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December 05, 2008
Goodbye
Ira Rifkin
Special to the Jewish Times
Journalism has been my teacher for more than 40 years. At its best, it allowed me to indulge my curiosity in exciting ways by opening doors to experiences that otherwise would likely have remained closed. Eighteen years ago, it brought me to Maryland and a job at the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES.
I had been living in Los Angeles, where, after newspaper stints writing about government and politics, and a flashy period covering the film industry, I gravitated to religion reporting. That led to the awakening of my Jewish identity and a fateful synagogue encounter one Shabbat morning with a former colleague that prompted my coming to Baltimore.
With the JEWISH TIMES as my passport, I began exploring the broad parameters that define Jewish life and my place as a self-aware Jew in contemporary America. For that opportunity, I owe this paper a debt of gratitude.
Four years later, I left the paper for journalism jobs in Washington, followed by New York. Eight years ago, I returned to this paper in a limited capacity as a contributing columnist. Now it’s time to move on again. This is my last scheduled column for the JEWISH TIMES.
I’ve learned much since immersing myself in Jewish life — which is to say that, above all, I now know that there is much about it I still do not know. I’ve also shed my naiveté about the belief system we label Judaism and the cultural expression we call the Jewish community. They are imperfect amalgams of narcissism and hypocrisy made precious and holy by high-minded and heartfelt values and concern for others.
Journalism has changed greatly, and in ways once unimaginable, during my career. My traditionalist sub-personality regards the changes as largely destructive to the commonweal, without which society is a vicious arena. The Web may have democratized media, but it has contributed mightily to the atomizing of community.
Jewish newspapers — already economically vulnerable because of their reliance on a narrow advertising base and the community’s twin curses of assimilation and bitter internal religious and political rivalry — have been particularly humbled. A 200-page edition was not unknown when I joined the JEWISH TIMES. How many pages does the paper you’re now reading have?
The struggle then was to find enough news to fill all available space. Today it’s deciding what must be left out of the paper because of the lack of space. Given the deepening economic crisis, the prognosis is that conditions will only worsen.
Why is a locally focused Jewish newspaper still critical to community cohesion?
True, Israel news is available online today from any number of Israeli and other sources. Likewise, national Jewish news can be had with a few computer keyboard strokes from JTA and a handful of nationally oriented papers. Prefer a Haredi outlook? That’s also available (though not online because of concerns over casual Web usage). Liberal Jews, of course, also have their magazines and Web sites.
Quantity is not an issue. Fragmentation is.
Without a community-wide print publication to serve as a village square, where news and opinions affecting all segments of the community are aired, sooner rather than later “We Are One” will seem even more hollow a phrase than it often already seems. The Web, in its current form, seems inherently incapable of sustaining a multi-faceted community. It’s great for commerce, research and self-promotion — but not for growing broad community.
Still, change is a given. As always, the future is uncertain. May you be blessed.
Ira Rifkin lives in Annapolis.