35/622 June 2005/Sivan 5765 A publication of

Inside Jewish AT THE HEART of what it is that any credible journalist does is listening to things otherwise Journalism unsaid and to reveal things that might otherwise be kept secret. How does this work, when Barbara what is at stake are family secrets and, in this instance, the news about one’s own Jewish Kirshenblatt-Gimblett people? This challenge is addressed in several articles. Other essays turn to very new mat- Participatory ters: the interplay between reporting and blogging, the influence of new technology on the Journalism ...... 1 future of communications, and, in still more general terms, what it is that technology can do Discussion Guide . . . 2 to connect and also disconnect people from one another. This issue is published to coincide Dan Sieradski, with the annual meeting of the American Jewish Press Association. Rob Eshman Blogging, Journalism, and the Future of the Participatory Journalism Jewish Press ...... 3 Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Ira Stoll ONSIDER THE DEMOGRAPHICS Fewer people are reading print , and Dull and Mediocre . 5 C . readers of are aging. While the mainstream press is consolidated in a few Larry Cohler-Esses corporate hands, there is an explosion of what is variously known as grassroots or citizen Investigating Jewish Stories ...... 6 or participatory journalism: people are not only reading the news, but also writing, edit- Samuel G. Freedman ing, and publishing it in an unprecedented range of media. How are participating in Wanted: A Critical this movement? Engagement with Our The Working Group on Jews, Media, and Religion at the Center for Religion and Media, Own Heritage ...... 7 University, has been studying just such emergent cultural phenomena. Given Stephen Fried our concern with what Jews are doing, rather The Lessons of than with what they should be doing, we are The New ...... 8 Whereas it has long been interested in developing a research agenda Ruth Ebenstein for studying such media practices, which assumed that strong ties are The Ultra-Orthodox we view as social practices. These practices Press ...... 9 the key to Jewish continuity, give rise to distinctive forms of community, Quentin J. Schultze Christianity and the as well as to media specific generational di- social software activates a Media in America . . 10 vides: younger technologically savvy Jews broad range of weak ties that Ruth Calderon are increasingly drawn to digital media for The Balcony ...... 12 their news, while their parents continue to have value in their own right. Michal Lemberger rely on print media. Book Review ...... 13 Judging by three recent studies of American Jewry — American Jewish Identity Survey J.J. Goldberg (Graduate Center of the City of New York and Center for Cultural Judaism, 2001), OMG! Taube NewVisions . 14 How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith in the iPod Era (Reboot, 2005), and Assessing the Impact Gary Rosenblatt of Culture and the Arts on Jewish Identity Building (UJA-Federation of New York, in progress) NiSh'ma ...... 15 — young Jewish adults, particularly those who are not connected to the organized Jewish Ari L. Goldman community, are of particular concern to the sponsors of these studies. Sh’ma Ethics ...... 16 Attention to the media practices of this born-digital generation reveals a tectonic shift in the ways that Jewish youth and young adults relate to one another and understand them- selves. Their comfort with what has been called “social software” (, bookmarking tools, wiki-server software that allows anyone to add and edit web content, whether for a wikipe- dia [encyclopedia] or most recently wikinews), is central to their involvement in participa- tory journalism, which offers not only alternatives to mainstream news media — whether print or broadcast — but also alternative modes of community. A large proportion of this extremely diverse generation prefers the many-to-many mode of communication over the To subscribe: one-to-many (or broadcast) mode, a preference that is consistent with their attraction to 877-568-SHMA informal kinds of association over formal affiliations with Jewish organizations. Whereas it www.shma.com has long been assumed that strong ties (family, close friends, local community) are the key to Jewish continuity, social software activates ers. This can be seen in The Jewish Bloggers a broad range of weak ties that have value in Webring. This webring, “for everyone who their own right (see the work of sociologist considers themselves Jewish,” includes 493 Barbara Kirshenblatt- Mark Granovetter) and that expand the pos- active members, with 30 awaiting approval, Gimblett is University sibilities for converting weak ties into strong as of this writing. Like blogs more gener- Professor and Professor ones. Based on consent, rather than descent, ally, many of the Jewish blogs disaggregate of Performance Studies communities of interest, affinity, and practice news coverage from various sources and, at New York University. are multiple and distributed. Proximity is a consistent with the blogger’s particular point She is also Affiliated function of the intensity of communication, of view, reaggregate, recontextualize, and Professor of Hebrew not physical closeness. In sum, the notion of recirculate that coverage in ways that are de- and Judaic Studies. She social software points to the primacy of con- signed to encourage comment. What emerg- and Jeffrey Shandler nection — networked, self-organizing, peer- es is a recombinant Jewish newssphere, viral are co-conveners of to-peer, bottom-up — in the production and in its spread and unprecedented in its vast- the Working Group circulation of content and the preference for ness, heterogeneity, and interactivity. on Jews, Media, and collaborative and processual ways of working, Many of these Jewish blogs report in the Religion at the Center even when a “cool” site is underwritten by the first person from the front lines of daily life: for Religion and Media, Jewish establishment. the mundane world of an American suburban New York University, What does journalism produced in this teenager, the loneliness of being the sole Jew which is funded by the mode look like? For Jay Rosen (“What’s Radi- in a Midwestern town, the frustrations of a Pew Charitable Trusts. cal About the Weblog Form in Journalism,” baal tshuvah, the otherwise hidden conflicts Her books include http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/10/ within a Hasidic enclave, the struggles of the Destination Culture: tracing_the_evo.html), weblog journalism is newly converted, the anxieties of a new oleh. Tourism, Museums volunteeristic, rather than commercial, par- For example, a group of settlers recently and Heritage and ticipatory, scalable (from a very few readers to created www.YeshaSpeaksOut.org in order Image Before My thousands of them), information flows from to speak directly to the world about “what Eyes: A Photographic the public to the press, rather than the other life in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is really like History of Jewish way around, and for these and other reasons for the Jews who have chosen to settle there.” Life in Poland, 1864- weblog journalism is a more democratic me- They want to counteract the mainstream press, 1939 (with Lucjan dium. For example, Steven I. Weiss’s CampusJ, which has labeled them “obstacles to peace.” Dobroszycki), among which celebrates these principles, aims to com- Whether or not the kind of journalism that others. She is currently bine “old standards and new practices” in its arises from such media practices is really jour- co-editing The Art coverage of Jewish campus news. nalism is of less concern than what the media of Being Jewish in Such blogs are not about creating new practices themselves tell us about the Jewish Modern Times with ways to deliver traditional journalism, life they shape. Where life is news, the source Jonathan Karp and though that certainly happens, as can be to cultivate is oneself. The intensity of self-re- completing Painted seen from the online presence of print me- flection and public expression in the Jewish Memories: A Jewish dia. Rather, they are about new journalistic newsspace — and the dazzling diversity of Childhood in Poland practices for both professionals and ama- Jewish life in the making that can be witnessed Before the Holocaust teurs, whether reporters, editors, or publish- there — is, in its way, making history. in collaboration with her father. Discussion Guide

