The Washington Post yesterday published a news feature about specialized newspapers in the national capital area, singling out the “Jewish Week” as distinctive and revealing the Jewish Week’s “desire to become a national newspaper.”
The story, by John Adam Moreau, said the Jewish Week “stands apart” from other weeklies published here because of its aspirations. Editor Joseph Hochstein was quoted as stating that the more Jews become Americanized, the more they will discover their own distinctive heritage. “A national newspaper is needed to assist this process,” he said.
Mr. Hochstein told the Post that “Jewish needs can’t be filled by the old, narrow, ethnic publications. The ethnic publication is declining and its staffers are literally dying off,” He said “we are Jewish in that we are involved with the many unsettled and troublesome questions of Jewry.”
The Jewish week was established as a family corporation by Mr. Hochstein and his father, Philip Hochstein, senior editor of the Newhouse newspaper chain. They bought the old National Jewish Ledger here, which had a circulation of only 1,100 when the Hochsteins bought it in 1965. Now the Jewish Week has a circulation of 11,000 and young Hochstein hopes the figure will be 15,000 within two years. That means, said Mr. Hochstein, that the newspaper will be in half the Jewish households in metropolitan Washington.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.