The Forward: Meet the 50

Fifteen years ago, founding editor Seth Lipsky of the English Forward went in search of the men and women who were leading the American Jewish community into the 21st century. Today, the publication released its curren Forward 50.

Read about the list here, and see the names here in the categories of top picks, activism, community, media & culture, politics, religion, scandal and sports.

Forward's editor Jane Eisner writes:

Many of the names and faces on that original list were well-known stalwarts of the Jewish establishment, players in New York and Washington, powerful benefactors. They were representative of the kind of authority and leadership prevalent in 1994. The men wore suits and ties. The rabbis wore beards. ...

Only one person on the original Forward 50 is on today's list - filmmaker and philanthropist Steven Spielberg.

The five most influential and interesting people have never been on the list before.

One category is scandal, and I think that we all know whose name is there without looking. According to Eisner, each year the staff debates how to handle those whose impact has been dramatic and damaging.

Here are the names in each category. Go to the links above to read more about them and why they were selected.

Top Picks
Jerry Silverman
Michael Oren
Sara Hurwitz
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Activism
Stuart Appelbaum
Jeremy Ben-Ami
Robert Bernstein
Amy Dean
Joel Engelman
Marsha Levick
Ruth Messinger
Jay Michaelson
Irving Moskowitz
Jane Ramsey
Steve Rosen

Community
Leonard Abess, Jr.
Yonah Bookstein
Shifra Bronznick
Sam Harris
J. Shawn Landres
Jehuda Reinharz
Greg Rosenbaum
Michael Steinhardt
David Zwiebel

Media & Culture
Roger Cohen
Dara Horn
Adam Kirsch
Sana Krasikov
Ari Roth
Lenore Skenazy and Ayelet Waldman
Steven Spielberg

Politics
David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel
Howard Berman
Eric Cantor
Barney Frank
Al Franken
Susan Sher
Arlen Specter

Religion
Sarah Lefton
Alysa Stanton
Steven Wernick
Eric Yoffie

Scandal
Bernard Madoff
J. Ezra Merkin
Solomon Dwek

Sports
Jason Lezak
Dmitriy Salita

See the links above for complete information, and there's even a video about how the staffers choose the individuals. There is comment section; chime in on who you think should or shouldn't be on the list and why.