paper for a full half-century until his death in 1950, was Cahan. Both as an editor and in his own writings - including his timeless advice column, the Bintel Brief - he set the populist, down-to-earth tone that was the Forward's hallmark. In thousands of Jewish households across the country, the Forward was for decades more than just a daily newspaper - it was a trusted guide and a member of the family.

With the end of World War II the Forward entered a period of decline. The vast, Yiddish-speaking world of Eastern European Jewry was no more. Without replenishment, the Forward's own readership was dwindling and graying. In 1983 the paper cut back to a weekly publishing schedule and launched an English-language supplement.

In more recent years the Yiddish paper has experienced a modest revival, benefiting from the renewed interest in Yiddish on college campuses and from the leadership of editor, the Russian-born essayist and novelist Boris Sandler, who took over in 1998.

In 1990 the Forward Association, the newspaper's non-profit holding company, made the bold decision to remake the English-language Forward as an independent, high-profile weekly newspaper committed to covering the Jewish world with the same crusading journalistic spirit as Cahan's Jewish Daily Forward. Led for its first decade by Seth Lipsky, a longtime editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal, the new Forward quickly established itself as a fearless and indispensable source of news and opinion on Jewish affairs. Its cultural pages have featured reviews and original belles letters by such writers as Cynthia Ozick, Phillip Lopate, Anne Roiphe and Ilan Stavans, while the sassy FastForward section has become a leading window into the lifestyles of younger Jews.

The veteran journalist and author J.J. Goldberg took the reins in July 2000. He continued and expanded the paper's commitment to incisive, hard-hitting reportage while at the same time returning to the populist, progressive spirit that was the Forward's hallmark in its early years. Under Goldberg's leadership the paper reached its largest-ever English-language circulation, while firmly cementing its reputation as American Jewry's essential newspaper of record.

After Goldberg decided to return to writing, the newspaper took another bold turn by appointing its first woman editor, Jane Eisner, in 2008. A respected reporter, foreign correspondent, editorial page editor and syndicated columnist for 25 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Eisner also taught for five years at the University of Pennsylvania and authored “Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy” (2004). Helped by a strong editing team, she is growing the Forward in print and on line, with new and innovative features and an even sharper focus on telling the contemporary Jewish story.

Today's Forward is once again becoming what its parent publication was nearly a century ago: a trusted guide - to the varieties of Jewish experience - and a welcome member of the family.

The Forward family of newspapers continues to carry on the founding vision of Abraham Cahan, serving together as the voice of the American Jew and the conscience of the community.

• "There will not be another Holocaust. But Kristallnacht is another story. Let us learn its lessons to avoid the slow terrorization of Europe’s Jews."
• Rachelli Fraenkel lost her son in the terrorist kidnapping that led to the Gaza war. For reaching beyond painful divides even as she was grieving her own loss, we name her to the #Forward50. Watch the powerful video: jd.fo/p65sL
• A Jewish husband wants his wife to cut off all contact with her anti-Semitic mom. She asks the #Seesaw for help explaining to him why she can’t just end the relationship.
• Ever since Kristallnacht, one Jewish family has been searching for the man who saved them from the Holocaust. He was a Nazi officer.
• "At the heart of the 'Frozen' craze is a voice — a powerful, emotional, Jewish voice." Next up on our #Forward50 Top 5: Idina Menzel! jd.fo/p64ZL
• The number of people who believe they are descendants of the Jews or the ancient Israelites about equals the number of officially recognized Jews.
• Fruit croquants. Caramel tart. Pain d'epices. Dorie Greenspan has cracked the code of how the French bake at home for family and close friends.
• "Like most other German Jews, I thought: Was there really no other day they could have brought down the wall besides the anniversary of Kristallnacht? Which by the way also happened to be the day when the first German Republic was declared in 1918, and when Hitler failed in his Munich beer hall putsch in 1923." Where were you when the Berlin Wall fell? Tell us in the comments.
• "The mansion lived a double life. By day, it was filled with American secretaries who checked visa applications against a list of registered Nazis. At night, it was a safe house for spies."
• Was Tolstoy really an anti-Semite?
• "My abortion was a secret that I kept for almost 20 years." Judy Bolton-Fasman moving essay is a must read:
• "The most surprising thing about “Listen Up Philip” is how boring it is." Planning on catching a movie this weekend? You may want to read Anya Ulinich's review first.
• Don't try this at home.
• Everything you need to know about Jonathan Greenblatt, the man who will replace Abe Foxman as head of the ADL - Anti-Defamation League.
• "I realized I could no sooner stop being a Jew than I could stop being Korean, or female, or me." Next up in our #Forward50 Top 5: Central Synagogue's Rabbi Angela Buchdahl: jd.fo/f5tsc