Ex-Inquirer columnist to edit Jewish newsweekly

Jane Eisner, whose face became well known to Inquirer readers of her

American Rhythms

column, is expected to become the new editor of the Forward, a national Jewish newsweekly based in New York.

In her current post at the National Constitution Center, Eisner helped select Liberty Medal winners, including Bono; has given tours to such dignitaries as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and played a role in organizing last month's Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton debate.

In her new post, she'll be the first female to lead a publishing heritage that employed such talents as Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel, before they won their Nobel Prizes.

"I'm very excited," said Eisner, 52, who lives in Merion with her oncologist husband, Mark Berger. She recalled studying the Forward, with its "noble and fascinating history," while at Wesleyan University.

The Forward began in 1897 as a Yiddish daily newspaper, became a weekly with an English language section in 1983, launched a separate English newsweekly in 1990, and has since spawned a Web site (www.forward.com) that is updated five days a week.

Eisner will edit the English publication, which has about 33,000 subscribers across the United States, while an independent staff puts out Forvertz, the Yiddish publication.

Publisher Samuel Norich hopes Eisner's stewardship will increase the readership of both the Forward and the Website, which has about 70,000 visitors a week.

"She's going to take the Forward to the next level," he said. "I think she's going to transform it from a newspaper organization to a media organization, and I'm eager to get on with that development."

"I think it can really grow," Eisner said. "The Jewish community in the United States is certainly very strong, and if I do my job, this will be a newspaper that non-Jews will want to read as well."

The two papers and the Website are funded by the nonprofit Forward Association, which is expected to affirm Eisner's appointment on Sunday.

"I expect that it's a formality," Norwich said.

For about a year, various editors have guided the publication, while the previous editor, J.J. Goldberg, worked on a book.

Eisner joined the Constitution Center in 2006, where, as vice president for national programs and initiatives, she created and ran the Peter Jennings Project, whose workshops, lectures and programs got future and professional journalists discussing constitutional issues.

During her 25 years at the Inquirer, Eisner held such key jobs as City Hall bureau chief, London correspondent, features editor and editorial page editor.

With the youngest of her three daughters heading off to college in the fall, Eisner was able to take on a job that will mean commuting to New York at first, then finding a place to stay during the week.

She's happy and surprised to be returning to journalism, she said.

"It's a very, very good newspaper," Eisner said. "I just want to help it get better."

"The paper has a great tradition of promoting social justice, which I feel honored to continue, and that's going to be very important."