The Atlanta Jewish Times has a new owner. Cliff Weiss, a local attorney originally from New Jersey, is the paper’s new publisher. In a column, he reviews his biography and community affiliations and establishes this as his goal:
My vision is to revitalize the Atlanta Jewish Times by promoting a newspaper and website created by the Jewish community for the entire Jewish community as well as people of all faiths and backgrounds who are interested in Jewish causes, values, culture and Israel. As part of the renaissance, the website will be completely revamped, including on-line versions of the newspaper.
Normally we don’t pay much attention to ownership changes at Jewish publications. But AJT is no ordinary Jewish paper. This was the publication whose previous owner, Andrew Adler, suggested in a column January that Israel might consider taking out President Obama as a strategy to counter Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. Adler was excoriated for the column, and subsequently apologized, resigned and put the paper up for sale.
Weiss makes no mention of the circumstances that led to his aquisition of the paper — which might be just as well. He devotes the bulk of his message to the content he plans for the paper, including a new advice column and a "Mensch of the Month" feature.
