Our 130 years of continuous publication

On November 1, 1895 The Hebrew Standard of Australasia was first published in Sydney by founding editor Alfred Harris. Its masthead proclaimed its mission statement: to be “a biographical and authentic record in the interest of Judaism”. Interestingly it used Hebrew font for both the Hebrew date (Cheshvan 14) as well as a verse from Yirmiyahu 50:2: “Declare ye among the nations – let it be heard [translated as ‘published’] and lift up the standard.”

The latter six decades of the 19th century saw the advent of Jewish newspapers in multiple languages across the Jewish world – especially in Europe and what would become Israel. The advent of “London Jewish Chronicle” that sadly ran to only three numbers in 1842. Various other attempts at publishing took place in subsequent decades but it was only in 1879 that the Jewish Herald appeared in Melbourne – it would run in various  formats for nine decades. However it was The Hebrew Standard that would prevail in various guises and subject to name changes – until it morphed into The Australian Jewish News that we know today.

The Harris family would continue to play a vital part in the history of The Hebrew Standard until 1950. Founder Alfred Harris served as editor until his passing in 1934. However whilst the paper continued it would now find itself subject to increasing competition that would later absorb it.

In Melbourne in 1933, businessman Leslie Rubinstein acquired the Yiddish paper Australier Leben and launched the Jewish Weekly News. In January 1934 it came to briefly incorporate the Jewish Herald; by May 1935 after that amalgamation ended, the English edition became The Australian Jewish News.

In 1939 The AJN (Melbourne-based) launched a Sydney edition, The Sydney Jewish News. The impetus for this was the pro-British non-Zionist slant of The Hebrew Standard under Harris which was not acceptable to the increasingly diverse Jewish population as immigration in the 1930s changed the demographic structure of the community.

That aside however, the Jewish press in Australia – and indeed worldwide – was facing a new world. In both Melbourne and Sydney the two editions entitled Jewish News became the vehicle for bringing to Australian Jewry  as much as could be gleaned of the horrors engulfing the Jewish world. That it did so is something that has never ceased to amaze this writer.

It was the February 1933 edition of the Australier Leben – the earliest edition in our office archive – that told readers that the Jews of Germany were panicking as Hitler had just been appointed. But as I read later copies of The Australian Jewish News in our archive I cannot fathom how for example in 1944 this newspaper was able to publish blow by blow details of the Hungarian disaster as it unfolded, while the American army seemingly lacked the information and/or willingness to deal with the transports to Auschwitz. Yet report it did – it was the vehicle to inform the community of the reality of Europe.

And once survivors began to straggle into Australia it too was the source of information as well as assistance. Witness the advertisements of lists of arrivals on particular boats – and advertisements of individuals seeking relations, anyone who had any knowledge of so and so who had once lived at such an address in Poland. And then there were the arrivals who came with their equipment such as sewing machines with which they hoped to make a new life for themselves and placed hopeful advertisements seeking opportunities. When has a newspaper carried such a burden?

And all this was while reporting the sensational developments in Europe (the advent and impact of the Iron Curtain) and of course in Palestine/Israel. In the pre-television era and even beyond it the print media were the key (at times sole) sources of information – and as far as the Jewish community and Jewish world were concerned, the Jewish newspapers were almost the sole source. A 1947 arrangement with JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) still used by The AJN today facilitated the gaining of worldwide information for publication.

In 1953, John Shaiak, who had purchased The Hebrew Standard rebranded it as The Australian Jewish Times (AJT). He felt that the previous name was archaic and anachronistic; reference to Jews as Hebrew was not the way of modern parlance and it wasn’t even a paper in the Hebrew language. With the name change came a directional change; it was to be a publication keeping up with the times and more overtly concerned with advancing the fledgeling Jewish state and its interests.

The 1960s were a time of editorial change. 1962 saw Hans Licht assume editorship of the Melbourne edition. In 1966 Eve Symon became editor of the AJT; In 1968, Louis Klein acquired the AJT with a view to improving its appeal to all segments of the community, and Symon and Klein lead a revitalisation of the paper. Then in 1973 Klein purchased the Sydney Jewish News and merged it with AJT. In 1983 Klein’s daughter Susan Bures took over Sydney the editorship.

A new era was to begin in 1987. Richard Pratt bought the AJT and merged it with the Melbourne-based AJN. Sam Lipski was named editor-in-chief; he would maintain that position until 1998. His experience with media in Australia and worldwide was to prove invaluable to raising the profile of The AJN. I must add a personal note; it was his idea to create a particular section – “Shabbat Shalom” – with a religious bent – to the editing of which he appointed myself both to write a weekly column  that he termed “Sichat Yosef” as well as to seek input from rabbis and others across the community to give what he felt was an appropriate flavour for a Jewish communal publication.

In 1990 the newspaper adopted the name The Australian Jewish News nationally. Following Lipski’s departure further editorial change in Sydney and Melbourne involved Vic Alhadeff, Deborah Stone and Dan Goldberg in various roles.

As a new century dawned technological developments would begin to impact on a mode of information and news transmission that dated back centuries. 2001 saw introduction of an online edition – the beginning of a new era. However it was generally agreed that it would complement rather than replace the print edition – especially as print was favoured by the older demographic that comprised a significant portion of our subscribers, as well as by those who sought to read the paper on Shabbat when electronic technology is eschewed.

In July 2007, Robert Magid became publisher after acquiring the newspaper; more recently his daughter Anna Pasternak has on his behalf taken an active role in regard to its operation. 2009 saw Zeddy Lawrence appointed as national editor. In March 2022, after almost 13 years he resigned to be succeeded by Gareth Narunsky. In 2019 The AJN became a local partner of The Times of Israel.

In 2021 over 270,000 pages of The AJN and its predecessors were digitised and made available via the National Library of Australia’s Trove website and in 2023, post-October 7, all digital and social platforms have now launched and are thriving.

So as we look back over the unbroken 130 years of editions what can we see? Realistically, it is the ultimate record of communal change. At least until the 21st century advent of social media reducing dependence on print it was not just a presenter of news and then current affairs. Its advertising pages faithfully chronicled births, bar/bat mitzvahs and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, deaths. From the real estate pages we can deduce changes in the housing market including not only cost and styles but where the community lived. Advertisements and articles regarding food and drink and establishments serving them show changes in community tastes – in all meanings of the word. It is hard to imagine a history of community  sport – especially Maccabi and AJAX without reference to the widely anticipated and read sports pages – for many readers the first pages to which they turn.

And from a religious perspective, whether dealing with congregations or rabbis and other personalities – or debates over kashrut and its cost – the paper is a rich source of information. And the same is to be said of all communal organisations and key personalities – whether Zionist, social or serving a multitude of other perspectives.

However as we go forward two major changes are affecting our role. The advent of social media means that much that would once have featured in our pages is not advertised with us – especially births and smachot though an older demographic still prefers to use our pages to record deaths and condolences. As far as news is concerned a weekly paper cannot compete with almost instantaneous information online regarding events worldwide. And so the key to the future is our online presence as well as community news and views and provision of local reaction to unfolding events worldwide. Adaptation is essential; its implementation ensures our continuity in the service of the community.

Shabbat shalom,

Yossi

Yossi Aron OAM  is The AJN’s religious affairs editor and a student of communal history.