Bringing together myriad voices and experiences in a sacred conversation provides Sh’ma readers with an opportunity in a few very full pages to explore a topic of Jewish interest from a variety of perspectives. To facilitate a fuller discussion of the ideas, we offer the following questions: 1. Is an independent Jewish press important to American Jewish life? 2. Should the Jewish press air “dirty laundry” or does this compromise the position of Jews in America? Do Jewish journalists owe a greater allegiance to their communities or to pursuing their craft? 3. Does the Jewish injunction against lashon hara, evil speech, or gossip, serve as a shield to protect the bad behavior within our community? Does this injunction June 2005 Sivan 5765 preclude the Jewish media from exposing questionable behavior? To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA www.shma.com 2 Blogging, Journalism, and the Future of the Jewish Press Dan Sieradski, a Dorot Fellow in , is Founding Editor of Jewschool.com (a Jewish ‘fringe’ weblog), director of The Open Source Judaism Project (founded by Nothing Sacred author Douglas Rushkoff), and founder of the multilingual hip-hop collective Corner Prophets. He is currently a student living in . Rob Eshman is Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles (www.jewishjournal.com). Rob, who has worked as a journalist in the U.S. and Is- rael, lives in Venice, CA with his wife Rabbi Naomi Levy and their two children. Rob and Dan’s recent correspondence focuses on the nature of blogging, new journalism, and the future of the Jewish press. Dear Rob, seemed like Jewish publications were taking Bloggers play an interesting role in the scoops off blogs without giving credit, but Jewish world, but it’s hard to argue whether it’s hard to point to a story that blogs were or not it’s an important one. For disparate covering that made a traditional Jewish pub- Jewish communities, blogs provide a meet- lication sit up and take notice.” Steven did ing hall where anyone with the chutzpah to point to one story that came to light because get up and make him or herself heard can of significant coverage on Jewish blogs engage in conversation with the wider Jew- — Rabbi Michael Ozair, a sex offender who ish community. Could you imagine what the attempted to cover up his tracks by chang- Jewish world would be like if the Amoraim ing his name to Michael Ezra. and Tannaim were blogging the Dan and Gemara? What shape might have taken if the Babylonians and Blogging is emblematic of the glorious Yerushalmis had been keeping blogs simul- taneously with the wider Jewish community anarchistic nature of the Internet. chiming in? On today’s blogs everything is open to discussion, and nothing is out of Dear Dan, bounds. Further, like talmudic debate, these It’s very hard to talk about bloggers conversations are very democratic in nature; in general, as the frequency, quality, and everyone is welcome to participate in the quantity from blogger to blogger and from discussion and bring some degree of insight week to week vary so much. Substitute to the table. On my site, Jewschool, for ex- the word blogger for the word “typer” and ample, we engage in conversations about you understand the dilemma. Israel that run the gamut of opinions from So, to cut to the chase, good blogging Chomsky to Kahane. People raise concerns is a boon to Jewish journalism, as it is from a very secular humanistic place and to journalism in general. It adds insight, from a fundamental -rooted place. It’s fresh voices, almost unlimited quality con- not always productive, but it’s always in- tent, leads, scoops, and competition to a credibly educational and thus valuable. profession that could always use more of Blogging can put pressure on major news the above. It provides a very low barrier outlets to pick up stories that might oth- to entry into the Jewish community, which erwise fall beneath the radar. And whistle too often limits access to people who are blowing seems to be rapidly becoming the not financially, religiously, or politically norm; a number of sites are devoted spe- acceptable. Most blogs riff on journalism cifically to calling out Jewish institutions done elsewhere, and only a handful of and leaders on issues that the mainstream them actually make or break news. Jewish press would otherwise ignore for Bad blogging can be entertaining, but reasons of allegiance or, frankly, good taste. it’s ultimately just widely-distributed In a recent conversation, my friend Steven doodling. People quickly learn not to take I. Weiss (who was the founding publisher it seriously; the blogger usually moves of Protocols, an early and now defunct jBlog, on to other things, like a job; blogs often and the creator of CampusJ, a new Jewish have a short half-life. June 2005 student site) said, “There are too many The key for us fuddy-duddy print Jew- Sivan 5765 ish journalists is to figure out how to To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA examples to count where it very much www.shma.com 3 incorporate the best of blogging into centralized media outlets can never do: Tell our pages — the freshness, interactivity, the whole story. And so I’d argue that rather fearlessness. At the same time, there’s no than the old media co-opting the tricks of reason to be enamored of the worst parts the new media, the new media will co-opt of it: the lashon hara; sloppy writing, edit- the old media’s tricks and start taking its ing, and sourcing; the snide, predictable journalism more seriously — picking up the anger of sexually frustrated young Jew- phone, conducting interviews, and checking ish men with sharp minds and no one with facts for itself. And when that becomes the whom to share their ideas. norm, you guys are finished. Rob Dan

Dear Rob: Dear Dan: It’s easy to diminish the value of blog- Nah, old media never die, they just be- ging. It’s something a lot of journalists seem come new media. We’re not in the printing to be doing these days because of the threat business; we’re in the information distribu- blogs pose to the profession of journalism. tion business. Whether we distribute in- Bloggers endanger the stability of old media. formation via stone tablets, paper, or fiber People don’t read the papers anymore; they optic cables doesn’t really matter. read ‘metafilters’ like Google News and As new news delivery systems replace weblogs that harvest and recontextualize old ones, the key is to find systems news stories to identify biases and misinfor- that offer high quality content and a sus- mation. Blogs have changed the way people tainable economic model. There are some- both perceive of the media and the manner thing like eight million bloggers in the U.S. in which they digest it. This may not neces- alone, and I can’t imagine you’re saying sarily mean providing coverage in the same that each is as worthy as the next. Some manner that a news outlet may, but it does are superb, some blow, and most of them mean offering a new paradigm in news pre- — even the superb ones — are still trying to sentation — and that’s not something to be figure out how to get paid for their work. taken for granted. Technological advances will soon make Thus, when you make remarks about blogging seem quaint. The new new Inter- “distributed doodling” and a “short net will be able to instantly transmit huge half-life,” whatever glimmer of truth there files (30 percent of worldwide Internet may be to this, you’re joining this same traffic now operates by BitTorrent, a high- chorus of naysayers. And I have to wonder capacity file transfer system), so why blog what sort of stake you have in making such when you can just talk into a camera and remarks. You say you want to co-opt the interact in real time with a guy watching best of what blogs have to offer. I say your you on his cell phone in Shanghai? Let’s days are numbered. The European Situ- call it blabbing, not blogging. It will kill off ationists referred to this practice as recupera- you and your kind faster than you can say tion, which the free, open-source encyclo- newsprint. Every blogger is his own Tom pedia, Wikipedia, defines as “the process by Friedman. Every blabber will be his own which radical ideas and images are com- Geraldo. Mind you, the journalistic skills of modified and incorporated within the ‘safe’ news gathering, fact-checking, story-telling, confines of ‘spectacular’ society.” At a recent editing, source-grooming, multi-sourcing, meeting of executives, Rupert etc. will still make some blabbers as valu- Murdoch remarked that consumers want able as the best bloggers, who are as valu- “control over the media, instead of being able as the best print and broadcast jour- controlled by it.” In the face of blogging’s nalists. Most of the essential skills don’t advent, Murdoch recommends that news- change, and talent and hard work will still papers begin incorporating blogs into their be of value, and ambition and quality will websites in order to maintain readership. still be rewarded. It’s the technology that But you see, blogging is emblematic of the changes, more and more rapidly, while our June 2005 glorious anarchistic nature of the Internet. human needs remain the same: for news, Sivan 5765 As a distributed media model, with mil- for gossip, for connection. To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA lions of hands working at once, it does what Rob www.shma.com 4 Dull and Mediocre Ira Stoll DULL AND MEDIOCRE are two words studies department at . I often used to describe Jewish journalism. The wrote a story for the Wall Street Journal about complaint is made most repeatedly and re- shenanigans at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial cently in a self-published book by Luke Ford. Museum. Critics of Jewish journalism miss the Mr. Ford, the son of a Christian evangelist, point when they fail to take into account the is best known for a website that graphically fertile nature of this broader field. chronicles the pornography industry. What In