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Has The Jewish Press at all changed, for better or worse, since Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky famously quipped when asked if it is permissible to take The Jewish Press into the bathroom that “the shaila is if you can take The Jewish Press out of the bathroom!”
One of the Klass family disputed that quote a few years ago. Although I stopped getting it after the better alternatives emerged, I can tell you that there is a lot less content than in the past. Much of the paper is filled with articles from right wing sources. I think it will disappear soon.
Yaakov is referring to syndicated political right-wing content such as Charles Krauthammer that the JP has been republishing for the last few years. It is interesting since when Sholom Klass, the founding editor of the JP, was still alive the paper took a consistent left-wing political position. It even endorsed Bill Clinton for President in both ’92 and ’96. Of course on religious issues the JP always was and remains on the far left.
A) that quote has been attributed to many people Reb Yaakov probably would not speak that way.
B)There are many Torah personalities that
contribute to the Jewish press (more so then ever before)if you are denigrating the paper as a whole you are including them as well
C)Saying they are on the left of most religious issues is very harsh and unjustified and borders on lashon Hara
as Rabbi Klass who founded the paper was a tzaddik and highly regarded by many Gedolim
Y. Doe: That Klass member didn’t dispute the quote, he merely questioned its source. It is a well-known quote and that Klass (he is a cousin who works in the paper’s advertising department) himself said he heard the quote many times when he was growing up and in yeshiva.
When R’ Sholom Klass was alive, the paper printed columns from R’ Meir Kahane HYD, as well as having serialized a book by one of the leaders of the old “Jewish Underground” that reduced the height of terror mayor Bassam Shakaa by a couple of feet…I mean a couple of legs.
98% of the paper, however, is paid content.
Kahane formed the Jewish Underground (in Israel). In any event, he was far from being a positive example for our community.
Kahane was also far from being left-wing. His real legacy and impact are unclear, as is much of his life. However, he was killed al kiddush Hashem, and if the FBI had looked past his radicalism and really investigated what happened, at least the first attack on the WTC would never have come to be.
He did not form the underground in any case; assuming the ShaBaK wasn’t in on that one too, it was the work of Gush Emunim activists.
FYI Mediziner, Rav Avigdor Miller ZT’L stated that Rav Meir Kahane HY’D was headed straight for Gan Eden, since he died because he was a Jew and stood for this wonderful cause of showing his Judaism.
I can’t speak about his afterlife, but rabbonim were not pleased with his public radicalism during his life and held it was very wrong and counter-productive. However “right” one may feel his political position was, his actions accomplished little other than C”H.
The rabbonim definitely, and rightly, opposed R’ Kahane HYD’s radical actions for Soviet Jewry when he was in the US. The JDL started out with noble intentions, but rumors had it that its original activists (including Dov Hikind) matured and were replaced by mindless thugs who engaged in extortion.
Once he started Kach in EY, and if his plan was indeed to pay yishmoelim to leave EY, then I don’t see how anyone opposed it.
As for his kiddush Hashem, a friend of mine who did not think much of him davka went to his levaya. My friend and I agreed that at the time of his death, he was mostly a loud, and possibly unbalanced, squawk box with little substance. Nevertheless, he was killed for being a Jew. I regretted not being able to go with him.
Even Skver met with Clinton.
Many yeshivishe people are pro Dems because of the programs.
i get it mostly for the ads. i do enjoy Rebetzin Jungreis’ column and that of Rachel Bluth as well. the rest that i read is classifieds and business ads.
The remarks here indicate that people either haven’t read the Jewish Press in a long time or just have an agenda. I keep an eye on ethnic/religious periodicals for a major public relations company, so I’m quite familiar with the Jewish Press in terms of the paper’s content and its inner workings. The paper’s endorsements of Clinton were an exception to the rule; they regularly endorse Republicans for president. And they have plenty of right-wing/yeshivish columnists. By the way, they have never had Krauthammer as a regular columnist, though they did run an interview with him a couple months ago. So again, a false comment. As to the charge that most of the content is paid, meaning that people pay to put it in the paper, that also is totally false. If you make a charge like that, you should back it up with specifics. Since most of the paper’s content is comprised of news stories from Israel from wire services like JTA and INN and the Jewish Press’s own website in Israel, as well as columns by various academics and rabbis, the notion that most of that content is paid is absurd as well as a lie. Finally, the story about the bathroom has been circulating since the 1970s, attributed to various rabbis. Its veracity has never been proved; the comment above that someone from the Klass family supposedly verified it is not accurate — as avhaben writes, the family member merely confirmed that he heard it in school. That’s not the same thing as verifying the truth of the comment.
