FEATURED JOBS
What I loved about John Elway, one of the best quarterbacks of all time, is that he knew when it was time to move on to the next phase of his life. He won back to back Super Bowls, and went on to other endeavors. As opposed to other greats like Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali who hung on too long.
My dear colleague Phil Jacobs also knew it was his time to pass along the leadership of the Jewish Times to a new person.
Phil is moving on to the next challenge in his life: becoming the editor of the Washington Jewish Week. He has a lot of work to do there after accomplishing his goals here. In 1997, we needed a strong community minded editor to repair the damage left by our previous editor. Phil did that an more. He completed every goal we set for ourselves.
The JT is undergoing a major change that involves many factors—size, paper, logo, and content. Phil, a reporter from the womb, felt that we needed a magazine editor to guide us through this next phase. I applaud him for knowing when his time to serve was complete.
Personally, I’ll miss the hell out of the finest human being I’ve ever met. I will miss the hell out of the father/brother/uncle figure in my life. Personally, I’ll miss a guy who breathes Jewish journalism 24/6. I’m going to miss the guy who can walk into a Reform synagogue and interview a gay female rabbi in the morning and then pray in a very Orthodox synagogue at night. I’m going to miss the guy who delivers food to the needy every Thursday, teaches Hebrew school, and is a “big brother” to a father-less boy.
And, on top of all that, he’s a world-class father and husband.
We wish him good look in Washington as we move forward with our editorial vision.
As is the Alter way, we will adapt and change. Yet, we will all miss Phil.
Phil will be with us through much of June. He’s still got a cover story to write and steps to take on our redesign. There’s still work to be done.
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