The American Israelite
Encyclopedia
The American Israelite is a Jewish
weekly newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio
. Founded in 1854 as The Israelite and assuming its present name in 1874, it is the longest-running English-language Jewish newspaper still published in the United States.
The paper's founder, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
, and publisher, Edward Bloch and his Bloch Publishing Company
, were both heavily influential figures in American Jewish life.
During the 19th century, The American Israelite became the leading organ for Reform Judaism in America
. During the early 20th century it helped geographically dispersed American Jews, especially in the West and the South of the country, keep in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.
, who became known as the father of Reform Judaism
in America. Its initial issues were published by Charles F. Schmidt. The paper lost $600 in its first year, and although Wise repaid the publisher out of his own funds, Schmidt terminated the relationship. The Israelite began to be published by Edward Bloch and his Bloch Publishing Company
with the issue of July 27, 1855. Bloch, who was Wise's brother-in-law, subsequently became known as the dean of American Jewish publishers.
The newspaper's motto was from the start, and still is, יהי אור "Let There Be Light". Its two goals were to propagate the principles of Reform Judaism and to keep American Jews, who often lived in small towns singly or in communities of two or three families, in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.
The publication, along with a German-language supplement that Wise started the following year, Die Deborah, soon attracted a large circulation and was influential in helping the nascent Reform Judaism
movement spread throughout North America.
Both Wise and the paper had a reach beyond Cincinnati, and especially to the growing Jewish communities in the American Midwest and South.
In 1858, for instance, the members of Congregation B'nai Israel
in Memphis, Tennessee
advertised for their first rabbi in The Israelite, at the same time they advertised for a kosher butcher.
Despite its spread, the early years of The Israelite were a financial struggle. Most subscribers did not pay their bills, the Panic of 1857
adversely affected it, and the paper lost half its subscribers in the South during the Civil War
. Bloch travelled east several times in the late 1850s in order to solicit subscriptions and advertising. Wise's admitted sloppiness in monetary matters did not help either. Nevertheless, the newspaper and Bloch stayed out of bankruptcy and relocated to larger offices twice during this period.
Wise, a prolific writer, published in the editorial columns of The Israelite numerous studies on various subjects of Jewish interest.
Besides being the leading organ for American Reform Judaism, it also forcefully defended the civil and religious rights of all Jews.
Wise tirelessly expounded his call to the "ministers and other Israelites" of the United States, urging them to form a union which might put an end to the prevalent religious anarchy. In 1873, twenty-five years after he had first broached the idea, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations was organized at Cincinnati.
Another campaign he presented in the columns of The Israelite was the desire for an educational institution, and this eventually led to success in 1875 when the Hebrew Union College
opened its doors for the reception of students.
Wise also wrote a number of novels, which appeared first as serials in the Israelite.
Rabbi Wise's son Leo Wise, who had become business manager for the paper in 1875, took over as its publisher from 1883 to 1884, and then he did so again, permanently, in 1888 (due apparently to some kind of rupture between Leo Wise and Bloch).
A sister publication, The Chicago Israelite, was started in 1885. The papers stressed their reputation in trade publications, stating "None but clean advertisements of reputable houses accepted."
Leo Wise gradually took over the principle editorial functions from his father, but Rabbi Wise remained active on the paper until his death on March 26, 1900, writing an editorial for it just a few days before. Ownership then passed to Leo Wise.
By 1900, The American Israelite, in combination with The Chicago Israelite, claimed a circulation of other 35,000, about 12,000 in Ohio and Illinois and the balance spread across almost every other state as well as Canada and Mexico. The publication Printer's Ink said they had the largest guaranteed circulation of any Jewish newspaper in the U.S., and it continued to be especially strong in the West and the South. One 1902 book characterized The American Israelite as "the leading Jewish newspaper in the United States and the National Journal of the Jews."
In the early 20th century, the paper's short articles were sometimes picked up and run by The New York Times
with a credit "From The American Israelite". In those years, The American Israelite became known for its very strong stance against the new Zionism
movement, calling it in 1902 a "pernicious agitation" that would undermine the acceptance of Jews in the countries where they current resided. Rabbi David Philipson
was among the editorial contributors to the paper who used it to oppose Zionism, arguing that Judaism was a religion exclusively, and thus stateless. Other noted contributors to the paper in this era included Rabbi Moses Mielziner
and Jewish history scholar Gotthard Deutsch
, as well as other prominent rabbis and Jewish thinkers within the country. The paper gave extensive coverage to the goings-on of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College (and was sometimes viewed as a publication of them), as well as notices of various rabbinical conferences.