When JP founding editor was alive the paper regularly endorsed Democrats for both local and national elections. Their endorsement of Clinton in both ’92 and ’96 was routine for them. It only changed after he passed away in (about) ’00 that the paper no longer endorsed Democrats for public office as a matter of routine.
Medziner, your statements about endorsements are simply not true. Prior to endorsing Clinton in ’92, the Jewish Press endorsed Nixon in ’72, Reagan in ’80 and ’84, and the first Bush in ’88. And the paper endorsed Giuliani for mayor in ’89 (when he lost to Dinkins) as well as in ’93 and ’97, well before Rabbi Klass’s passing. The paper also endorsed Al D’Amato for Senate in ’80, ’86, ’92 and ’98 (when he lost to Schumer). And it endorsed Pataki for governor in ’98 and 2002.
Okay, you are correct that it is more nuanced. I stand corrected. Nevertheless, Klass endorsed Jimmy Carter in ’76, Bill Clinton (both times) and Mario Cuomo (through ’94 when he lost to George Pataki.) In my opinion, at least, those endorsements (that I mentioned in this comment) speaks volumes.
Actually, the Jewish Press did not endorse Carter in ’76. They endorsed neither candidate, saying something like Ford had not earned the endorsement because his policies vis-a-vis Israel were problematic and Carter was unknown. The endorsements of Clinton were somewhat unusual in that they were more of a vote of no confidence in his opponents — in ’92 Bush I had proven himself cool to Israel at best, and Baker had made his anti-Jewish remark, while in ’96 Bob Dole had a mixed record on Israel, waxing hot and cold throughout his Senate career. By the way the Jewish Press endorsed Lou Lehrman over Cuomo in ’82. In ’86 and ’90, Cuomo, who had established a strong relationship with the frum community, was running against very weak Republican candidates who had a hard time drumming up support from even hard core Republicans.
I heard from a chashuva person in the name of Reb Yaakov that the jewish press is “? ???? ??? ???????????? ??? ? ?????” (A peice of pig wrapped in a mezuzah).
Nevertheless, Klass endorsed Jimmy Carter in ’76
How about *Rabbi* Klass?
The Wolf
To dontchalish: You heard from “a chashuva person in the name of Reb Yaakov.” Interesting that no one ever hears these kinds of remarks from the rabbonim themselves, only from an unnamed “chashuva person.” If you describe the Jewish Press as “a piece of pig wrapped in a mezuzah” (and there’s no indication anywhere that Reb Yaakov said any such thing), you’re including in that description such Jewish Press columnists as Rav Dovid Goldwasser, Rav Moshe Meir Weiss, Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi BenZion Schaeffer, Rabbi Rafael Grunfeld, Rav Avigdor Miller (the Jewish Press carries columns based on his writings), Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis and a whole host of other rabbis, Torah scholars and kiruv activists from across the Orthodox spectrum. So be careful with what you say if you believe one is not supposed to cast aspersions on Torah scholars.
samzacky: First of all, those columnists you cite are post-Reb Yaakov’s time. So your point isn’t valid. Second of all, when a paper runs a column of a certain rabbi or person that in no way, shape or form means such rabbi is giving a hechsher to the paper. This is especially true if the writer is writing something that is carried by numerous outlets (i.e. syndicated content). But even if the paper is the only outlet this point holds true. If I write an article in the New York Times, that does not mean I appove of or agree with that periodical.
To samzacky:
First of all this goes in line with the first poster of this discussion. You may not heard of it but others did. You may not have heard of it because no publisher would print it.
Secondly, Reb Yaakov said this many years ago when the jewish press could have been different. I heard they recently changed, they may be trying to become main stream because they are becoming very unpopular.
samzacky
…and by the way Rabbi Miller didnt like the JP either.
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