The Forward, a Jewish daily newspaper, has named their top 50 most influential American Jews of 2008. They had this to say about their picks:
Rather than parading before us, some of the American Jews highlighted in this year’s Forward 50 earned their distinction quietly. Although theirs were not the loudest voices, nor the usual ones, by words and deeds they shaped American life as Jews, largely for the better, sadly sometimes for the worse.
Two narratives dominated the Jewish story this year, and, naturally, are reflected in the Forward 50. Jews played an outsized role in the presidential election campaign and, by the looks of it, will continue to do so in the new Obama administration…This was also the year the kosher meat industry faced its greatest legal, consumer and ethical challenges.
…The Forward 50 celebrates leadership, creativity, impact. It also reminds us how far we still have to go to truly repair the world.
The top picks for 2008 were Rabbi Morris Allen, who created a new system (Hekhsher Tzedek) for evaluating kosher food; Jeremy Ben-Ami, the executive director of J Street, a progressive pro-Israel advocacy lobby; Rahm Emanuel, soon to be Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff; Penny Pritzker, Obama’s national finance chair for his campaign; and Sarah Silverman, a comedian who pushed the Jewish community to vote Democratic. Read the full list here.