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The Forward Announces Launch of the Sy Syms Endowment for Journalistic Excellence
NEW YORK, NY — October 13, 2025. Today, Forward CEO & Publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen announced the establishment of the Sy Syms Endowment for Journalistic Excellence. The $1 million endowment, to be funded over five years by the Sy Syms Foundation [https://sysymsfoundation.org/] will support the recruitment, training, and development of early career journalists to benefit both the Forward and the broader field of journalism.
The iconic Forward, the leading Jewish voice in American journalism, was founded in 1897 as the Forverts, a Yiddish-language daily. It soon became a national paper and the most widely read Jewish newspaper anywhere. The Forward became fully digital in 2019 and now reaches an average monthly readership of 1.5 million.
“The Forward has a strong track record in developing new journalistic talent and nurturing the early careers of Jewish journalists,” said Fishman Feddersen. “The dozens of distinguished Forward alumni include Jeffery Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and Ben Smith, formerly of The New York Times and founder of Semafor. The Sy Syms Endowment for Journalistic Excellence will build on the Forward’s commitment to sustaining the field at a critical moment when fact-based journalism is more necessary than ever. We’re deeply grateful to the Sy Syms Foundation for their generosity and vision.”
Marcy Syms, the founding trustee and President of the Sy Syms Foundation and long-time member of the Forward Board of Directors said, “Ida B. Wells, investigative journalist, famously said, ‘the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.’ The Forward‘s commitment to truth by practicing excellence in journalism, is an essential part of the Jewish American experience. The Sy Syms Foundation is pleased and proud to be a part of securing a future for the next generation of journalists.”
Interested candidates should apply at https://forward.com/about-us/employment/.
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About the Forward
The Forward is the most significant Jewish voice in American journalism. Its award-winning reporting on cultural, social and political issues inspires readers of all ages and animates conversation across generations and different segments of the American Jewish community. The English and Yiddish platforms build on a century-old legacy maintained in the Forward archives and lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.
For more information visit: forward.com
About the Sy Syms Foundation
The Sy Syms Foundation was established in 1985 by retail entrepreneur and humanitarian Sy Syms. From the beginning Sy Syms and his daughter Marcy’s vision for the Foundation’s mission was to support education, scientific research, the arts and community health. That same mission guides the Foundation’s work today.
Celebrating its 40th year of administering grants and partnering with other non-profits, SSF has reached over 100 organizations with over 65 million dollars in grant making.
In 1986 the Foundation established a business school at Yeshiva University and today the Sy Syms School of Business has more that 750 students both undergraduate and graduate level.
The Foundation partnered with the American Heart Association in helping to establish the Go Red Campaign to educate women and doctors that women do not have the same symptoms as men when experiencing a heart attack. SSF has been part of medical research advances through the Barrow Neurological Institute & Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Reuth Medical & Life Care Centers, The Children’s Cancer & Blood Foundation, Fragile X Research Foundation, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Jewish Family & Children’s Services, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, the International Pemphigus Foundation, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science and other organizations focused on helping people manage disease.
SSF has been a proud benefactor to many civic and cultural organizations, each enriching our lives, Lincoln Center, WNYC, NPR, PBS, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, American Museum of Natural History, The Jewish Museum, Amnesty International, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Manhattan Theatre Club and several regional arts centers.
Recently, answering the pressing need for understanding between Jews in America and Israel, last year SSF underwrote the establishment of a leadership conference between young Jewish leaders in Israel and America to increase their understanding of life in each other’s country.
The post The Forward Announces Launch of the Sy Syms Endowment for Journalistic Excellence appeared first on The Forward.
