In the final minutes of the second act of the Broadway musical Wicked, Glinda and Elphaba sing together one last time. They have reached their ultimate, iconic forms: Glinda is the Good Witch, ringletted and resplendent. Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of the West, caped and glittering. They suspect they will never see each other again. And so the two women sing a duet that is part yearbook note, part deathbed confession.

“Because I knew you,” Glinda sings, “I have been changed for good.”

Jenna and her husband watched from their orchestra seats. It was 2005, Wicked was the toast of Broadway, and the tickets were a splurge. When the actress playing Elphaba sang, “It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime, so let me say before we part: so much of me is made of what I learned from you. You’ll be with me, like a handprint on my heart,” Jenna’s eyes filled with tears. Her husband reached over and took her hand.

Four months later, they separated. On her birthday that year, Jenna’s ex-husband sent her a card. “Because I knew you,” he wrote, “I have been changed for good.”

“I love the double meaning of that,” said Jenna, now 57 and a volunteer manager at a nonprofit in Maryland. “I have been changed to be a better person, but I have also been changed permanently, for good. There’s no going back.”

The second life of ‘For Good’

Amidst cheers and ballyhoo — to borrow a phrase from Glinda — a second Wicked movie is now hitting theaters. To mark the distinction between this movie and its predecessor, the 2025 edition is called Wicked: For Good.

“For Good,” the song, has attained an unusual second life outside of the musical. In Wicked, Jewish composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz launched a number of forever entries into the musical theater book of standards — “Defying Gravity,” “Popular,” “The Wizard and I” — but “For Good” belongs to an exclusive category: songs that have become staples at graduations, retirement celebrations and funerals. If you see a cap and gown, you are not safe from a heartfelt rendition of “For Good.” If there is a casket on a table, these days you may be as likely to hear “For Good” as you are to hear “Wind Beneath My Wings” or “Candle in the Wind.”

“As a cantor, it’s impossible to hear ‘For Good’ from Wicked without sensing that the song is doing something deeply Jewish, whether or not its creators intended it,” said Neil Michaels of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. “It has become, in many sanctuaries and life-cycle moments, a kind of contemporary niggun, carrying emotional truth where spoken liturgy might fall short.”

“I’ve played it for a funeral,” said Joe Wicht, who has accompanied singers for 18 years at the San Francisco piano bar Martuni’s. “I’ve played it for singers at wedding receptions, too.” But most often, he said, the song is sung “by two best friends.” Duos who request “For Good” are often about to be separated by a move, or redefined by one person getting married, he said. Sometimes, the singers are a parent and a child.

“This isn’t the kind of song where people just willy-nilly decide to sing it in a bar, a la karaoke,” he said. “It’s always sung with intent.”

“It’s always the same scenario — best friends,” he added. “I’ve never heard this song performed between two people in love.”

An anthem of friendship for this generation

Few songs aim to articulate the way that two people can alter each other’s lives and edit each other’s characters, sans romantic love. Schwartz has said in interviews that he wrote the song after sitting down with his daughter and asking her about her best friend. “If you could never see Sarah again and you had one chance to tell her what she’s meant to you,” he asked, “what would you say?”

The song, which lifts some of Schwartz’s daughter’s words directly, literalizes the way two people can blend without losing their own specificity. It begins with a solo for each woman, then they sing in counterpoint, then harmony. “For Good” is sometimes derided as schmaltzy and overearnest. But its impact is indelible: it is a song people rely on to express a kind of love that often goes unsung.

“For those of us who have lost someone,” wrote vocal coach and therapist Petra Borzynski in a recent essay, ‘For Good’ is “the song that speaks the unspeakable: that the person who is gone still lives in every choice we make, every kindness we extend, every moment we choose differently because they existed (for better, for worse).”

Borzynski sang the song for years. Then her mother died, at 59, of ovarian cancer. When Borzynski attempted to sing the song, she recalled, “my voice literally broke.”

When 75-year-old Melbourne resident Des Flannery was in his late 60s, he got into a fight with his best friend, Max. They made up when Des sent Max a written apology, Des’ daughter, Breanna, told me. In his note, Des quoted the opening lyrics from “For Good.” When Max died several years later, Des eulogized him, reciting the lyrics that had helped bring him and his friend back together.

“He wasn’t confident he could get through it without becoming a wailing mess,” his daughter, Breanna Flannery, said. “So reading it seemed the best way to get it out.” (Afterwards, women mourners crowded around Des to praise his bold, emotional writing, unaware that he had been quoting Wicked.)

Drew Wutke, a pianist at Marie’s Crisis, the famed Broadway musical singalong bar in the West Village, is used to looking up from the piano during “For Good” and seeing drinkers crying into their tequila sodas.

“It is the friendship anthem of the last 25 years,” he said.

“I don’t know another way to say it other than: it is a heaven-blessed song,” he said. “The hope that soul-friendship exists, that chosen family exists — those are the wires that get tripped when that introduction starts,” he said, humming the song’s opening notes. “Even though it is lyrically nonsensical at times.” One lyric often maligned even by fans is, “Like a seed dropped by a sky bird, in a distant wood.”

