Der Tog

Der Tog (English: The Day) was a Yiddish-language daily newspaper published in New York City from 1914 until 1971. The offices of Der Tog were located on the Lower East Side, at 185 and 187 East Broadway.[1]

Der Tog
Typedaily newspaper
Founded1914
LanguageYiddish
Ceased publication1971
HeadquartersLower East Side 185 and 187 East Broadway, New York City, New York, USA
CountryUnited States

History

The newspaper's first issue was on November 5, 1914.[2] At its peak Der Tog reached a circulation of 81,000, in 1916.[3] It had a weekly English-language supplement entitled The Day,[2] edited by Marion Weinstein.[4] In 1919 Der Tog absorbed another Yiddish newspaper, Di Varhayt (Warheit; Wahrheit; "The Truth"),[3] and between 1919 and 1922 was known as Der Tog, di Varhayt.[5][6]

In 1953 Der Tog merged with the Morgn Zshurnal (Morning Journal), and subsequently appeared under the title Der Tog Morgn Zshurnal; the circulation was estimated at 50,000 in 1970, and the paper ceased publication in 1971.[3]

It was followed by Der Algemeiner Journal in 1972.

Journalists and Writers

The founding of the newspaper was the project of a group of businessmen and intellectuals including Judah Leib Magnes, David Shapiro,[7] Morris Weinberg, and Herman Bernstein. Bernstein became the paper's first editor and Shapiro assumed the role of publisher.[4][8] Styled in its masthead as a "newspaper for the Jewish intelligentsia,"[3][9] Der Tog sought to uphold high journalistic and literary standards, and to rise above ideological divides.

Under William Edlin, who succeeded Bernstein as editor in 1916, and the first literary editor, Benzion Hoffman (Zivion),[10] the newspaper attracted a talented staff, including Shmuel Niger, who was its literary critic for many years.[3][10]

Among the other outstanding staff writers were David Pinski, Aron Glanz (A. Leyeles), Joel Slonim, Peretz Hirshbein, and Abraham Coralnik.[3] Other significant contributors included Chaim Zhitlowsky and Samuel Rosenfeld,[9] as well as H. Leivick, Osip Dymov, and Ruven Ayzland.[10] Leon Kobrin was the paper's chief fiction writer for nearly two decades;[11] and among the more famous of other occasional literary contributors were Joseph Opatoshu and Abraham Reisen.[12] The newspaper also published the entirety of the Bible translation by the poet Yehoash (pseudonym of Solomon Bloomgarden), and some works of Sholem Aleichem.[11]

Edlin, who had been associated with the paper from its beginnings as a news editor and a theater critic, remained editor in chief until 1925. Samuel Margoshes filled that role from 1926 until 1942.[13] At that point Edlin came back and led the paper again,[13] until his death, in 1947.[14]

According to Edlin, Der Tog was the first Yiddish newspaper to include female journalists on the editorial staff. Adella Kean-Sametkin wrote about women's issues, and Dr. Ida Badanes, about health matters; the popular fiction writer Sarah B. Smith was also a regular contributor over many years.[15] Before making her mark as a poet, Anna Margolin (pseudonym of Rosa Lebensboym) distinguished herself as a reporter and editor for Der Tog, contributing a column, "In der froyen velt" (In the women's world), under her actual name, and articles about women's issues under various pseudonyms, including Clara Levin.[16]

References
  1. Sanders, Ronald. The Lower East Side: A Guide to Its Jewish Past in 99 New Photographs. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2013 (first published 1979). 67.
  2. "A Checklist of Newspapers and Official Gazettes in the New York Public Library." Bulletin of the New York Public Library. Vol. 19, Part 2 (1915): 563.
  3. Halkin, Hillel. "Jewish Day." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 11. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 290
  4. "'Day' Yiddish Daily, Marks 15th Anniversary." Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 12 November 1929.
  5. Caliendo, Ralph J. New York City Mayors. Part I: The Mayors of New York Before 1898. "Foreign-Language Daily Newspapers in New York City," 489.
  6. "About Der Tog, di ṿarhayṭ = The Day, the Warheit. (New York, N.Y.) 1919-1922." Library of Congress, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.
  7. Documents related to the founding of the newspaper are contained in the Papers of David Shapiro, held at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (RG 1912); Newman, Roberta. "Portrait of a Collection: The David Shapiro Papers in the YIVO Archives Archived 2014-05-26 at the Wayback Machine" [blog entry]. Yedies fun YIVO / News from YIVO. 24 January 2014.
  8. Sometime later on, after Shapiro's death, in 1940, Morris Weinberg became the publisher; "'Der Tog' American Jewish Newspaper Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 16 November 1954.
  9. Passow, David. The Prime of Yiddish. New York: Geffen Books, 1996. 26.
  10. Cohen, Nathan. "The Yiddish Press and Yiddish Literature: a Fertile But Complex Relationship." Modern Judaism 20.2 (May 2008): 149-172; here: 161.
  11. Passow, 27.
  12. Passow, 26-27.
  13. Edlin, William. "Der 'Tog' – di tsaytung, vos hot arayngebrakht a nayem ton in der idisher prese" ('Der Tog,' a newspaper that brought a new tone to the Yiddish press). 75 yor yidishe prese in Amerike, 1870-1945. Ed. J. Gladstone, S. Niger, and H. Rogoff. New York: The I. L. Peretz Yiddish Writers Union, 1945. 69-75; here: 72 (editors' note).
  14. "William Edlin, Editor of Jewish Day, Dies; Was 69 Years Old," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 1 December 1947.
  15. Edlin, 72; also cited in: Rojanski, Rachel, "Socialist Ideology, Traditional Rhetoric: Images of Women in American Yiddish Socialist Dailies, 1918-1922." American Jewish History 93.3 (September 2007): 329-348; here: 342.
  16. Brenner, Naomi. "Slippery Selves: Rachel Bluvstein and Anna Margolin in Poetry and in Public." Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues No. 19 (Spring 2010): 100-133; here: 112.
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