Washington Jewish Leaders Hail Appearance of New Anglo-jewish Weekly

Jewish community leaders of the District of Columbia have enthusiastically welcomed appearance of the first issue of the nation’s newest English-Jewish weekly, “The Jewish Week,” a new concept in journalism that has attracted favorable notice throughout the country.

President Louis C. Grossberg and Executive Director Isaac Franck of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, have greeted “The Jewish Week” as a “highly promising successor to the “National Jewish Ledger.” They wrote Joseph M. Hochstein, Editor and Publisher, that “on the basis of your own, and of Mr. Philip Hochstein’s experience and distinguished record in the newspaper field, we have every reason to be confident that you will succeed” in enriching Jewish religious, cultural, and organizational life.

Joseph M. Hochstein is the son of Philip Hochstein, who is senior editor of the Newhouse newspapers and president of National Publications, Inc., a family-held corporation that publishes the new newspaper. The younger Hochstein resigned in October as Managing Editor of the Newhouse National News Service to devote full time to establishing “The Jewish Week.”

A policy statement by “The Jewish Week” affirmed that “our Jewish ness is moral, religious, cultural, human. Politically, we are Americans of a generous, concerned outlook. We are not partisan, but are deeply concerned with basic issues and will take some strong positions.” The newspaper also said its policy would “observe the Sabbath in our own operation and we will never be condescending toward any expression of Jewish religious observance. We do not, however, propose to undertake the tasks of the rabbi. We will not preach.”

The staff made known that “all of us are deeply and ardently sympathetic to the Israeli state, both as Americans and as Jews.” “The Jewish Week” uses the format of a full-sized daily newspaper and extensive use of staff photography.