Die Deborah was discontinued after Isaac Wise's death, then resumed for a while.
The Chicago Israelite ceased publication in 1920.
Leo Wise edited The American Israelite until his retirement at age 78 in 1928 (he died in 1933). Another son of Isaac, Isidor Wise, worked as a writer and associate editor for the paper until his death in 1929.
of New York, who remained in that city and who himself became a long-time leader of American Reform Judaism.
The Jonah Wise arrangement did not last long, and in 1930, journalist Henry C. Segal bought the paper and became its editor and publisher for more than five decades, until his death in 1985. Along with Isaac Wise, Segal is still named on the paper's masthead
. Contributors to the newspaper in this era included writer Donald Swerdlow (later Don Canaan).
By the 1990s, the paper was focusing on local Jewish news.
In 1995, The American Israelite was sued for $2 million by an Ohio lawyer for calling him and his son anti-Semitic.
By 2010, Ted Deutsch was the editor and publisher. A typical issue ran 24 pages, with color front and back pages and black-and-white inside. Some stories were locally written, while many others were run from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
. It published full facsimile copies of its issues on its website.
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
weekly newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. Founded in 1854 as The Israelite and assuming its present name in 1874, it is the longest-running English-language Jewish newspaper still published in the United States.
The paper's founder, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
, and publisher, Edward Bloch and his Bloch Publishing Company
Bloch Publishing Company
Bloch Publishing Company is the oldest Jewish publishing company, and one of the oldest ongoing family businesses, in the United States.-History:...
, were both heavily influential figures in American Jewish life.
During the 19th century, The American Israelite became the leading organ for Reform Judaism in America
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...
. During the early 20th century it helped geographically dispersed American Jews, especially in the West and the South of the country, keep in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.
Founding and early history
The first Jewish newspaper published in Cincinnati was the English-language The Israelite, established on July 15, 1854. It was also among the first Jewish publications in the nation. It was founded by Rabbi Isaac Mayer WiseIsaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
, who became known as the father of Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...
in America. Its initial issues were published by Charles F. Schmidt. The paper lost $600 in its first year, and although Wise repaid the publisher out of his own funds, Schmidt terminated the relationship. The Israelite began to be published by Edward Bloch and his Bloch Publishing Company
Bloch Publishing Company
Bloch Publishing Company is the oldest Jewish publishing company, and one of the oldest ongoing family businesses, in the United States.-History:...
with the issue of July 27, 1855. Bloch, who was Wise's brother-in-law, subsequently became known as the dean of American Jewish publishers.
The newspaper's motto was from the start, and still is, יהי אור "Let There Be Light". Its two goals were to propagate the principles of Reform Judaism and to keep American Jews, who often lived in small towns singly or in communities of two or three families, in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.
The publication, along with a German-language supplement that Wise started the following year, Die Deborah, soon attracted a large circulation and was influential in helping the nascent Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...
movement spread throughout North America.
Both Wise and the paper had a reach beyond Cincinnati, and especially to the growing Jewish communities in the American Midwest and South.
In 1858, for instance, the members of Congregation B'nai Israel
Temple Israel (Memphis, Tennessee)
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. It is the only Reform synagogue in Memphis, the oldest and largest Jewish congregation in Tennessee, and one of the largest Reform congregations in the U.S. It was founded in 1853 by mostly German Jews as...
in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
advertised for their first rabbi in The Israelite, at the same time they advertised for a kosher butcher.
Despite its spread, the early years of The Israelite were a financial struggle. Most subscribers did not pay their bills, the Panic of 1857
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Indeed, because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the time of the 1850s, the financial crisis which began in the autumn of 1857 was...
adversely affected it, and the paper lost half its subscribers in the South during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Bloch travelled east several times in the late 1850s in order to solicit subscriptions and advertising. Wise's admitted sloppiness in monetary matters did not help either. Nevertheless, the newspaper and Bloch stayed out of bankruptcy and relocated to larger offices twice during this period.
Wise, a prolific writer, published in the editorial columns of The Israelite numerous studies on various subjects of Jewish interest.
Besides being the leading organ for American Reform Judaism, it also forcefully defended the civil and religious rights of all Jews.
Wise tirelessly expounded his call to the "ministers and other Israelites" of the United States, urging them to form a union which might put an end to the prevalent religious anarchy. In 1873, twenty-five years after he had first broached the idea, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations was organized at Cincinnati.