“A skybird! Please!” said Wutke. “We could have workshopped that lyric.”

I’ve heard it said…but what does it mean?

As with the rest of the musical, the universality of “For Good” is both a strength and weakness. Wicked is a musical about a woman who faces cruelty and discrimination because of her skin color. It has been called a parable about fascism, and an allegory for racism and ableism. But no Black actress played Elphaba full-time on Broadway for the musical’s first 22 years. And though one character in Wicked uses a wheelchair, the first time a wheelchair user ever played Nessarose was in last year’s movie.

Though the Wicked movies have been released during a time of rising authoritarianism, the movie’s stars and creators have limited themselves to comments like the joint statement Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande made recently, which spoke of  “times like these that feel so divided, as if we’re reading from different pages and different books.”

Though the song is deeply meaningful to listeners, the meaning those listeners derive is not consistent. “At its core, ‘For Good’ is about hineni — ‘here I am’: standing fully present in relationship,” said the cantor, Michaels. “It is the musical embodiment of the Jewish belief that who we become is inextricably shaped by the people who walk beside us.” The song, he argued, “echoes the teaching that every person you encounter teaches you something, that chevruta (sacred partnership) shapes the soul, and that human connection is one of Judaism’s most powerful agents of transformation.”

No one religion or perspective has a monopoly on interpreting Schwartz’s message. Ali, a friend of mine, and a 31-year-old interior designer from Los Angeles, grew up singing songs from Wicked with her friend Brittany. “She would always be Elphaba and I would always be Glinda, even though I secretly wanted to sing the Elphaba part,” Ali said.

Ali was active in the Catholic church, and the girls were often asked to perform at fundraisers and other events. They reserved “For Good” for the finale. “It’s about connection and sisterhood, and friendship,” Ali said. “It was a tearjerker.”

As 14 year olds, the two girls were summoned to perform in a hotel ballroom for a group of about “200 nuns and other women,” Ali remembered.  After the song, the nuns thanked them profusely for lending their voices to their cause. The two girls exited the stage to wild applause, then sat down to eat lunch and when they looked back up, “they were literally showing fetuses on the screen and just spewing anti-abortion rhetoric,” Ali remembered. The shift was shocking, she said. “From sisterhood and friendship to hating other women for having abortions.”

Changed for good? Or just good at singing?

“For Good” is usually performed in the context of honoring another person. No matter how tragic or poignant an event is, though, for a theater kid it’s also an opportunity to perform “For Good.” If that sounds cynical, it comes from personal experience: Your author performed the Elphaba part at her high school graduation. I knew that it was my job to move the audience to tears, but my thoughts were largely about how to achieve vocal clarity and resonance. Also, my ankle was broken, and my secular high school had rented out a synagogue for graduation, so I sang the song on the steps of the bima, mindful of the fact that my cast was wider than the steps and if I gestured emotionally during the “like a comet pulled from orbit” harmony I could roll forward and crash to the ground.

But Victoria, 21, who sang the song just a few years ago at her high school graduation in Port Richey, Florida, begs to differ. “I think that vocally, it is not an extremely challenging song,” she said. The real challenge, she said, is allowing yourself to feel the meaning of the song, and conveying that depth of feeling to the audience. ​​“I couldn’t help but really internalize the lyrics I was singing,” she said.

“I was reflecting on all of the relationships I had made with my fellow students, as well as my teachers,” Victoria said. “And I knew then that they had changed and helped create the person I am today, because I knew them.” Among masses who will see Wicked: For Good in the coming weeks, there will be many who weep throughout the title song, and many who call the song saccharine and sentimental. The second group is missing the point. “For Good” is meant to be saccharine. It takes on the most cringe-inducing, embarrassing topic in the world: human connection. If you love it, it probably came into your life for a reason.

The post For ill and for good, this ‘Wicked’ song has become ubiquitous appeared first on The Forward.

Yuval Raphael from Israel with the title “New Day Will Rise” on stage at the second semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in the Arena St. Jakobshalle. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa via Reuters Connect

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest, is enforcing new rules regarding its public voting ahead of the 2026 Eurovision in Vienna, Austria, following questions about Israel’s success in the competition this year, it announced on Friday.

In the 2025 Eurovision, held in Switzerland in May, Israel’s representative Yuval Raphael won first place in the public vote with her song “New Day Will Rise” and placed second overall in the competition, behind Austria, when the jury scores were counted. A number of countries — including national broadcasters in Spain, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands — claimed the public vote was rigged in favor of Israel and asked for an audit. Eurovision Director Martin Green defended the results, saying at the time that the votes were “checked and verified,” and there was “no suspicion of bias or irregularities” in the voting process.

The EBU said on Friday it is now implementing new measures regarding its voting that are “designed to strengthen trust, transparency, and audience engagement.”

