Jewish Voice and Opinion Is Now “The” Jewish Voice And Opinion.com : Same Point of View, Same Features, New Format

Jun 24, 2015 by Susan Rosenbluth

By Susan L. Rosenbluth, editor and publisher

After 28 years, The Jewish Voice and Opinion is moving into the 21st century. While it will still be devoted to speaking out forcefully and unashamedly for the unique concerns of what we call “Classical Judaism,” it will now do so online at TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com. As an unabashedly politically conservative news- magazine, The Jewish Voice and Opinion has always taken as its mission to present news and feature articles of interest to the Jewish community that are not generally available elsewhere in the Jewish or secular media. The publication has always been forthright in its ardent support for the nationalist camp in Israel, including the often beleaguered residents of Judea and Samaria and the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish State, Jerusalem.

As it has for 28 years, the publication, now online, will accept advertising, but will carry ads from food establishments only if they are kosher and meet Orthodox-rabbinic standards. The publication will not carry ads that would encourage desecration of the Sabbath or holidays. An award-winning publication, The Jewish Voice and Opinion has been influential in religious and political circles throughout the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. It is often quoted and reprinted. It has been admired, feared, and reviled, but never ignored. This tradition will be continued, but now online on its enhanced website. While there will be print editions of The Jewish Voice and Opinion from time to time, the bulk of the operation will now be at TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com.

A Sleeping Giant

When The Jewish Voice published its first issue, back in the fall of 1987 (when it was called “The Jewish Voice of Northern NJ”), it was with the conviction that the observant-Jewish community in the United States had been, for too long, a sleeping giant. It had allowed its considerable intellectual, economic, and moral power to be overshadowed, leaving the impression with the American public that left-wing, non-observant Jews speak for the Jewish community as a whole.

A great deal has changed in that quarter of a century. According to polls, the Orthodox-Jewish community is the fastest-growing segment of the affiliated Jewish community. In the five boroughs of New York City plus Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties, more than 60 percent of all children under the age of 18 who identify as Jewish are Orthodox. There is no reason to suspect those numbers are much different in New Jersey or Rockland and Riverdale, New York.

As TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com will make clear, sleeping giants need not sleep forever. In calling attention to our common goals, the magazine intends to continue its task of nudging one particular giant into fulfilling its destiny.

Local Readership

While The Jewish Voice and Opinion has always appealed to readers throughout the Jewish world, it has also remained true to its geographic roots. In making the move online, the publication has no intention to stop appealing to its local readership.

For 28 years, it has reached virtually every observant-Jewish household, from Modern Orthodox to more traditional, throughout all of northern and central New Jersey (reaching as far south as Cherry Hill and Atlantic County), and thousands more in neighboring Rockland County and Riverdale, New York—over 20,000 target-marketed homes which, because of the size of the families, demographers estimate translates to 80,000 adult readers.

The Log

The Jewish Voice’s calendar, called The Log, has been recognized as the most complete list of events of interest to the observant-Jewish community anywhere in the NJ-Rockland County-Riverdale area. It lists shiurim, classes, lectures, and programs held in Orthodox synagogues or private homes, as long as, in the opinion of the editor, the event is of interest to the Orthodox-Jewish community.

Now that the publication will be online—without the size constraints of a paper-and-ink magazine—many more events will be able to be included.

The Log, which includes the name of the event, who is leading it, when and where it is being held (no private home addresses are ever listed, only the town), and a contact phone number or email address, is expected to be updated daily.

Mazal Tovs will continue to be given by TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com to all bar and bat mitzvah boys and girls. For security reasons, the parents’ names and the communities will not be listed. Only the child’s name will be published.

The publication will continue to list new minyanim in the NJ-Rockland and Riverdale, NY, area, as well as “chessed ops” and opportunities for scholarships, monetary awards, internships, and other beneficial connections.

Regular and New Features

The paper’s popular features, including Kol Ami, in which a question is asked and four random Jews are given the opportunity to respond; Ess Gezint, featuring new cookbooks and cooking classes; and The Current Crisis, The Jewish Voice’s chance to sound off on items in the news which prove that the proper response to the outrageous is still to be outraged, will continue in the new format as well.

There will also be some new features on the website, including regularly updated reviews of films, shows, books, and DVDs that are deemed of interest to the Jewish community locally and throughout the world.

Readers who want to be updated by email when a new article is posted can arrange for that service. And, of course, those who want to comment on articles and features will have the ability to do so without having to wait until the next print edition comes out.

Pre-Shabbat Print Out

When informed about the change of format, some readers complained that they will miss reading The Jewish Voice on Shabbat or holidays. To help those who want to read the publication on Shabbat, TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com doesn’t quite offer a “Shabbos Mode” button, but, with one click, readers can access the “Pre-Shabbat Printout” feature, which will allow them to print out as many articles as they wish easily.

For more information about TheJewishVoiceAndopinion.com, including advertising rates, inclusion of events in The Log, and requests for coverage or email alerts, call 201-569-2845, email susan@jewishvoiceandopinion.com, or go to the website at TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com.

By going digital, TheJewishVoiceAndOpinion.com gains creativity and flexibility for its readers. Journalism is not about print-and-ink. It’s all about breaking news and the perspective The Jewish Voice’s readers have come to like and depend on. That will not change.