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1-1

ith the commence-
ment of every new
year, the American
Jewish press has always
been treated to lists of an-
niversaries to be observed in
the approaching 12 months.
Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, as
historian and founder of the
American Jewish Archives,
can be expected to share
with us the 1992 records.
Without stealing his
thunder, I believe that this
year's list will commence
with and be dominated by
the 50th anniversary of The
Detroit Jewish News.
An important fact is assoc-
iated with our anniversary.
The founding of The Detroit
Jewish News was an occur-
rence that followed soon
after the national participa-
tion in the celebration of the
founding of the first English-
Jewish newspaper in the
United States. It was the
Asmonean. A delegation of
editors representing the
American Association of
English-Jewish Newspapers,
now functioning as the
American Jewish Press
Association, presented a re-
production of the first page
of that newspaper to Presi-
dent Harry S. Truman at the
White House on Feb. 20,
1949.
President Truman treated
the event as a matter of im-
portant national
significance with a commen-
tary on the values of the
English-Jewish newspapers.
He did it in his acknowl-
edgement of the presenta-
tion by me as the president
of the American Association
of English-Jewish News-
papers.
The Truman statement
acquired historic pro-
minence for the manner in
which he defined our news-
papers. His statement ac-
knowledged that our press
serves not only the Jewish
people but contributes great
value to the inter-
denominational principles of
American idealism. Here is
his statement:

Please give my warm
greetings to all those who
are attending the conven-
tion of the American
Association of English-
Jewish Newspapers
February eighteenth to
twenty-first. The 100th an-
niversary of the publica-
tion of the Asmonean is a
significant occasion, and I

Jacob R. Marcus

am delighted to have a part
in it ...
It is our people who have
made America great, and I
am proud of the fact that
there have always been
many of Jewish origin
among us. In the develop-
ment of our country, in its
defense, and in upholding
its high ideals, American
Jewry has played a
distinguished role.
For one hundred years,
the Jewish press has been
a potent force in building
the America we love. May
it long continue to uphold
the highest ideals of
human dignity and social
justice!

It is interesting to note
that the facts of the event
appeared in The Jewish
News of Feb. 18, 1949. That
issue, with a reproduction of
the first page of the Asrno-
nean, had all of 20 pages.
This will remind our readers
how we began on an econ-
omically reduced basis and,
nevertheless, always
fulfilled communal duties.
This is a fact inviting recog-
nition in the acclaim given
The Jewish News for what it
is today.
The double anniversaries
of 1949 and 1952 now taken
into account retained na-
tional significance in the
historic values of the Jewish
press which I incorporated in
the Feb. 18 issue on the oc-
casion of a syndicated article
released by the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency. It recorded
the following:
The first Jewish periodical
in the world, which made its
appearance at about the same
time that the general Euro-
pean press was born, was
published in the Ladino
language, in Amsterdam, in
1678, under the name Gazeta
de Amsterdam. It is in-
teresting to note that the se-

cond Jewish publication in
the world on record was
published in 1687, also in
Amsterdam, in Yiddish, and
was known as the Tuesday
and Friday Courant. It was
short-lived — it survived on-
ly 16 months — and its text
was in the Judeo-German
known as Ivre Taitsch, its ac-
tual name having been
Dinstagishi and Freitagishi
Courantin.
In the following century,
Hebrew publications began to
make their appearance.
Moses Mendelssohn publish-
ed a Hebrew weekly, Konelet
Musar, in 1750. During the
Haskalah period, Hebrew
dailies were published and
were the media for spreading
modern ideas among Jewish
communities, meanwhile set-
ting into motion the move-
ment for the revival of the
language of the Bible.
Toward the end of the last
century, Yiddish dailies
assumed the leadership and
became the dominant factors
in guiding the thinking of the
Jewish masses throughout

President Truman
treated the event
as a matter of
national
significance.

the world. This was as true of
the United States as it was of
European countries. In this
country and in Poland the
Yiddish dailies predomi-
nated, although newspapers
and periodicals also appeared
in other languages in the
Jewish communities of both
countries .. .
Prior to the era of Yiddish
journalism in America, there
were a number of German-
Jewish periodicals and at-
tempts also were made to
foster a Hebrew press . . .
There are four Yiddish dailies
— the Forward, Der Tog, Yid-
disher Morgan Journal and
Freiheit. In Chicago and
Cleveland, Yiddish weeklies,
offshoots of the earlier daily
newspapers, still are cir-
culated. But in the main the
Yiddish press began to
decline with the cessation of
immigration to this country.
A new era, although slow-
moving, therefore began for
the Jewish newspaper
published in English.

The first English-Jewish
periodical published in
English in this country was
the Occident and American
Jewish Advocate which made
its appearance in Philadel-