Andrew Silow-Carroll, one of the most prominent and respected Jewish journalists in the country, who helped revamp the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Jewish news service, in his three years as editor in chief, will take over the editorship of The Jewish Week at the end of September.
He succeeds Gary Rosenblatt, who announced last month that he is stepping down as editor and publisher after 26 years. Going forward, Rosenblatt will serve as editor at large and continue to write for the paper and be involved in several of its educational projects.
Silow-Carroll, 58, is a veteran of Jewish media who has had leading roles at several of the country’s top Jewish publications in a career that has spanned more than 30 years. And his writing — stylish, insightful and often humorous — as well as his wide-ranging tastes — from politics to the intersection of Jewish life and pop culture — mark him as a unique voice.
“We are pleased to welcome Andy as our new editor and excited to see where he will lead The Jewish Week,” said Stuart Himmelfarb, president of the paper’s board. “His achievements thus far in his career and his prominence as a leading Jewish journalist were only part of the decision; he also brings deep values, management skills, warmth, humor, team leadership and a steadfast commitment to journalistic excellence and community building — the core values of The Jewish Week.
“We are deeply grateful to Gary for his years of leadership,” Himmelfarb continued, “and we are pleased he will serve as editor at large, continuing his writing and involvement with our educational projects.”
Before coming to JTA, Silow-Carroll was for 13 years editor in chief and CEO of the New Jersey Jewish News, published by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ and now managed by The Jewish Week Media Group. He won numerous awards for NJJN’s journalism, design and website. The paper earned the General Excellence award in 2006 from the New Jersey Press Association as the state’s top weekly newspaper with a circulation over 4,500. Silow-Carroll’s weekly column, which also appears on The Times of Israel website, was a four-time winner of the New Jersey Press Association’s first-place prize for editorial comment. It also took first place for commentary from the American Jewish Press Association in 2004 and from 2011 to 2015.
Earlier in his career, Silow-Carroll served as managing editor of the Forward, editor of the Washington Jewish Week and senior editor of Moment. He was a reporter for JTA from 1987 to 1990. The North Bellmore, L.I., native lives in Teaneck, N.J., and he and his wife, Sharon, have three grown children.
From 1996 to 1998 he lived in Israel as a Jerusalem Fellow, an international program in Jewish education.
“I’ve had the good fortune to work at some of the great properties in Jewish journalism, and joining The Jewish Week and succeeding a giant like Gary feels like I am completing the Grand Slam,” Silow-Carroll said.
“In leading The Jewish Week I want to show that there is still a viable model for print, to find new audiences online and to create a place where unflinching coverage of the community sits side by side with stories that enlighten, delight and, occasionally, make readers laugh out loud. Most of all, I think we can continue to show how Jews in this great, diverse metropolis can talk with one another, and not at or beyond each other, about the things that matter most.”
Most of all, I think we can continue to show how Jews in this great, diverse metropolis can talk with one another, and not at or beyond each other, about the things that matter most.
Outgoing editor Rosenblatt said, “I am delighted with the choice of Andy as editor. He is both a seasoned, highly respected veteran of Jewish journalism and a savvy observer of the media world who has shown leadership with digital and social media — areas that can help us significantly in the future. He brings to his work a keen awareness of Jewish history and values in his work as well as a strong commitment to Jewish life and community. And he’s a mensch.”
In his tenure at the helm of JTA, Silow-Carroll was part of the team that helped revamp the news agency’s website, quickened the pace of its coverage and carved out a niche of explanatory journalism on a variety of personalities and issues.
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Recent columns show his breadth, including a clever, tweet-by-tweet analysis that captured the furor over White House counselor Kellyanne Conway’s asking a Jewish reporter about his ethnicity, and a sharply observed nostalgia piece tying together the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s moon walk with the 20th anniversary of the Jewish bungalow colony film “A Walk on the Moon.” It opens this way: “I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon through one eye, the other glued shut by a stye. This was in the kitchen of our rented bungalow on the New York side of Lake Champlain, where we spent a month every summer. My parents had parked our crappy black-and-white portable TV on the kitchen table, and someone was no doubt futzing with the wire coat hanger that stood in for an antenna.”
An award-winning column titled “Bima vs. Bully Pulpit,” which dealt with rabbis speaking out on political issues, noted: “If Torah doesn’t help us create a better society or battle widespread, systematic injustice, then what’s the point?”
Silow-Carroll has said that writing an editor’s column is helpful “in getting a conversation going. … I try not to drive one hard ideological line or another, but raise some of the tougher questions and put the conversation back on the community,” he told The (New Jersey) Jewish Standard in a 2012 interview, adding: “My favorite comment is when people say, ‘I don’t agree with you but I enjoy your column.’”
Peter Wang, chair of The Jewish Week board, observed: “These are challenging times, but Andy’s talent and dedication will surely help us continue to grow and serve our readers and community.”
