When I moved to the editor’s desk two years ago, I received a welcoming of winks and nods. Knowing chuckles and sideways comments implied, “You don’t know what you’re getting into. The Jewish community is a tough crowd.”
Two years later, I unequivocally agree. Our readers are opinionated, demanding, argumentative and devoted. They/you/we care deeply not only about the well-being of Judaism and the Jewish people, but also feel a sense of ownership about what fills these pages.
For that I am grateful. Though I do dodge a proverbial bullet here and there, I’m thrilled for the passionate and critical voices that are part of our printed conversation.
That lively exchange is a reflection of our community itself and we should welcome it. A paper that includes heated but respectful disagreement points to a community that is vibrant and unafraid to confront its sticky issues. It reflects a people that is awake, alert and healthy.
Indeed, we are made stronger by listening to opposing views, understanding issues and engaging in debate. We are empowered when we trudge through our fear of conflict to pursue openness, clarity and educated wisdom.
The Chronicle’s editorial goals run parallel to the Jewish community’s larger goals, and include a mission to heal, repair and transform the world, to reach the unengaged and to ensure Jewish continuity. Not least among those goals is to explore Jewish identity and its meaning.
These lofty, but real and practical pursuits define our mission as a Jewish community newspaper. And they inform our daily work at The Chronicle.
In the past two years, we have implemented various subtle changes in our pages.
Keeping our emphasis local, we have worked to increase stories about members of our Jewish community, including profiles and various features. Among them is the new occasional series, “Share the Naches,” which highlights young people in our community.
“Chai Lights,” which began just over two years ago, has become a regular feature, with photos of Jewish events around the state. Other new features include “Media Watch,” about items of local Jewish interest found in news media in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
We have stretched the limits of inclusion in our Lifecycle announcements and now include Birth, B’nai Mitzvah, Engagement, Wedding and Student announcements for people whose parents are or were part of the Wisconsin Jewish community. Our goal is to include as many voices, as many stories, as many lives as we can in The Chronicle’s pages.
Last year, we were proud to receive two Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism, a first place award for overall excellence as a small paper and a third place award for excellence in commentary.
We — The Chronicle staff along with a renewed and energetic Chronicle advisory committee — have great plans ahead, including both subtle and larger, more dramatic tasks.
In our pages, we strive to draw an honest picture of the local community, featuring Jews from every denomination and philosophy, and Jews from all sides of the metaphorical (and perhaps geographic) tracks.
We believe that our role is to make space for a variety of opinions and passions, to create opportunities for local Jews to see each other in fresh ways and to honor the diversity of our Jewish world.
We are also devoted to renewing the graphics of the printed Chronicle and its Web site. We must ensure that our paper is visually appealing and innovative.
Ironically, one of the great trials of this job is arousing reader response. (We rejoice when we receive a letter-to-the-editor. Really.)
Our challenge is not in the few vocal Jews who write letters and call with concerns (or write e-mails or call me at home or stop me in the supermarket), but the quiet majority of readers who do not respond. Creating pages that inspire that silent majority is one of our continuing and constant goals.
These past two years have been a blessed challenge and it seems that each little accomplishment is accompanied by a rapidly multiplying list of plans, dreams and ideas. Twenty-four months in — that’s one month for each hour of the day — and I am deeply committed to making this paper better, smarter and sharper.
We are, I believe, guardians of the community’s newspaper of record and moderators of a grand conversation that is sometimes harmonious and sometimes contentious, but always important.
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