'New Jersey Jewish News' to cease publication after 74 years
"This week’s issue marks the final print publication," the NJJN wrote. It had a readership of more than 16,000 subscribers.
By ZACHARY KEYSERNewspapers, illustrative.(photo credit: NEEDPIX.COM)
The New Jersey Jewish News (NJJN) will be ceasing publication after serving the Garden State’s Jewish community for more than 70 years, the paper announced to its readers last week.The closure follows those of Britain’s The Jewish Chronicle, The Jewish News and the Canadian Jewish News, which all announced plans to shut down due to the economic damage caused by the coronavirus.“This week’s issue marks the final print publication,” the NJJN wrote. It had a readership of more than 16,000 subscribers.The NJJN was founded in 1946 by the Jewish Community Council of Essex County. Named the Jewish News at its founding, it was derived as an outlet for the UJA campaign, according to Jill Hershorin, an archivist at the Jewish Historical Society of New Jersey.The Jewish Community Council of Essex County then purchased the Jewish Times of Essex County, which served Jewish communities from New York to Philadelphia, and merged it together with the Jewish News in 1947. The publication would later be renamed the NJJN.“Its pages have reported the Jewish issues of the day, from the declaration of Israeli statehood and the trial of Adolf Eichmann to the struggle for Soviet Jewry; from celebrations of early b’not mitzvah to the hiring of female clergy; from upheaval in late 1960s Newark to Jewish participation in #BlackLivesMatter protests; from the raid on Entebbe to murders in Pittsburgh, Poway, and Jersey City,” the publication reminisced in its sign-off. “It is the chronicle of the Jewish community in this part of the state.”Contributing writer and former executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ Max Kleinman said: “What I will miss the most was its role as the marketplace of ideas and viewpoints on the momentous news and issues confronting our community, Israel, and the world.”He added that he wishes this to “not be a final farewell, but l’hitraot until a different version of the New Jersey Jewish News will reappear in the not-too-distant future.”
