What We Stand For
Sixty years ago this month, the Jewish Community Council of Essex County launched the Jewish News, a weekly newspaper serving the Jewish communities of Newark and its expanding suburbs. In the years since, the newspaper has grown to serve 45,000 Jewish households in five proud and distinct NJ communities. Throughout the year, NJJN will be looking back at the history of those communities as told in its pages. We begin below with an editorial printed on the first page of the very first issue, on Jan. 3, 1947, in which the newspaper’s founders set out a credo as relevant today as it was then:
With this issue the Jewish News inaugurates a new era in New Jersey community service. Published by the Jewish Community Council of Essex County, the Jewish News will reach the homes of 16,000 Council members and contributors to the United Jewish Appeal, thus giving it one of the largest assured circulations in the English-Jewish field.
The main ideal of the Community Council in publishing the Jewish News is to provide a full, honest picture of present-day Jewish life in a way that will reflect credit upon the Jews of Essex County and also win the respect of the general community.
We believe that an alert, enlightened local community can be one of the strongest forces for constructive Jewish life in America.
We believe in the widest possible participation of individuals and organizations in the activities of the community. The pages of the Jewish News, therefore, will be open to all shades of responsible Jewish opinion. We intend to be partisan only in the sense that we realize our obligation to be a creative, alert force in the life of the Essex County community.
We believe that the furtherance of sound, friendly intergroup relations is one of the major responsibilities of your community newspaper. As Jews we are proud of our participation in the development of American ideals since earliest times and reject the idea of tolerance as unworthy of our faith in American democracy.
We believe in the words of the revered Saadia Gaon, that “our nation is a nation only by dint of the Torah.” In that spirit the Jewish News hopes to become a medium for greater religious cohesiveness and cultural enrichment in the community.
With the thought that readers are entitled to a newspaper that is pleasant to look at and easy to read, we intend to incorporate the most modern techniques in layout and printing in the publication of the Jewish News.
To the best of our ability, we will bring you news that is fresh and vital, editorials that will not shy away from controversial issues, and original features that will reflect Jewish standards of good taste and culture.
To bring the truth fearlessly, to give expression to the breadth of view and the ethical principles that distinguish Judaism, to function as a cohesive force within the community of Essex County, and to uphold the ideals of American democracy — to these four major tasks the Jewish News dedicates itself.
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