The Jewish Week

The Jewish Week
source
Name	The Jewish Week
Type	Weekly newspaper
Format	Broadsheet / Online
Founded	1975
Headquarters	New York City
Language	English

The Jewish Week

The Jewish Week is a New York–based weekly Jewish newspaper and digital news organization covering Jewish life, religion, culture, politics, and philanthropy in the United States, Israel, and the global Jewish community. It reports on communal institutions, synagogues, denominations, advocacy organizations, philanthropic foundations, and political leaders, providing news, analysis, opinion, arts coverage, and event listings. The publication engages with issues involving Israeli politics, American Jewish organizations, philanthropic initiatives, legal developments, and interfaith relations.

History

Founded in the mid-1970s, the newspaper emerged during a period of activism that included the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War and debates following the Camp David Accords, interacting with figures from the Likud and Labor parties as well as American Jewish organizations like the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, and Jewish Federations. Early coverage documented responses to the Iran hostage crisis and the rise of Jewish communal institutions such as the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, Yeshiva University, and Brandeis University. In subsequent decades, reporting touched on events including the Oslo Accords, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the Second Intifada, the disengagement from Gaza, and political developments under leaders such as Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon. The outlet chronicled philanthropic campaigns by donors associated with the Koret Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Luminary initiatives tied to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation tangentially through philanthropy reporting, and local initiatives involving the UJA-Federation of New York.

Editorial focus and content

Editorially, the paper covered Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and secular Jewish communities, reporting on rabbis, day schools, yeshivot, and campus life at Columbia University, New York University, Yeshiva University, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Coverage included cultural intersections with artists, writers, and musicians—profiling figures linked to the American Jewish Committee, Actors Equity, the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, the Jewish Museum, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and film festivals. It regularly reported on legal developments involving the Supreme Court, Department of Justice cases, civil rights litigation, and local courts affecting synagogues and nonprofits, as well as policy debates in the United Nations, Knesset, and U.S. Congress involving lawmakers such as Chuck Schumer, Joe Lieberman, Nita Lowey, and others.

Ownership and management

Ownership and management changed over time, involving private owners, nonprofit boards, and partner organizations connected to Jewish philanthropic networks and media groups. Executive editors and publishers negotiated relationships with communal bodies such as the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and print distributors operating in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the greater New York metropolitan area. Management engaged with advertisers from cultural institutions, academic publishers, law firms, and healthcare systems including Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian for community outreach and event sponsorship.

Distribution and circulation

Distributed in print at synagogues, community centers, bookstores, newsstands, universities, and libraries across New York City boroughs and suburbs, circulation patterns reflected demographic concentrations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau County, Westchester County, and Rockland County. Digital presence increased with an online edition that targeted readers in the United States, Israel, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Australia, South Africa, and Latin America. The publication tracked metrics similar to other ethnic and religious weeklies, adapting to changing readerships and advertising markets in competition with national outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Jewish-oriented competitors such as Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Haaretz English edition, and The Forward.

Notable contributors and columns

Over time, the publication featured reporting and opinion from journalists, scholars, rabbis, and public intellectuals associated with institutions like the Shalom Hartman Institute, the American Jewish University, the Hudson Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Manhattan Institute, Columbia Journalism School, and Columbia University faculty. Notable contributors included commentators and columnists who also appeared in national media and authored books, appearing alongside coverage of artists and cultural figures from the Juilliard School, the New School, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Controversies and criticism

The paper occasionally faced criticism over editorial decisions, coverage of Israel and Palestinian issues, and its handling of intra-communal debates involving denominations and advocacy groups such as J Street, AIPAC, and the Anti-Defamation League. Disputes arose over op-eds, letters, and reporting standards with community leaders from synagogues, day schools, and university Hillel chapters, as well as challenges related to advertising relationships and nonprofit funding transparency. Coverage of high-profile legal cases and political endorsements sometimes prompted responses from elected officials, nonprofit watchdogs, and rival media outlets.

Awards and recognition

Journalists associated with the outlet received regional and national journalism awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, opinion, and arts criticism, competing in categories alongside reporters from The New York Daily News, Newsday, and national Jewish media. The publication’s work was cited in academic studies, communal reports, and policy briefs produced by think tanks and university centers focused on Jewish studies, Middle East policy, and American religious life.

Category:Jewish newspapers