that context, is there still a place and a standing he has as a critic of Jewish journal- need for a Jewish press that is aimed primar- ism is not exactly clear to me, but his book, ily at a Jewish audience? Some of the bulletin Yesterday’s News Tomorrow, (iUniverse, 2004) board and internal discussion functions once includes transcripts of interviews he con- carried out by that press can now be filled by ducted with the editor of The Jewish Week of email lists. Certain communities, such as the New York, Gary Rosenblatt; with the editor fervently Orthodox or ardently pro-Israel, will of , J.J. Goldberg; with the editor have needs that can be filled only by specialty of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, Rob publications like the daily newspaper Eshman; with a professor of journalism at Co- or the weekly Jewish Press of . Some lumbia University, Ari Goldman; and with a stories on the internal battles of Jewish orga- few dozen other figures in the world of “Jew- nizations are of so little interest to non-Jewish ish journalism.” readers that were it not for Jewish publications, In defense of the Jewish journalists, it has the news of the disputes might never be put to be said that much of American journalism on the record. But what good is Jewish jour- is also dull and mediocre. And it is not only nalism for non-Orthodox, non-professional, Jewish journalism that falls into the category of non-semi-professional Jews? dull or mediocre; one of the complaints about Some Jewish philanthropists and charities American Jewish communal life — from reli- who also believe Jewish journalism is valuable gious school classes to services — is subsidize Jewish newspapers and wire servic- that it is dull and mediocre. es. Sometimes the subsidies reduce the level of What’s more, as Jews in their second and liveliness, aggressiveness, and independence. third and fourth generations in America have (Ford’s book includes what he claims is a copy integrated into the American mainstream, so of an April 7, 1997 memo from leaders of the have Jewish journalists and Jewish journal- UJA-Federation of New York to the editor of ism. William Safire’s regular interviews with The Jewish Week in which lay leaders propose Ariel Sharon for op-ed “one UJA-Federation cover story per month page, often timed to appear on the eve of in all editions” and stipulate that the “UJA- , are good Jewish journal- Federation will continue to make its donor list ism, perhaps better than anything appearing available to The Jewish Week for subscriptions in papers marketed exclusively to a Jewish so long as The Jewish Week provides UJA-Fed- audience. Jeffrey Goldberg’s coverage in the eration with the regular ‘presence’ it needs.”) New Yorker magazine of Islamic terrorists in The argument in favor of the subsidies is the Ira Stoll is Managing South America and Jewish settlers in Gaza claim that in their absence Jewish journalism Editor and Vice was important Jewish journalism, as is Jacob would die or decline in quality. President of The New Gershman’s coverage in of Most journalists, and even many publish- York Sun. He has the furor over in the ers, aren’t in it for the money; if they were, served as Washington they’d have gone into more lucrative fields. correspondent and Most journalists I know are drawn to the work Sh'ma does not publish managing editor of the because they are interested in good stories. Forward and as North in July and August. The story of the Jews and their God is one of American editor of the the greatest in human history. It can’t honestly Jerusalem Post. We’ll be back in September with an issue be assessed as either dull or mediocre. My own on High Holiday liturgy and experience. faith is that some way or another it will inspire In October, Sh’ma will focus on issues June 2005 storytellers to do it justice, as it has now for Sivan 5765 of economic and social justice. To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA thousands of years. www.shma.com 5 Investigating Jewish Stories Larry Cohler-Esses ARE JEWISH COMMUNITY newspapers money to pay Abramoff for lobbying, timorous lap dogs sitting pert and pretty in a Abramoff came up with a plan to provide world of corruption, abuse of power, and con- term life insurance to tribal elders, who flicts of interest? The answer is not self-evident. would make the yeshiva their beneficiary. Five years ago, The Jewish Week of New York, my The school would then pay Abramoff’s former employer, courageously exposed Rabbi lobbying fees. Baruch Lanner, a prominent Orthodox rabbi • More than $140,000 from Abramoff’s in- who for decades sexually harassed vulnerable ner city youth sports foundation went to young people under his charge. The article, the West Bank, where it was used by a by editor Gary Rosenblatt, was meticulously Jewish settler to mobilize against the Pal- researched, filled with the kind of detail that estinian uprising. inspires credibility and so multiply sourced as None of this was broken by a Jewish media to bury Lanner under a mountain of evidence. outlet — though some of it was shockingly The paper also highlighted the moral failure of easy to find. The expenditures of Abramoff’s prominent Orthodox leaders who closed their frequently cited Capital Athletic Foundation, eyes and ears to victims when allegations of for example, are publicly available. After the Lanner’s conduct were brought to their atten- initial story in a February 2004 Washington Post tion — then stood its ground against a torrent about such a prominent Jewish figure, why of abuse and boycott threats. did no Jewish outlet follow up? Was anyone With Lanner’s conviction in a court of reading? law and important reforms at the Orthodox Rightwing culture warrior Rabbi Dan- Union (which employed Lanner), support- iel Lapin introduced DeLay and Abramoff ers of independent journalism dared hope when Abramoff was both board chairman the story would mark a breakthrough for the of Lapin’s group Toward Tradition — which profession; no longer would readers be treated decries what it terms the leading role of Jews like children who could not be exposed to the in American cultural decadence — and a world’s harsh truths. key lobbyist for liquor and gambling inter- But five years later such expectations ests. And in 1996 the Marianas government appear misplaced. Witness this winter and — an Abramoff client — awarded a $1.2 mil- spring’s revelations regarding Washington lion no-bid contract to Rabbi David Lapin, lobbyist , the self-proclaimed Daniel Lapin’s brother, to promote “ethics traditionally observant Jew, owner of two in government.” A recent government audit Washington kosher restaurants, and crony to was unable to determine what work David House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Abramoff Lapin performed. The New York Times — not not only appears to have subverted congres- any Jewish paper — provided this Jewish sional ethics rules by sponsoring or helping story, too. shadowy off-shore entities sponsor Delay The possible reasons for such a lack of in- junkets to Scotland, Russia, and the Pacific vestigative curiosity are many: the old shondeh Northern Mariana Islands, but a cascade of fur the goyim defensive crouch is one reason follow-up stories also revealed that: that quickly comes to mind. But I suspect Larry Cohler-Esses • Abramoff funded a yeshiva day school he many Jewish news outlets simply do not ap- has worked for The headed with millions of dollars fraudu- proach their profession with the idea that in- New York Daily lently gouged from three American Indian vestigative journalism is part of their brief. News, The Jewish tribes and funneled through an Abramoff- Investigative journalism requires a will- Week of New York controlled foundation purportedly de- ingness to commit staff to time-consuming and Washington voted to “needy and deserving” inner city research and to support them with investiga- Jewish Week as youth sports programs. Abramoff con- tive tools and financial resources. But before an investigative vinced the tribes their contributions were anything else, Jewish papers must crave cred- reporter. crucial to ensuring support from DeLay ibility with a fierceness that puts first their June 2005 and other congressional leaders for their readers’ right to know about their community. Sivan 5765 casino gambling interests. Only then will they lift themselves out of their To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA • When one tribe said it had no more current lap dog-like status. www.shma.com 6 Wanted: A Critical Engagement with Our Own Heritage Samuel G. Freedman IRVING HOWE once opined that the ideal Jewish religious figure from antiquity until Jewish Socialist would have attended a Tal- today. That creates an intellectual asymmetry mud Torah. A fiercely secular man, Howe of the sort no journalist should desire. And, understood as all too few of his fellow non- by the way, Jewish journalists who do come believers did that Judaism was not only a re- out of religious backgrounds should make ligion to be rejected by modernists but a part certain they study up on the intellectual gi- of every Jew’s intellectual patrimony. or ants and major themes of secular Jewishness freethinking, they all had something to learn rather than dismissing