“We’ve listened and we’ve acted,” Green said on Friday. “The neutrality and integrity of the Eurovision Song Contest is of paramount importance to the EBU, its members, and all our audiences. It is essential that the fairness of the contest is always protected. We are taking clear and decisive steps to ensure the contest remains a celebration of music and unity. The contest should remain a neutral space and must not be instrumentalized.”

Fans will now be able to only cast 10 votes each — a decrease from 20 — via online, text, and phone call. Juries of music experts will also return for the semifinals for the first time since 2022, forming a 50-50 split vote between jury and audience votes at the grand final of the competition.

The number of jurors is increased from five to seven and there will be a greater range in their professional backgrounds. Jurors will now include music journalists and critics, music teachers, creative professionals, such as choreographers and stage directors, and experienced music industry figures. Each jury will now include at least two jurors aged 18-25, “to reflect the appeal of the contest with younger audiences.” All jurors will also be forced to sign a formal declaration confirming that they will vote independently and impartially; not coordinate with other jurors before the contest; and “be mindful of their social media use,” for example by not sharing their preferences online before the contest ends.

One of the jurors of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest admitted that he refused to allocate points to Israeli singer Eden Golan because of his personal bias against Israel.

The EBU’s updates rules also “discourage disproportionate promotion campaigns” by third parties, including governments or governmental agencies. The EBU is barring its participating broadcasters and artists from “actively” engaging in, facilitating, or contributing to promotional campaigns by third parties “that could influence the voting outcome and, as outlined in the updated Code of Conduct, any attempts to unduly influence the results will lead to sanctions.” The EBU will strengthen its enforcement of its voting instructions and Code of Conduct to prevent “attempts to unfairly influence the vote.”

“These measures are designed to keep the focus where it belongs — on music, creativity, and connection,” said Green. “While we are confident the 2025 contest delivered a valid and robust result, these changes will help provide stronger safeguards and increase engagement so fans can be sure that every vote counts and every voice is heard. The Eurovision Song Contest must always remain a place where music takes center stage — and where we continue to stand truly United by Music.”

Demonstrators against antisemitism in London on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism

Nearly half of British people now consider the country unsafe for Jewish communities, as the government maintains a strong anti-Israel stance over the Gaza war, seeking to undermine the Jewish state despite a US-brokered ceasefire that has held for over a month.

On Thursday, the London-based think tank More in Common released a study showing that six in 10 people worry about a rise in antisemitism, as British Jews continue to face an increasingly hostile environment and targeted attacks since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in late 2023.

The report also found that 45 percent of people consider the UK an unsafe place for Jews, especially after the Yom Kippur terrorist attack in Manchester, which left two Jewish men dead, and incidents leading up to and during the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game in Britain last month. Meanwhile, 44 percent still believe the country is safe for Jewish communities.

By comparison, 37 percent of the population believe the country is unsafe for Muslims, while nearly a quarter feel personally at risk.

According to the newly released study, the British population is deeply polarized over the war in Gaza and its impact on society, with right-leaning individuals “much more likely to be concerned about antisemitism than Islamophobia,” and left-leaning groups “relatively more concerned about Islamophobia than antisemitism.”

Across the country, public patience for both anti- and pro-Israel protests is fading, with two-thirds of respondents saying the most disruptive demonstrations should be banned.

Amid growing hatred and hostility, the report also found that Jewish people are altering their behavior and avoiding religious symbols in order to feel safe.

“Many British Jews have felt targeted by other Britons for their beliefs about Israel, or for what other people assume are their beliefs, or simply for being Jewish,” the study says.

“While many Britons don’t personally know any Jews closely, the rise in antisemitism has become a top concern for the British public more widely,” it continues.

The Community Security Trust (CST) — a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters — recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents from January to June this year. This was the second-highest number of antisemitic crimes ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following 2,019 incidents in the first half of 2024.

In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 anti-Jewish hate crimes — the country’s second worst year for antisemitism, despite an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.

These latest figures come amid the British government’s ongoing campaign against Israel, which has only escalated since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

In one of its latest efforts, UK officials are reportedly considering imposing a ban on the import of goods from Israeli communities in the West Bank, according to the Middle East Eye news outlet.

This week, the country’s armed forces refused to attend a major international conference in Israel aimed at sharing military insights from the Gaza war, according to The Telegraph.

Hosted south of Tel Aviv, the multi-day seminar drew high-ranking military officials from several countries, including the United States, France, Germany, and Canada.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been publicly critical of Israel, even falsely accusing it of genocide and leading international campaigns in various forums aimed at halting the country’s defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

In September, the British government — along with other Western countries such as France, Australia, and Canada — recognized a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly, a move Israeli and US officials have criticized as rewarding terrorism.

Then this week, the UK voted for a UN Security Council resolution backing the US-backed Gaza peace plan, which notably acknowledges that no such state exits but rather “calls for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” once “the [Palestinian Authority] reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced.”

London has not clarified the apparent contradiction between its September announcement and its vote this week regarding Palestinian statehood.