JTA

On the eve of World War II, the publisher of a prominent newspaper objected to the idea that Jews around the world were connected as a people.


“It seems to me that a people is a group having common ideals, common interests,” the publisher wrote. “Certainly there is no such common denominator between the poor unfortunate Jew now being driven around what was recently Poland... and myself. In Poland this Jew is a part of a recognized minority. [I] fortunately, am in no such category.”


Respectfully, I beg to differ.

The mission of JTA is an unshakable commitment to the idea that there is a narrative connecting Jews in the United States, Israel and around the world -- whether rich or poor, oppressed or thriving, religious or secular, hawkish or dovish.


The JTA Jewish News Archive, launched earlier this month, represents a century’s worth of journalism dedicated to documenting that narrative. It’s a testament to the JTA journalists during the 1940s who, in the words of one scholar, “often provided the first, and sometimes the only, reports on the unfolding Holocaust.”


It’s a testament to JTA reporters who dedicated their lives to covering the plight of Soviet Jews, the founding of Israel, the changing roles and responsibilities of women, the names and events big and small that make up the long arc of 20th-century American Jewish history.


Will you honor the work of these journalists? Will you support JTA's ongoing narrative of the modern Jewish experience?



To help us as we launch this unprecedented free resource, we have set an ambitious but necessary $25,000 fundraising goal. That's only 500 generous donors -- a fraction of our regular readers -- at the $50 level. We’re well on our way, but we need 350 more of you to come forward this week.




As editor in chief of JTA, I pledge to honor your support by keeping that narrative going in a way that will give future generations what they need to understand our time and address the challenges of theirs.


With much appreciation,
Ami Eden
Editor in Chief


P.S. If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss this five-minute video