it as unimportant or from the Exodus narrative, the prophets of corrosive. social justice, the debaters of the . Yet a deeper sense of Judaism, and thus of Howe’s formulation leaps to my mind in Jewish identity, cannot connote an allegiance considering the training of Jewish journal- to the Jewish people in one’s journalism. A ists, and I think it applies equally well to the journalist remains beholden to nothing except journalist who happens to be a Jew and to the highest standards of the profession and no the journalist who practices the profession one except the citizens who consume the news. for a specifically Jewish venue. Among all Too often, Jewish organizations and individu- races, religions, and ethnicities, at least in my als expect, indeed demand, a kind of loyalty 30 years of experience, journalism dispropor- oath from Jewish journalists, and they readily tionately draws the skeptics, contrarians, and hurl the epithets “self-hating Jew” or “Jewish social critics. We are instructed to trust only antisemite” at those perceived to have broken observable, documented fact — the batting the tribal covenant. average, the stock price, the vote total (well, Jews have no Pope in our religion, and maybe not in Florida in 2000). A famous apho- we should have no supreme authority in our rism goes, “If your mother says she loves you, journalism. It is not a Jewish responsibility check it out.” to hide the supposed “bad news” from pub- For this reason, journalism has had a dif- lic view; what constitutes “bad news” is an ficult time grappling with religion of any sort. entirely subjective concept. As a democracy, Belief does not submit neatly to empirical Americans believe that free information and testing or eyewitness evidence. It is inchoate, open discussion improve a society. Only dic- ineffable, personal. Only in the last generation tatorships claim the public interest is served have even the leading news organizations by sanitizing the journalistic portrayal of found a vocabulary, and a set of knowledge- reality. And as Jews, whether religious or able reporters, to lift religion journalism to a secular, we have traditionally prided our- level above dutifully covering Yom Kippur or selves on disputation, debate, contention, at Easter sermons. least when it can be conducted within the Because journalists work in an occupation bounds of civility. that had tended to distrust and discount re- Something about being Jewish seems ligion and that aspires to challenge all ortho- to make us want to be journalists. Every doxies, they should make the effort to become newsroom of my professional life has been conversant with their own heritage. For those disproportionately Jewish (and also dispro- Samuel G. Freedman, a who will at some point report on religiously portionately Irish Catholic, since they, too, are professor of journalism or ethnically Jewish issues, a baseline familiar- a people of words and writing). My faculty at Columbia University, ity with Judaism is indispensable. For those colleagues at the Columbia Graduate School is the author most who never will, the Jewish religious tradition of Journalism include Friedman, Goldman, recently of Who She remains essential to analyzing much of the Shapiro, Weinreb, Lipton, Isaacs, and Wald. Was: My Search for American experience. Those bigots who believe in a Jewish Interna- My Mother’s Life I suspect that the typical Jewish journal- tional Media Conspiracy would have a field (Simon & Schuster). ist has a greater familiarity with Karl Marx, day with us. Having the surname, though, is Sigmund Freud, or Albert Einstein, or at no longer enough. A Jewish journalist needs to June 2005 least the ideas they espoused and made part develop an informed and critical engagement Sivan 5765 To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA of the global conversation, than they do any with klal Yisrael. www.shma.com 7 The Lessons of The New Rabbi Stephen Fried

LAST SPRING, I was invited to speak to as “disrespect.” a private retreat — okay, a brunch — of the It isn’t disrespect. It can and should be the board of one of the country’s largest Jewish highest form of respect — for open communi- newspapers. I really wasn’t there to rehash the cation in our cherished religious institutions. controversies surrounding my book, The New It is also, in America, the law. Rabbi. Instead, the editor of the paper wanted Anyone employed in religious institutional me to lead a discussion about how more am- life, including the clergy and elected or ap- bitious, passionate, and in-depth journalism pointed lay leaders, is a public figure — pri- about our synagogues, federations, and JCCs marily because the organizations they run or might actually be “good for the Jews.” work for enjoy nonprofit status. Reporting on When the conversation began, several those organizations is how journalists help people expressed concern about the detailed protect the public trust. And the sooner Jew- reporting in the book (which dramatically ish leaders understand this, and cooperate recreates the behind-the-scenes life of an with journalists so that they can write better, American synagogue while also exploring fairer, more relevant stories, the sooner people my own experience of re-embracing Jewish will truly appreciate how hard it is to keep a practice after my father’s death). They wor- house of worship open, or to fund and run a ried about washing a community’s “dirty social service agency, or to support Israel, or laundry.” I pointed out that there was really to choose a new leader. very little in the book that qualified as even The problem, by the way, is much bigger lightly soiled laundry and, more important, than just press relations. The way many Jew- that the main characters who had cooperated ish leaders address the media is a microcosm fully with the project over several years of re- of how they approach communications inside porting were satisfied with both its journal- their institutions. Journalists tend to want to istic and Jewish integrity. I shied away from know the same things as congregants, con- addressing the quarrels some have stituents, and employees. Bad communication with the book because I think those rabbis and lack of transparency in process can lead to and I should discuss their concerns privately something far worse than substandard media first — and still hope one day we will. coverage; they can block the flow of informa- Jewish newspapers should have much tion and insight that is the lifeblood of any different concerns. In many ways, they aren’t organization, making real problems worse controversial enough. They often miss the op- and creating new ones. portunity to make their local Jewish communi- That is exactly how a book about the seem- ties seem as fascinating as they really are. ingly benign process of a replacing a beloved I asked the board members to consider rabbi at a large, stable congregation became what has happened to coverage of their own a “controversial” piece of Jewish journalism. professions in the media they read so vora- None of the people involved with the book ciously: how the The American Lawyer revo- set out to create controversy, and I greatly lutionized the coverage of law, and the Wall admired the way that all the clergy and lay Stephen Fried is an Street Journal, The New York Times, and several leaders continued speaking openly to me adjunct professor at magazines helped fostered similar revolutions after the situation became more volatile. In Columbia University in the coverage of business, politics, medi- fact, the synagogue eventually did the same Graduate School of cine, sports, the high and low arts, bringing a thing with its congregants; it undertook a Journalism. His book depth of understanding we now just take for remarkable internal inquiry over what had The New Rabbi granted. Before these revolutions, almost all gone wrong (which was started months be- (Bantam) is now media was dominated by the kind of party- fore my book came out). The leaders then available in paperback, line, press-release coverage that many in our read the entire frank, fascinating report at a with a new chapter that clergy and lay leadership still expect from Jew- public meeting. updates the story. ish media and still want from secular media The local Jewish newspaper was afraid June 2005 covering Jews. And leaders in all these fields to cover it. It is my prayer, as a journalist Sivan 5765 were initially outraged that the press would and a Jew, that the next time they won’t be To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA treat them as public figures — which they saw afraid. www.shma.com 8 The Ultra-Orthodox Press Ruth Ebenstein AT SHLOMI’S NEWSSTAND In Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood, a dozen Haredi (ultra-Or- thodox) newspapers and magazines decorate the outside table. Strewn about are dailies, weeklies, and monthlies, newspapers and colorful glossy magazines in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. Welcome to the Haredi media marketplace of the 21st century. What began in late 19th-century Europe as an instrument for separation from the secular world — an alternative to the secular press — has blossomed into a growing and diversifying industry. Yossi Elituv, Deputy Editor