120 Years of the Forverts From the Perspective of Its First American-Born Editor

In June 2016, after 18 years of writing for the Forverts, I became its first American-born editor. All previous editors had hailed from Eastern Europe. This is a significant development, since the Yiddish language and culture has always had an inherently European character.
The purpose of this paper will be in three parts: first, to discuss the challenges of maintaining this linguistic and cultural authenticity despite the editor`s never having lived in eastern Europe.
Secondly, this paper will explain how the vibrant Yiddish center of New York in the 1960s and 1970s was a force in enabling my generation to maintain a strong connection to the Yiddish language and culture. For me personally, it is a result of having been raised in Yiddish by my parents, Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter, professor of Yiddish who taught for many years at Columbia University, and my mother, Charne Schaechter, an American-born Yiddish speaker from an immigrant home; while also attending Yiddish schools for 12 years; the Bundist summer camp, Camp Hemshekh, for nine summers, and regularly attending Yiddish events in the NYC area.
Thirdly, I will explain the crucial role played by the Forverts website today in connecting daily with both people who know Yiddish (including academics, Yiddishists, and our fastest-growing readership: the Hasidim) and with those who may not read or even understand Yiddish, but have an emotional attachment to the language.