The Forward Association, a nonprofit organization created 107 years ago, recently sold one of its newspapers, the Russian-language Forward. The newspaper now belongs to the Mitzvah Media Group, a media management group formed by some administrative members of Russian American Jews for Israel (RAJI), a nonprofit organization, along with colleagues from similar Jewish organizations in several U.S. cities.
The Mitzvah Media Group will maintain the direction of the Forward Association, which focuses on Russian-Jewish life in the United States and on events in Israel. The newspaper will remain a nonprofit publication that serves as the voice of the Russian-Jewish community of North America.
Forward Association Executive Director Samuel Norich said today that the weekly Russian Forward is currently read by tens of thousands of immigrants, primarily in the greater New York area. The newspaper runs news, opinion and analysis articles. It is one of a few Russian-language newspapers that offers a Jewish perspective on the news without a religious overlay. The Russian Forward has won great respect in the community, seeking to better understand the community’s history and traditions.
In contrast to other Russian-language newspapers, which continue to align themselves with Russia and other post-Soviet states, the Russian Forward focuses attention on events in the United States and Israel.
"We established the Russian Forward in order to help Russian Jewish immigrants in the United States and to inform and educate them, similarly to how the Yiddish Forward helped our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents,” said Norich. He added, “We believe that Mitzvah Media Group will be capable and is capable of continuing this important mission."
RAJI was created in 2002 in order to give Russian-American Jews, almost 90 percent of whom have friends and relatives in Israel, a means to organize, unite and express solidarity with Israel. Igor Branovan, founder and president of RAJI – a New York doctor and UJA-Federation activist – recently joined the American Jewish Committee (AJC) administration as co-chairman of the National Committee on Russian-Jewish Affairs.
After the sale of the Russian Forward, the Forward Association will concentrate on its publications in English and Yiddish. The English-language Forward, established in 1990, is an independent weekly Jewish newspaper.
The cultural division of the newspaper printed the works and reviews of such prominent writers as Cynthia Ozick, Philip Lopate, Ann Royffe, Art Spiegelman and Ilan Stavans. Many have voiced their opinions in the "Forum" section of the paper, including President George W. Bush, Sen. John Kerry, Arlen Spector, Bernie Sanders, Morton Klein, Meredith Tack and James Zogby.
The Yiddish Forward, a unique publication, was in its time the most influential daily Yiddish-language newspaper of the United States. Isaac Bashevis-Singer and Elie Weisel are among the many who have written for the paper.
Both the English-language Forward and the Yiddish Forward plan to provide more coverage of the Russian-Jewish community in the United States. This will allow the Forward Association to serve the Russian-Jewish community as well as allow the entire Jewish community of the United States to understand more deeply the needs of immigrants from the former USSR. The Association intends to strengthen its connections with American Jews by continuing its historical mission: To protect the Jewish people, the Yiddish culture, and uphold the values of social and economic justice.