of the popular Haredi weekly, , discusses the development of Haredi journalism and its societal role in 2005. RUTH EBENSTEIN: What is the function of children’s supplements, etc. — in a glossy the Haredi press? Haredi publication that celebrates Haredi values and valorizes Haredi figures. In our YOSSI ELITUV: The purpose of a Haredi world, that means the kollel avrech, the yeshiva, newspaper is twofold: to provide the Haredi and the rabbis. reader with everything he/she needs to know—and simultaneously, to protect him EBENSTEIN: Tell us more about the right not to from all that he/she does not need to know. know. How does that manifest in the press? Haredi editors and publishers do not sub- scribe to the Western journalistic credo of ELITUV: In a Haredi newspaper, censorship objective reporting or the “right to know.” is a given. Communal convention mandates Rather, their aim is to give the Haredi reader that the publication be scrutinized by an indi- information on what’s happening in the world, vidual or committee before it goes to press to politics, technology, somewhat through their ensure that it is congruous with the society’s lens, to guard him or her from having to turn religious codes. A Haredi paper never writes to Yediot Aharonot or the Israeli equivalent of about suicide, AIDS, or rape, does not run Peter Jennings to be kept abreast of current photos of women, and generally avoids strong events. Additionally, the Haredi press aims personal attacks. Personally and profession- to inculcate Haredi values. ally, I agree with this approach. Why run a centerfold on an adolescent who shot ten kids EBENSTEIN: How has Haredi journalism and then himself? Doesn’t that just encourage changed over the years? others to do so, for the glory? Honestly, when Ruth Ebenstein is I read some of the newspapers in Israel, I ask writing a doctoral ELITUV: In the early decades of the state, myself, is this really the Promised Land? dissertation at the Israeli Haredi newspapers were almost exclu- Hebrew University of sively political organs that served party needs EBENSTEIN: With that level of censorship, Jerusalem on Haredi alongside Haredi values. For example, the what kind of investigative journalism runs in (ultra-Orthodox) mainstream Hebrew-language daily Ha-mod’ia the Haredi press? responses to the was the mouthpiece of . Many Shoah as depicted in Israeli Haredim hungry for news turned to ELITUV: That really depends on the newspa- the Haredi Ashkenazi non-Haredi dailies such as Yediot Aharonot or per. At Mishpacha, we’ve examined problems press from 1950 to Ma’ariv on the sly and grew to identify with within our community: exposes on discrimi- 1973. Ruth completed secular icons — Ben Gurion, the IDF, and the nation in the school system between Ashke- a degree in journalism kibbutz movement. Over the years, the Haredi nazim and Sephardim, youth dropping out at Northwestern community grew and changed, with an influx of school, and the treatment of emotionally University and an M.A. of new blood. New immigrants and the hazara disabled students. in German history at b’tshuva movement brought their respective the Hebrew University. news-reading habits and appetite for more op- EBENSTEIN: Is this press critical for Hare- She has worked as a tions. In the 1980s and 1990s, changing winds dim in the Diaspora, or can they turn to their journalist and writer yielded weekly newspapers independent of communal and national Jewish newspapers for more than 15 years. political affiliation, featuring more photos and as an alternative? color. Today, a Haredi reader can get almost June 2005 all of the elements of a non-Haredi newspa- ELITUV: It is true that Jewish newspapers Sivan 5765 To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA per — book reviews, a women’s magazine, serve their respective Jewish communities. www.shma.com 9 But for the Haredi reader, they pose an even readers to shy away from these publications, greater threat than the secular press. When a and I understand that segments of the Mod- Haredi reader picks up a secular newspaper, ern Orthodox leadership do the same. Let’s he/she doesn’t expect Jewish messages. He face it — the Jewish world comprises many knows what to anticipate. But when he/she stripes, streams, and colors. You cannot put reads a Jewish newspaper, he/she definitely all the facets and factions into one supermar- expects to find Jewish values — and is bound ket — or into one newspaper. It just doesn’t to find something else. We encourage our work. Christianity and the Media in America Quentin J. Schultze CHRISTIANITY IS a rhetorical religion tends to give audiences what they want, not grounded in proclamation. Its first great theo- necessarily what they should have. This is logian, St. Augustine, was trained as a secular why well-respected broadcast ministers such rhetorician before his conversion and ascen- as Rev. Billy Graham have avoided using daily dancy to bishop. This is most evident in the and weekly television programs, which are , where the Puritans and other quite expensive. Christian groups came not just to avoid reli- Beyond evangelism, Christians have used gious persecution but also to plant the “City more specialized media to strengthen cross- on the Hill” — a biblical term recited by one generational and cross-geographical faith of the first Pilgrim ministers and championed communities. These include denominational publicly by President . newspapers and magazines, books and other This is why so many churches and para- educational materials, films, DVDs, private church ministries use the media to reach out to and public Websites, e-mail lists, and online the “unsaved.” They pioneered mass printing video and audio streaming. and distribution in the 1830s, operated about Christians generally recognize that their one out of twelve radio stations already in faith must be passed along from generation the 1920s, launched some of the first cable to generation. They realize that community is and satellite TV channels, and most recently communication (the two words come from the created the most popular religious Website same Latin root meaning “to make common”). (www.gospelcom.net) in the world, with about Together with local Christian bookstores and twelve million “hits” daily. national publishing houses, congregations Currently, Christians, primarily Evangeli- form faith communities not just through wor- cals and a few Roman Catholics, run about ship, but also through extensive education 1,200 radio stations in the U.S. These and programs and workshops, retreats, and con- Christian cable television channels are avail- ferences. Such events provide opportunities to able in nearly all markets across the country, purchase materials for personal and collective urging viewers and listeners to respond finan- spiritual growth. Quentin J. Schultze, cially and spiritually. Before the televangelism But Christians also face a growing po- Ph.D., is Arthur scandals of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart liticization of their educational media. Most H. DeKruyter in the late 1980s, over a dozen broadcast min- Christian media advance morally and po- Chair in Faith and istries elicited tens of millions of dollars annu- litically conservative stances on public issues Communication at ally in donations and claimed audiences in the from abortion to federal judicial nominees Calvin College and low millions. Even without such high-profiler and U.S. policies in the Middle East. More- author of Christianity personalities, Christian media continue to over, some Christian broadcasters are fueling and the Mass Media shape religious opinions and doctrinal em- such politicization. Ironically, this is causing in America: Toward phases. Religious media thereby compete for significant rifts within denominations and a Democratic attention with local Christian leadership and congregations. Accommodation national denominational authority. Orthodoxy, that is, true or authentic be- (Michigan Statue But many Catholics and more mainstream lief, is becoming oddly fashionable in many University Press). Protestants criticize seemingly deceptive Christian circles. The key to this develop- June 2005 broadcast messages that promise new believ- ment seems to be two-fold: First, the desire Sivan 5765 ers complete happiness, financial rewards, to learn from tradition (Christian church To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA and physical healing. Mass-marketed faith historian Jaroslav Pelikan says tradition is the www.shma.com 10 living faith of the dead, and traditionalism is puterized database at the Holocaust Museum the dead faith of the living); and second, the in Washington that one of my Viennese rela- anonymous availability of online resources tives was a Holocaust survivor. Using the In- that an interested person can access without ternet, I was able to determine that he was still having to visit a church or theological library. alive, and last year I connected with him via I hear regularly from Christians who want to e-mail. I now read the Bible through a different know how they can use print, electronic, and lens. I’m studying ancient Hebrew and later now digital media synergistically with lo- Jewish wisdom literature. I no longer use the cal congregations to help interested persons term “Judeo-Christian” in my academic lec- and families reclaim ancient wisdom. After tures and writings. Even as a Christian, I find all, they say, our information-rich society is that term disrespectful to Jews, and I struggle wisdom-poor. as the Apostle Paul did to understand both the My own life is a case in point. Raised commonalities of and distinctions between the Roman Catholic, during college I became a two faiths. I don’t know where this will lead. Protestant while reading about doctrine and Yet I do see the mass media as gifts from God theology. I had never really internalized the — gifts that can help all of us to share our faith Catholic tradition to make it my own. A few humbly, build communities of shalom, and re- years ago I discovered and traced online my claim wisdom that transcends the foolishness Book Ad for June 05 Sh�ma REV1.qxp 5/13/2005 9:37 AM Page 1 Jewish roots. Moreover, I found on the com- of our age. Great Fundraising

