The Jewish Advocate

The Jewish Advocate was a weekly Jewish newspaper serving Greater Boston and the New England area. It was established in 1902 and, with 118 years of publication, was the oldest continuously-circulated English-language Jewish newspaper in the United States until it suspended publication on September 25, 2020.[2][3] Before May 28, 1909, it was briefly known as The Jewish Home Journal and then as The Boston Advocate.[4][5]

The Jewish Advocate
TypeWeekly
Owner(s)Grand Rabbi Y. A. Korff
PublisherJewish Advocate Publishing Corp
EditorGabe Kahn
Founded1902
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publicationSeptember 25, 2020
Headquarters15 School Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108
Circulation40,000 (2019)[1]
ISSN1077-2995
WebsiteThe Jewish Advocate

History

The Jewish Advocate was founded in 1902 by Theodor Herzl, a journalist who is considered to be the founder of modern political Zionism.[6][7] Shortly after founding newspapers in Vienna and Basel, Herzl sent his executive secretary, Jacob de Haas, to Boston to create The Jewish Advocate for the purposes of "inculcat[ing] Judaism into the community and progress[ing] the cause of the re-establishment of the Jewish faith and a Jewish state."[6] Before May 28, 1909, the newspaper was briefly known as The Jewish Home Journal and then as The Boston Advocate.[4][5] In 1917, when Herzl took the position of executive director of the Zionist Organization of America, he transferred leadership of the newspaper to Alexander Brin.[6]

The newspaper operated out of the former Boston Post building in downtown Boston where the office remains located. The Jewish Advocate remains an active 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.[6]

In the September 25, 2020 issue, The Jewish Advocate announced it would be "going on hiatus" (but keep the organization and website active), citing decreasing advertising revenue which had "virtually disappeared" due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lagging support from communal organizations and the federation. In the announcement, they also said they were developing plans to launch a digital version of the publication, and left open the possibility of resuming publication. They have also reached agreement with NewsBank to add the complete archives of The Jewish Advocate to their digital catalogue and make it available to the public through The Jewish Advocate website.[3]

Publishers of The Jewish Advocate

A selection of historic front pages of The Jewish Advocate
  • Issue of July 9, 1909 honoring Theodor Herzl
  • Issue of February 9, 1912 on the Jewish Settlement of Boston
  • Issue of January 31, 1933 reporting Hitler named Chancellor of Germany
  • Issue of May 20, 1948 reporting on the founding of The State of Israel
  • Issue of March 19, 1953 reporting on German ratification of the Israel pact and payment of reparations
  • A recent front page

References
  1. "The Jewish Advocate circulation holds strong at over 40,000". The Jewish Advocate. September 25, 2015. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  2. Elisabeth May Herlihy, Justin Winsor (1932). Fifty years of Boston: a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930. Boston (Mass.). Tercentenary Committee. Subcommittee on Memorial History. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  3. "The Jewish Advocate Suspends Publication After 118 years". The Jewish Advocate. September 25, 2020.
  4. Dennis P. Ryan (1989). Beyond the ballot box: a social history of the Boston Irish, 1845–1917. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-683-0. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  5. Michael A. Ross (2003). BostonWalks' the Jewish friendship trail guidebook: Jewish Boston history sites: West End, North End, Downtown Boston, South End, Brookline & Cambridge. BostonWalks. ISBN 0-9700825-1-7. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  6. "About The Jewish Advocate". The Jewish Advocate. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  7. Ben-Gurion, David (June 29, 2020). "Theodor Herzl: Austrian Zionist leader". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
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