Launching The Jewish Voice

PROVIDENCE – With the new Jewish year of 5774 starting next month and a new school year fast approaching, we’re taking the opportunity to rename and redesign the newspaper with this issue.  We think these changes will help make the newspaper more accessible and informative for our local Jewish community.

First, the name: We are now The Jewish Voice.

Longtime readers will remember that the name of the newspaper has gone through several iterations, including after two newspapers – the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island’s monthly paper (the Federation  Voice and later The Jewish Voice of Rhode Island) and the independent weekly, Rhode Island Jewish Herald – merged to become The Jewish Voice & Herald. Combining the names was a way to honor both publications, but it made for a somewhat unwieldy name. Years later, we now adopt a streamlined title.

But there’s a more important reason why we chose The Jewish Voice.  As a community newspaper with a small staff, we rely on contributions from people throughout the community. Published by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, this newspaper wants to represent the voices of everyone in our Jewish community – and we can’t do that alone. (See our related story, “Guidelines for submitting articles for publication in The Jewish Voice” on page 6, to learn how easy it is to submit information to The Jewish Voice.)

Fortunately, we live in a time that makes it easier to include a great variety of voices. Just as electronic communication makes it simpler for people to contribute news, ideas and opinions to secular media, so, too, we hope it can broaden and enrich our coverage. If you don’t think we’re representing your voice, please tell us!

We haven’t just slapped a new name and a new masthead on the same traditional newspaper. We believe our fresh new look (which is a work in progress) – more and larger photographs, more visually appealing graphics, more community news and more accessible stories, in print and on the web – will appeal to current and new readers.

What hasn’t changed is our commitment to bring meaningful news and feature stories, commentaries and columns, simchas and calendar entries, as well as stories from across the nation and around the world. We believe an informed community is a stronger community. Whether you read us in print or on the web, we hope you’ll look to The Jewish Voice as your guide to what’s going on in our Jewish community.

We welcome your input, so let us hear from you.   Contact me at nkirsch@shalomri.org or 421-4111, ext. 168.  Or you can post a comment online, directly below this article.

Thank you for reading!