Chair, Sh’ma Advisory Committee: Rabbi Neil Gillman Resource! Editor: Susan Berrin Publisher & Executive Editor: Yosef I. Abramowitz Excellent Gift! Founding Editor: Rabbi Eugene Borowitz Art Director: Janet Krasner Aronson $ Webmasters: Sunita Dilwali and Hyung Park 7 per Proofreader: Amy Rea copy* Subscription Manager: Heather Holmes Chair, Jewish Family & Life! Board: Martin Kaminer * ON ORDERS OF 25 Sh’ma Committee: Sandee Brawarsky, Sharon Brous, OR MORE, TAX INCLUDED. Jeremy Burton, Nina Beth Cardin, Aryeh Cohen, Brigitte PLEASE ADD SHIPPING AND Dayan, Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, Hadar Harris, Carrie HANDLING AT $2 PER BOOK Harris, Shai Held, Richard Hirsh, Steve Jacobson, Phil Miller, Adam Mintz, Yehuda Mirsky, Jonathan Schorsch, Jonathan Schreiber, Susan Seely, Carl Sheingold, Devorah The acclaimed book, Zlochower Jewish Family & Life: Traditions, Holidays, and Values, Contributing Editors: Michael Berenbaum, Elliot Dorff, Arnold Eisen, Leonard Fein, Barry Freundel, by Yosef I. Abramowitz and his wife, Rela M. Geffen, Neil Gillman, Irving Greenberg, Rabbi Susan Silverman, is a practical Joanne Greenberg, Brad Hirschfield, Paula Hyman, yet personable guide to rejuvenating the Lori Lefkovitz, Richard Marker, Deborah Dash Moore, Jewish family. This handsome hardbound Vanessa Ochs, Kerry Olitzky, Riv-Ellen Prell, Harold publication embraces the observances and Schulweis, Elan Steinberg, Elie Wiesel, Arnold Jacob Wolf, David Wolpe, Michael Wyschogrod celebrations of Jewish living while tackling the tough issues that face today’s parents. The opinions expressed in Sh’ma do not necessarily reflect those of the Mark it up for fundraising! Use it to say “Thank You!” editors. Donations to Sh’ma are tax deductible. Sh’ma is available in microfilm from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, and in audio format from the Jewish Braille Institute. Address all editorial correspondence to: Sh’ma, P.O. Box 9129, Newton, MA 02464. Telephone: TO ORDER (617) 581-6810. Email: sberrin@jflmedia.com. Address all subscription queries and address changes to Sh’ma, P.O. Box 9129, Newton, MA 02464. Kindly enclose a check or provide credit card Telephone: (877) 568-SHMA. Email: hholmes@jflmedia.com. Sh’ma is information (cardholder, number, expiration date.) published by Jewish Family & Life! monthly except July and August. Application to mail at periodical-class postage rates pending at Newton, We accept MC, VISA, AmEx, and Discover. MA 02464. Subscriptions: $49 for two years in U.S.; $29 for one year; $39 Please indicate book quantities and for one year overseas; $59 for two years; $21.97 for one year senior/ student. Bulk subscriptions are available at reduced prices. Please notify complete shipping information. MAIL TO: the subscription office in writing if you prefer that your name not be given out on rented lists. JFL Books, PO Box 9129, Newton, MA 02464 © 2005 by Jewish Family & Life! FAX: 617-965-7772 ISSN: 0049-0385 June 2005 CALL: 800-421-8678 ext. 238 A discussion guide for each issue of Sh'ma can be downloaded from www.shma.com E-MAIL: [email protected] Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. June 2005 Sivan 5765 WITH ALL SPONSORSHIPS, SH'MA RESERVES To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA COMPLETE EDITORIAL CONTROL OF CONTENT. www.shma.com 11 The Balcony Throughout this year, in honor of the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in America, Israeli Ruth Calderon is sharing her observations about living as an Israeli in America and her perceptions on the complexity of American Jewish identity. As she moves acrostically through the alphabet — America, Bank, Camp, eventually ending with “” — Calderon offers an opportunity to view their everyday experiences through an Israeli prism.

WORK — Work is America’s civil religion. goodness of the world. In addition, the style of When you ask someone, “How are you?” his the yellow bus looks deliberately antiquated, or her first response concerns work. Kin- as if a child had drawn it. It travels slowly and dergarteners work hard, complete projects, difficultly, like a car from the previous century, develop skills, and bring home the fruits of rattling and protected by draconian laws: Woe their effort in the forms of paper-mache, clay, to the driver who dares to pass the yellow bus feathers, and pipe-cleaners. The older ones while it is letting children off. Yellow buses work hard in school only to spend afternoon belong with fire hydrants, mailboxes, and hours on homework. They push themselves to the policeman exiting the donut shop while get into good colleges. This is their job. Parents on his beat; these are the symbols scattered leave for work while it is still dark and return along the American streets. Like motherhood home after nightfall. No one leaves until 5:00; and apple pie, they attempt to conceal the fear they eat at their desks out of plastic containers of poverty, loneliness, and insignificance just and no one takes their “coffee breaks” in cafes. beneath the surface. At 5:00 the secretaries leave, and the execu- tives compete with each other for the dubi- ZIONISM — After three years, having ous distinction of “last to leave.” Offices are enjoyed the best delights of America while oppressive — ugly with fluorescent lighting. also acknowledging its challenges, I long for An occasional figurine or motivational poster home — for the bright blue light, simple be- attempts to give the gray plastic cubicles a longing, being immersed in Hebrew, to once personal touch of home. And while we are again be part of the majority, for constant cre- on the subject of home, there is work to be ative midrashim on Jewish customs, concepts, found there too. Stay-at-home moms used to and values, which are ever-present while not be out of the corporate rat race, but now there intrusive. I miss seeing people without cal- are special races just for them. The devoted endaring them into my palm pilot weeks in gym attendee, the gourmet cook, and the ex- advance. I long for my memories. I crave the pert minivan chauffer are all notches on the smaller dimensions of everything — my Vespa achievement ladder; managing the overflow- instead of the N.J. Transit, boutiques instead ing portfolios of their children (piano lessons, of the Gap, and knowing that America is just dance classes, soccer practice) requires the skill across the�������������������������������������� ocean. The full text of “The and savvy of the highest level executive. Balcony” is posted on Keeping their bodies in shape is work, as ������������������������������������ www.shma.com. is, oftentimes, marriage and intimacy. ���������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� Ruth Calderon is XMAS — Nine-year-old Naomi saw Christ- ��������������������������� the founder of Alma � mas decorations in a store for the first time and College in Tel Aviv was mystified. I asked her if the decorations� and Alma, NY. Her attracted her, and she said: like men’s fashion:� book, The Market, the it’s nice, but not for me. �� Home, the Heart, is �� being translated into YELLOW BUS — Yellow buses start�� English. The Balcony to make their rounds the week before school��� is translated by Marc starts; middle-aged drivers present themselves� Glickman and Kerrith to little children at the end of the summer, say- Solomon. ing, “My name is Jack. I will wait for you here June 2005 every day. Don’t run, and always put down Sivan 5765 the garage door because of the squirrels.” To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA These simple things restore our faith in the www.shma.com 12 Who We Are Michal Lemberger

