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Sholem Aleichem, Gogol Show Two Views of Shtetl Jews

Russians, Jews and literature scholars get excited about jubilee years, and for those who fit any of these categories, 2009 is a big year. One hundred and fifty years ago this month, a writer who would immortalize the Russian Jew in literature, Solomon Rabinovich (1859-1916) — better known by his literary persona, Sholem Aleichem — was born in the town of Pereyaslav, near Kyiv. This spring also marks the 200th birthday of Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), who was born about 100 miles to the east of Kyiv, in the town of Sorochintsy. Gogol, too, helped to immortalize the Russian Jew in literature, but in a more problematic way: the Jews who crop up around the margins of his stories, most of them crafty market vendors, money-lenders and tavern keepers, are anti-Semitic stereotypes, an unsettling detail in the work of one of the greatest comic writers of modern literature.\n

That’s What I Do

If you\’re a single 24-year-old gal looking to meet a preferably Jewish single guy in Los Angeles, you\’d think a good pick-up line might include the words \”I work for The Jewish Journal.\” After all, what better way to convey to the guy-of-interest that you\’re a fellow MOT? But you\’d be wrong.

The Lichtenstein Formula for a Jewish Paper

The role of a Jewish newspaper is to connect the Jewish community, not to unify it,\” said Gene Lichtenstein, founding editor of The Journal.\nDuring his nearly 15-year tenure, which ended in 2000, Lichtenstein\’s formula was to hire good, independent writers and columnists who could produce articles that raised the interest, and frequently the hackles, of both professional and peripheral Jews.

Love, Journal Style?

We\’re compiling the best stories of people who met through The Journal to run as part of our 20th anniversary edition.

Federation to End Donor Subscriptions

Starting next year, Jewish Journal readers who received their weekly newspaper by donating to The Jewish Federation will still be able to get it, but not as part of their Federation donation.

Fed Campaign Ends on High Note

In June, the Journal incorrectly reported the 2003 results as slightly down based on incomplete figures that did not reflect the final campaign push.

Stanley Hirsh

Stanley Hirsh shared a vision of a newspaper that could serve as a kind of hub for an increasingly diverse and far-flung community.

Letters

Letters to the Editor.

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More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.