Another campaign he presented in the columns of The Israelite was the desire for an educational institution, and this eventually led to success in 1875 when the Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
opened its doors for the reception of students.
Wise also wrote a number of novels, which appeared first as serials in the Israelite.
A new name and continued influence
The Israelite was renamed The American Israelite beginning with the issue of July 3, 1874. The goal was to make the name more in consonance with the ideas it represented. Despite the change, the paper continued to cover and advocate for not only American Jews but also Jews around the world. By 1879, a typical issue had eight pages 28-by-42-inch in size, and a subscription cost $4, or $5 if the Die Deborah four-page supplement was included.Rabbi Wise's son Leo Wise, who had become business manager for the paper in 1875, took over as its publisher from 1883 to 1884, and then he did so again, permanently, in 1888 (due apparently to some kind of rupture between Leo Wise and Bloch).
A sister publication, The Chicago Israelite, was started in 1885. The papers stressed their reputation in trade publications, stating "None but clean advertisements of reputable houses accepted."
Leo Wise gradually took over the principle editorial functions from his father, but Rabbi Wise remained active on the paper until his death on March 26, 1900, writing an editorial for it just a few days before. Ownership then passed to Leo Wise.
By 1900, The American Israelite, in combination with The Chicago Israelite, claimed a circulation of other 35,000, about 12,000 in Ohio and Illinois and the balance spread across almost every other state as well as Canada and Mexico. The publication Printer's Ink said they had the largest guaranteed circulation of any Jewish newspaper in the U.S., and it continued to be especially strong in the West and the South. One 1902 book characterized The American Israelite as "the leading Jewish newspaper in the United States and the National Journal of the Jews."
In the early 20th century, the paper's short articles were sometimes picked up and run by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
with a credit "From The American Israelite". In those years, The American Israelite became known for its very strong stance against the new Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
movement, calling it in 1902 a "pernicious agitation" that would undermine the acceptance of Jews in the countries where they current resided. Rabbi David Philipson
David Philipson
David Philipson was an American Reform rabbi, orator, and author. The son of German-Jewish immigrants, he was a member of the first graduating class of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. As an adult, he was one of the leaders of American Reform Judaism and a philanthropic leader in his...
was among the editorial contributors to the paper who used it to oppose Zionism, arguing that Judaism was a religion exclusively, and thus stateless. Other noted contributors to the paper in this era included Rabbi Moses Mielziner
Moses Mielziner
Moses Mielziner was an American Reform rabbi and author.-Life:...
and Jewish history scholar Gotthard Deutsch
Gotthard Deutsch
Gotthard Deutsch , also spelled Gottard Deutsch, was a scholar of Jewish history.- Education :...
, as well as other prominent rabbis and Jewish thinkers within the country. The paper gave extensive coverage to the goings-on of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College (and was sometimes viewed as a publication of them), as well as notices of various rabbinical conferences.
Die Deborah was discontinued after Isaac Wise's death, then resumed for a while.
The Chicago Israelite ceased publication in 1920.
Leo Wise edited The American Israelite until his retirement at age 78 in 1928 (he died in 1933). Another son of Isaac, Isidor Wise, worked as a writer and associate editor for the paper until his death in 1929.
Subsequent history
Leo Wise was succeeded as editor and publisher of The American Israelite in 1928 by his half-brother, Rabbi Jonah WiseJonah Wise
Rabbi Jonah Bondi Wise was an American Rabbi and leader of the Reform Judaism movement, who served for over thirty years as rabbi of the Central Synagogue in Manhattan and was a founder of the United Jewish Appeal, serving as its chairman from its creation in 1939 until 1958.-Biography:Jonah Wise...
of New York, who remained in that city and who himself became a long-time leader of American Reform Judaism.
The Jonah Wise arrangement did not last long, and in 1930, journalist Henry C. Segal bought the paper and became its editor and publisher for more than five decades, until his death in 1985. Along with Isaac Wise, Segal is still named on the paper's masthead
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
. Contributors to the newspaper in this era included writer Donald Swerdlow (later Don Canaan).
By the 1990s, the paper was focusing on local Jewish news.
In 1995, The American Israelite was sued for $2 million by an Ohio lawyer for calling him and his son anti-Semitic.
By 2010, Ted Deutsch was the editor and publisher. A typical issue ran 24 pages, with color front and back pages and black-and-white inside. Some stories were locally written, while many others were run from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is an international news agency serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world. The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau in The Hague with the mandate of collecting and disseminating news among and...
. It published full facsimile copies of its issues on its website.