Who We Are: On Being (and Not Being) a Jewish American Writer. Ed. Derek Rubin (Schoken Books, 2005) $25, 368 pp. Koret Book IN 1963, PHILIP ROTH took on his embrace it, as Erica Jong does, as a uniquely critics with a scathing essay responding to at- American way to define class? These are some Review tacks that he had supposedly portrayed Jews of the questions posed in Who We Are: On Be- in a negative light. He accused them of many ing (and Not Being) a Jewish American Writer, a The Koret Foundation things: timidity, paranoia, self-pity, but most new collection of essays by writers spanning – Sh’ma literary pages of all, lack of imagination. People who cannot three generations. include literary essays, author interviews, understand that to write about flawed Jews is The collection showcases a generational and book, film, or art not tantamount to betraying the tribe, he as- shift that could not have been predicted in the reviews that comple- serted, simply misunderstand the role of fiction, 1960s. While the essays written by older writ- ment the Koret Jewish whose goals are not religious or anthropologi- ers — like Roth — wrestle with the implica- Book Awards and cal. Responding to one vocal critic, he wrote, tions of assimilation, the youngest artists have provide visibility and “What fiction does and what the rabbi would built a literary philosophy upon the notion distinction to a wide like it to do are two entirely different things. The of responding to Jewish religious and textual range of Jewish books concerns of fiction are not those of a statistician tradition. While older writers came into their and authors. These — or of a public-relations firm. The novelist own in the shadow of the Holocaust or an pages feature an array asks himself, ‘What do people think?’ The PR American atmosphere tinged by antisemitism, of writers and others man asks, ‘What will people think?’” those born later in the century — especially who bring our readers When Roth wrote that essay, Jews were in after 1970 — no longer understand themselves new expressions of Jewish thought, imagi- the strange position of being a visible minor- in relation to these phenomena. In large part, nation, and spirit. ity while at the same time producing novelists that shift stands as proof of how far Jews, and — Bellow, Roth, Ozick, and Malamud — who America, have traveled. Visit JBooks.com for were (more or less) defining American litera- While individually these essays are charm- reviews, interviews, ture as Jewish American literature. They were ing, astute, and often witty, certain motifs be- and excerpts. infusing an ethnic, post-immigration ethos come tedious: I lost count of how many times into the larger literary scene. The degree to I. B. Singer’s dictum, “every writer must have which they succeeded is acknowledged in an address,” came up. And the notion of the the proliferation of ethnic literatures and the Jew as outsider, while historically true, was ongoing debate concerning the character of the mentioned too often, making some of the en- American literary canon. While some assert tries feel redundant. that few non-white, non-male writers should As Derek Rubin points out in his introduc- be admitted to that canon, few would argue tion, scholars and critics have long tried to that members of the “greatest generation” define the “Jewish American writer,” and they of Jewish American writers do belong, and have often roped the writers themselves into that all subsequent Jewish American writ- the debate, convening panels and readings, ers live and produce in the shadows of their and soliciting essays. But the question they forebears. want answered is not: Who are these writers? This is nothing new, of course. All of Jewish It is: Who are we? literature, from Deuteronomy on, is a response That writers themselves tend to be pulled Michal Lemberger to what has been written earlier. The Medi- into this more existential reckoning somewhat received her PhD in eval commentators — Rashi, Maimonides, ambivalently shows just how torn they are: English from UCLA. Nachmanides — were all conscious of the fact Jews, yes, but they each try to do what all writ- She lives in Los that they were part of an expanding tradition ers do — write about the human condition. Angeles, where she whose vitality depended upon the infusion of After almost half a century, we still ask our teaches literature and new interpretive gestures applied to ancient, fiction writers to define us to ourselves. It is to works as a freelance even intrinsic, human situations. our credit that we understand, to one degree writer and editor. So how are succeeding generations to de- or another, how powerful the written word is, fine themselves? Should they, like Cynthia but what we desire of our “Jewish American June 2005 Ozick, reject the term “Jewish American writ- writers” is a heavy burden, one too heavy for Sivan 5765 To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA er” altogether as too parochial? Or should they any of them to carry. www.shma.com 13 Mirrors and Waves J.J. Goldberg PRACTICING THE CRAFT of journalism Jewish life. Taube — the pure, old-fashioned news-gathering It’s commonplace to blame the institutions New kind — is a lonely way of life. Jewish journal- and leaders. They want to appear in a positive Visions ism is doubly so, or tenfold. If the media seem light in the eyes of their constituents. They New Visions is an less compelling than they should be or used expect the community’s journals to tell their opportunity to think to be, that’s the biggest reason. story as they want it told. imaginatively about Journalists are supposed to stand apart. We But the greatest pressure comes from the issues of relevance to are the mirror in which the community sees readers. Jews want to feel good about being the Jewish community. itself. Ideally, the reflection is a true one; for Jewish. To the extent that they are engaged as It is generously that to be so, the mirror must be still and flat. Jews, they are proud of their heritage. They funded by the Taube The reporter is not meant to be part of the story, want to think well of the institutions that rep- Foundation for Jewish but to report it straight. Bringing in your own resent that heritage. They don’t want Jews and Life and Culture. feelings is like putting ripples in the mirror: Judaism held up in disrepute. And yet, making The image may be more interesting, but it’s public institutions look bad is what journalists no longer true. are supposed to do. No, no report is entirely objective. The re- A caution: We speak of journalism and porter decides what topic to cover, what ques- news reporting as though they were one and tions to ask, which facts are the most telling. the same, but they are not. There are other Then the story must be written in an engaging types of journalism that are legitimate and manner, so as to catch the reader’s attention honorable: opinion and advocacy journalism, and, yes, to sell newspapers. And yet, every public relations and advertising, service jour- added flourish shades the story. Objectivity nalism. There are essays and blogs. None of and truth are ideals: never achieved, always these imposes the rigors of hard-news report- to be striven for. ing, and some of them pay a lot more. To be a mirror means one more thing: It is The plain truth, though, is that news report- to stand apart from the crowd, facing in the ing is the core of the profession. Essayists can’t opposite direction from everyone else. Editors tell you why the space shuttle blew up or how tell reporters they’re expected to be monks. many soldiers died in Iraq last week. Most of By this we mean they may not be engaged in all, they can’t tell you what really happened the issues they’re covering. They may not join in City Hall. That takes reporting. political parties, demonstrate for or against That’s why there’s a heroic aura to the the causes they write about, throw themselves hard-boiled gumshoe reporter, going back to into the world they’re covering. Woodward and Bernstein to the battlefield cor- If they do their job right, they will also find respondents of Normandy and Bull Run, and themselves removed, like monks, from the fel- on back to the trial of John Peter Zenger. lowship of those whose interests they share. Newspapers, since their inception, have They must cultivate and befriend their sources, been in the business of reporting the doings of the people on whose doings they report, only those in power. They tell the public what their to betray them in the end. leaders are doing to them, in their name, with For all these reasons, reporting the news their tax money. They make democracy possi- is a lonely job, and reporting Jewish news is ble; without them there is no informed citizenry. infinitely more lonely. That’s their first job. It’s why they’re singled out Here is the trap of Jewish journalism: the for protection in the U.S. Constitution. journalist must stand apart, disengaged from If compelling journalism seems in short the issues, the passions and especially the supply within the Jewish community, it’s community he or she covers. But what does mainly because the community can’t decide J.J. Goldberg is that do to the journalist as a Jew? What is the whether it wants it. Maintaining an open Editor-in-Chief of the point, the reward in being Jewish, if not the debate on Jewish affairs through a robust Forward. community, the beliefs, and the passions? adversarial press isn’t an issue for the Jewish June 2005 The loneliness isn’t just existential. The press alone; it raises the question of whether Sivan 5765 Jewish community, to a greater degree than we are willing to take the risks and pay the To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA most of us realize, dislikes news reporting on prices necessary to be a community. www.shma.com 14 e must be particularly careful with our facts,” ashon hara, evil