The voice of a community

In the spring of 1929, Jewish jurist Louis Brandeis was serving on the Supreme Court; Louis B. Mayer, Sam Warner and other entrepreneurial Jews were inventing Hollywood; developers were starting to create something new called "suburbs," to which quite a number of urban Jews were moving and thriving; the economy seemed healthy for many Jewish businesspeople (the stock market wouldn't crash until October); and the country was at peace.   
It was an interesting, emergent and, in many ways, optimistic time for America's Jews, Connecticut's Jews included.
Perhaps that's why Sam Neusner decided it was a good time to publish a Jewish newspaper. 

He co-founded the Connecticut Jewish Ledger with Rabbi Abraham Feldman in April of that year for fellow citizens who, in his words, "should have and would welcome a vehicle of expression, a journal of Jewish public opinion, a record of its likes and events."

The Connecticut Jewish Ledger is still fulfilling that promise today, 80 years later.
  
"I've always wanted to keep the door open to new ideas, to welcome new residents to the community, and to make sure that everyone stays well-informed and involved," says Ledger publisher N. Richard Greenfield.  

The paper has been accomplishing those goals through an extensive range of local, state, national and international news reports of interest and importance to American Jews, affirmative and often inspiring articles on the activities and issues of senior citizens and students, profiles of interesting Jewish personalities, political and religious opinions, cultural reviews, and communal announcements close to the hearts of Jewish citizens across the state.  

As a result of its efforts, the Ledger has been honored by the New England Press Association, the American Jewish Press Association and the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In addition, many of its articles and columns are reprinted in other Jewish publications.
    
The Connecticut Jewish Ledger has always been based in the greater Hartford region. The version that began in 1929 had Hartford, New Haven and Springfield editions. A New Haven edition was again added for a while in the 1990s, and today a Western Massachusetts edition is also published.

Of course, Greenfield would be more than pleased to count all of Connecticut's 111,000 Jews among its subscribers; the economic realities of publishing make that a significant and ongoing challenge. Rising postage costs and competition from the worldwide web are just two of those challenges. Still, as a statewide vehicle, the paper is a welcome presence in Connecticut's local Jewish communities, big and small, often serving as the tie that binds and as a powerful voice in strengthening Jewish identity.  

The significance of the Ledger's role in community-building and its place in Connecticut's illustrious Jewish history are not lost on the slew of professionals who head up the many Jewish agencies and organizations that criss-cross the state.

"We're involved in many important educational and cultural projects throughout the year, and the Connecticut Jewish Ledger routinely covers many of them," says Estelle Kafer, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford. The Ledger and the Historical Society, she says, share a common goal of fostering a deeper bond among individuals in the Jewish community, as well as a deeper connection to their history and heritage.

"The Ledger has been a great resource for us since it has documented most of the important Jewish events in New Haven, and still does," comments Werner Hirsch, curator of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven. "From its pages we can glean the histories of the synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Additionally, stories about individuals and the notices of births, marriages and deaths are a valuable resource for genealogical research." 

Grappling with the weekly challenges of just what to cover -- and how to cover it -- is par for the course at the Ledger. Those same challenges are common to newspapers all across the country; but they are felt even more keenly at the Ledger where the editorial staff sees the paper's mission as two-fold.

"Most newspapers are driven by one simple and straightforward mission: that is, to report the news - and let the chips fall where they may," explains Ledger editor <A href="mailto:judiej@jewishledger.com">Judie Jacobson</A>. "We are guided by that same mission...but we see ourselves as having an added responsibility: to advance the well-being of the Jewish community - locally, nationally, in Israel and around the world.  Without exception, the welfare of the Jewish community trumps all.  We are here to serve and support the Jewish community, and what we cover and how we cover it is always guided by that basic principle."

Just because that principle hasn't changed, doesn't mean the Ledger has stayed the same.  Take the paper's design and format, for example.  Over the year, the paper's "look" has gone through several incarnations.  Today, thanks to the efforts of an award-winning production staff, the Ledger is a stylish, easy-to-read, well-organized periodical.  Never a publication to lag behind the times, the print edition is enhanced by a smart, state-of-the-art web site that keeps readers tuned in to all that's new and up-to-the-minute in the Jewish world, and a weekly e-page update that hits the e-mail boxes of Ledger friends all around the country. And, yes, the Ledger even has a Facebook presence.

The Ledger has been and continues to be a family affair. In the earlier days that was quite literal, as many Neusner family members worked on the paper, as did managing editor Berthold Gaster's wife, Adele, and his son for many years. Today, although the masthead has changed, the staff still operates with the spirit and cohesion of a close family.

"To many, it may seem astonishing that so small a staff can produce two newspapers [the weekly Connecticut Jewish Ledger and the monthly Western Massachusetts Jewish Ledger] that are consistently first-rate and so far ahead of the field," says Greenfield.  "But it's not surprising to me.  I see how this staff operates and I know that these papers are driven by a talented and dedicated group of people who truly believe in this product and in the mission of the paper. That's what drives them to always go the extra mile to make each edition of the paper better than the last edition of the paper."

As venerable as the Connecticut Jewish Ledger may be, it was not the first Jewish newspaper in the state. That distinction goes to the Connecticut Hebrew Record, which began publishing on October 7, 1921. Billed as a non-partisan, non-political, Jewish home periodical, the weekly featured short stories, reports of Zionist activities, a children's page and a women's page.
 
Founded by Dr. George H. Cohen, the Connecticut Hebrew Record may, in some ways, have led to Sam Neusner's own distinguished publishing project, successfully unveiled eight years later. 

Indeed, Cohen, Neusner, Greenfield and the other Jewish newspaper publishers have had to grapple with some serious issues over the years, including several wars, Israeli independence, anti-Semitism and terrorism--as well as with such locally important fare as fund drives, intermarriage and other Jewish family matters. The best way to do it all, says Greenfield, is to continue to allow a candid exchange of ideas. The Connecticut Jewish Ledger has been doing that for 80 years, and expects to continue to keep those doors wide open.
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