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Singer James Maslow Expresses Solidarity With Israel in New Song ‘On My Mind’
James Maslow in front of the Dizengoff Fountain in Tel Aviv in the music video for “On My Mind.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
Actor and singer James Maslow recently released a single in collaboration with Israeli artists that celebrates Israel and showcases his solidarity with the Jewish state amid its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The Jewish artist, who is famously known for his leading role in the Nickelodeon series “Big Time Rush” and as a member of the platinum-selling band of the same name, released on Oct. 3 a track titled “On My Mind,” featuring Shahar Saul, one of Israel’s up and coming rappers, and Israeli vocalist Maya Dadon. “On My Mind” combines “international pop with Middle Eastern influences, reflecting the diversity and vibrancy of Israel itself,” according to a media release about the single.
The music video for the song was filmed in Israel during the Gaza war and is “both a visual love letter to the country and a reminder of the resilience of its people.” The video was made in partnership with Birthright Israel Foundation.
“‘On My Mind’ is about connection, resilience, and remembering those who cannot be forgotten,” Maslow said in a released statement. “Filming in Israel, during such a difficult time, was my way of showing solidarity with a country and people I deeply respect. Working with two incredible Israeli artists made the project even more meaningful.”
During an interview Monday on “CUOMO,” Maslow said the song celebrates Israel’s “diversity, the acceptance, and all the things that I know to be true about it.”
“I have been over there shooting the video to utilize this as hopefully a bridge to bring a bit of a better light to Israel, to Judaism, and hopefully start a conversation where people may realize, ‘Oh, wait a second, I may not have all the facts or I might be being misled right now,’” he added.
“We have normalized antisemitism to the likes of which I never thought that I would see in my life,” Maslow said. “That’s not OK. And that’s why I created this song. And that’s why I’m here today and why I’m standing up.”
Maslow timed the release of “On My Mind” to have it debut mere days before the second anniversary of the deadly Hamas terrorist attack that took place in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Maslow traveled to Washington, DC, to join commemorations for the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.
“On My Mind” is streaming on all major platforms. Watch the music video below.
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Israel Declares Hamas Defeated ‘Every Place We Fought Them’ as Ceasefire Begins
An Israeli military tank prepares to move atop a truck, after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, Oct. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Hamas is no longer the terrorist group whose invasion of Israel triggered the two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli military spokesperson said on Friday at the start of a ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamist organization.
“Hamas is not the Hamas of two years ago. Hamas has been defeated every place we fought them,” Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the military spokesperson, told reporters at a briefing.
He urged Palestinian residents of Gaza to avoid entering areas under control by the Israel Defense Forces in the enclave.
“I am calling from here on the residents of Gaza to avoid entering areas under IDF control. Keep to the agreement and ensure your safety,” he said.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians began flocking towards their abandoned homes after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on Friday and Israeli troops began pulling back from parts of Gaza.
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Man Wins Appeal Over Conviction for Burning Koran Outside London’s Turkish Consulate
The cover of a Koran. Photo: Wiki Commons.
A man found guilty of committing a religiously aggravated public order offense by setting fire to a copy of the Koran outside London’s Turkish consulate had his conviction overturned on Friday in what supporters said was a victory for free speech.
Hamit Coskun, 51, was fined 240 pounds ($325) at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June after being convicted of an offense by shouting “F–k Islam” as he held aloft the burning book near the consulate in central London in February.
The decision to overturn that verdict after an appeal at London’s Southwark Crown Court was hailed by his supporters as an important triumph for freedom of expression.
“Hamit Coskun’s protest was a lawful act of political dissent,” Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society which supported his case, said in a statement. “There is no need to condone the nature of his demonstration – what is important is that it was not criminal.”
Coskun, whose father was Kurdish and his mother Armenian and who lived in central England, had denied the charge and said on social media he was carrying out a protest against the Turkish government. While he was holding the book aloft, he was attacked by a man with a knife who kicked and spat at him.
In its appeal ruling, the court said prosecutors had not properly shown that his behavior was disorderly nor that it was within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused distress.
“Today’s decision reaffirms the vital principle that free speech protects the right to offend, shock, or disturb – even when it challenges deeply held religious beliefs,” Evans said.