speech, is the all-purpose shield Jewish “Wwrites Rosenblatt, hinting at the core challenge Lleaders use against accountability. Even the most secular for journalists: judgment. Our struggles with lashon are quick to respond to a painful journalistic inquiry with an hara are rarely about truths versus falsehoods, but invocation against gossip. about which truths we can traffic in. Lashon hara is the all-purpose shield Jewish journalists This year, I was commissioned by the use to explain why they haven’t covered a story in its depth Globe to write a piece on the re-emergence of the and passion. Stories with depth and passion inevitably require NiSh'ma term “Jewish American Princess.” Though cheeky the inclusion of painful personal details. Let us hear at first glance, the stereotype has a rather serious Lashon hara is the first cry of critics when an honest history and has been associated with both misogyny book about synagogue life is published (see the reaction to and antisemitism. But perhaps its most dangerous Stephen Fried’s The New Rabbi). feature is the connec- In short, lashon tion it seems to make hara is the first refuge between Jews and of scoundrels in Jew- money, a connection ish life. It’s the first that has served as the You shall not be a gossipmonger among layer of defense the basis for virulent Jew- your people; you shall not stand aside while establishment (be it hatred for centuries. In your fellow’s blood is shed; I am the Lord. in Reform, Conser- the course of my re- — Leviticus 19:16 vative, Orthodox or search, one interview- secular life) throws ee would not speak on his one biblical sentence represents the paradigm up against inquiries the record, arguing that for the ethical journalist. Two phrases suggest two about sexual abuse T Gary Rosenblatt, some laundry simply different lessons — a warning and an obligation. in the rabbinate, for Editor and Publisher should not be aired in On the one hand, we are commanded not to example. of The Jewish Week, mainstream (read: non- spread gossip because it demeans one’s neighbor, T h e r e ’ s n o is also Founder and Jewish) publications. insidiously and behind his back, in ways that he can- beautiful ideal that This person added that Chairman of the Jewish not counter. Throughout the ages immeasurable harm can not be perverted. perhaps I too should And while there are Investigative Journalism and bloodshed have come about through gossip, and be careful and rather many times when an Fund as well as Write the journalist knows full well the power he or she has ominously warned me injunction against On For Israel, an to destroy through character assassination. to exercise caution in gossip is the moral advocacy journalism writing this particular But the balance of the verse warns us not to shrink imperative, there program for high piece. from responsibility. Knowing that one’s words are are about as many school students. I was reminded of powerful and can do damage does not mean we can times when relaying this recently when a ignore reporting on wrongdoing, but rather that we damaging personal Alana Newhouse is publishing executive must be particularly careful with our facts and mind- information is mor- Arts & Culture Editor whispered to me that ful that the stakes are high. If the circumstances are ally necessary. at the Forward. his parents admon- important enough, we are obligated to take a stand, I tend to be ished him to use that speak out, and help correct an injustice. skeptical when Jew- classic litmus test, “Is Luke Ford is the author The verse concludes “I am the Lord,” reminding ish leaders invoke it good for the Jews?” lashon hara in their of four books, including us that if and when we can write with both accuracy When I wasn’t sur- self-interest. And so Yesterday’s News and compassion, walking that thin line of advocating prised, he was. “Do should you. Tomorrow: Inside for a just cause without unfairly attacking innocent people still ask that?” — Luke Ford American Jewish Indeed they do. people, our task can take on a measure of holiness. Journalism. —Alana Newhouse — Gary Rosenblatt Susan Weidman his text’s double injunction spells out the responsibility to evaluate a situation clearly. A journalist with Schneider, author of knowledge of wrongdoing has to become a judge, has to weigh the evidence and examine its source; that’s T Jewish and Female no small task. In the face of credible evidence and reliable sources, why do some journalists acknowledge a victim’s suffering and others dismiss her experience? and other books, is The operative phrase in Rosenblatt’s commentary is “If the circumstances are important enough.” Who de- Editor-in-Chief of cides? Too often the harm done to women by sexual and other predation has been judged not important enough. Lilith, the Jewish A few years ago, Lilith magazine took a principled stand on an issue we felt was, indeed, sufficiently important. feminist magazine now After careful investigation, we judged that writing about the victims of a famous rabbi’s sexual misconduct preparing to celebrate against girls and young women was more important than protecting his memory; it was more important to allow its 30th anniversary. the voices of the victims to be heard than to stand with those who had consistently blinded themselves to the rabbi’s actions in the name of preventing lashon hara. Many speak out against gossip. Some need also to speak June 2005 Sivan 5765 out for the victims. To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA — Susan Weidman Schneider www.shma.com 15 Small and Large Truths Ari L. Goldman I WORKED FOR The New York Times for 20 There was a time when it took decades to Sigi years and everywhere I went (in the Jewish ruin a reputation; now it can be done over- Ziering world) people asked, “How can you work for night. At the root of the change is the democ- that anti-Zionist newspaper?” ratization of media. In order to get attention in Ethics Now I work at Columbia University, and the past, you had to hammer away for years everywhere I go (in the Jewish world) people or get the support of one of the major news This year, the practical ask, “How can you work for that anti-Zionist outlets. Today that is no longer the case. Ev- ethics column will university?” eryone with a video camera and a Website can focus on money and I consider both these questions calumnies challenge institutions, both great and small. power. The column is co-sponsored by Shelley against noble American institutions but, in That is not to say that big media has dis- and Bruce Whizin fact, each is born of a small truth. What is appeared. In fact, it has gotten even bigger. and Marilyn Ziering curious to me is how differently these two Disney owns ABC, Viacom owns CBS — and, in honor of Marilyn’s charges spread. of course, their news divisions. But even as husband Sigi Ziering, The small truth at The New York Times is that these media giants grow, the videographers of blessed memory. The at one point — in the 1940s — the family con- and bloggers are often setting the agenda. The series of columns, with trolling the paper belonged to an anti-Zionist once-powerful network TV news anchors have responses, is available organization called the American Council for bitten the dust while the Internet gossip meis- on www.shma.com. Judaism, which opposed the settlement of ter Matt Drudge and the blogger Wonkette are Jews in what was then Palestine. Today, Jew- calling the shots. ish opponents of the Times use that bit of his- There is a variation of this phenomenon in tory and bolster it with passels of newspaper the Jewish world as well. The debate of a de- clippings that they maintain make a case for cade ago about whether Jewish communities an anti-Zionist newspaper. (Of course, Arab were better served by independent papers or opponent of the Times have their own passels by papers supported by a federation has sub- to prove it is a pro-Zionist newspaper.) It took sided. Yes, the independent papers still cry the Times decades to build a reputation that it foul but, in fact, the independents are a strong cannot shake. and growing presence, both in print and on The small truth at Columbia is that a the Web. They too set the agenda on both the handful of Jewish students were made to feel local and the national level. One might well uncomfortable by Arab professors because of argue that the hip magazine , which is Ari L. Goldman, author their pro-Israel advocacy. A video, Columbia read by my students, has more impact than the of The Search for Unbecoming, which focused on the charges, Forward, which was read by my teachers. God at Harvard, is besmirched the reputation of a great univer- But this evolution from big media business Professor and Dean sity virtually overnight. “Vile Words of Hate to small independent media outlets is not of Students at the That Shame a Top University,” a headline in unlike our Jewish journey from one ancient Columbia University the Daily News declared. An article in the Jeru- Israelite community to a flourishing Diaspora. Graduate School of salem Post quite laughably likened Columbia Some say that that diversity of voices has been Journalism. to a “miniature Gaza Strip.” the secret to our survival.

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