I began working at the Forverts in 1998, but my first encounter with the Forverts was actually as a demonstrator in 1973. And that experience ended with a Forverts staffer throwing an egg at us!
My father was a Yiddish language professor and he was loyal to the rival Yiddish paper, Der Tog-Morgn Zhurnal. When Der Tog folded, many readers switched over to the Forverts. My father did too but he often criticized the Forverts for not updating its old-fashioned Yiddish spelling, making it difficult for students learning Yiddish to read the articles.
So he organized a protest outside the Forverts building on the Lower East Side, and I was there, too, carrying a picket sign. One of the Forverts workers watching us from his window on the second floor got so angry he threw an egg at us! Finally, in the 1980s, the editors agreed to update their writing standards.
So you see, even long before my first day at the Forverts, I’ve been committed to making Yiddish accessible to readers. And I’m honored to have spent the past 25 years ensuring that the Yiddish Forverts continues to be relevant and meaningful to all its readers.
