One of the highest-ranking female journalists at The Times, Ms. Rudoren anchored the paper’s coverage of Israel from 2012 to 2015. Her other roles have included Chicago bureau chief, correspondent on the 2004 presidential campaign, and deputy editor on the Metro desk, where she created the Sunday Metropolitan section.

“We’re excited to bring in Jodi’s depth of experience with digital invention and the caliber of her journalism,” Ms. Feddersen said in an interview. “For our staff to have a leader like Jodi is inspirational.”

The Forward, which began as a Yiddish-language daily newspaper at the turn of the 20th century, focuses its coverage on Jewish life, including politics, religion, culture and foreign affairs. It started publishing English-language editions in the 1980s. (The publication produces articles in both languages online.)

The Forward reaches about two million readers a month online, Ms. Feddersen said; a third of the audience is under 35. The publication is overseen by a nonprofit group, the Forward Association. In January, Ms. Feddersen said The Forward had lost money for decades, with the losses numbering “in the millions” in recent years.

Ms. Rudoren, in an interview, said that she was a longtime reader of The Forward, dating to her days as a history major at Yale, where she researched microfiche editions from the 1920s. She praised the paper’s “pillar of investigative journalism, of provocative op-eds, and of really great cultural coverage.”