Calgary Jewish News, the first community-run newspaper of the Jewish community of Calgary, Alberta, was published from September 1962 to 1988.Lewis Levendel, A Century of the Canadian Jewish Press: 1880s-1980s, Ottawa: Borealis Press, 1989, pp. 240-41.The first Alberta Jewish community-operated newspaper was Our Community News of Edmonton, founded in 1958 (Levendel, A Century of the Canadian Jewish Press: 1880s-1980s, p. 243).
History
Origins The first known Jewish settler arrived in Calgary in 1889,Louis Rosenberg, "Calgary," Universal Jewish Encyclopedia vol. 2, New York: Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc., 1940, p. 642. but it was not until 1954 that a Jewish community council was launched.“Jewish Community Council to Be Established in Calgary,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 31, 1954. The Calgary Jewish Community Council, which united 17 disparate organizations,"Jewish Group Re-Elects President," Calgary Herald, April 6, 1963, p. 13. is considered to date back to 1962."Jewish Federations, Welfare Funds, Community Councils," American Jewish Year Book 1970, vol. 71, New York: American Jewish Committee, 1970, p. 592. In that year, Harry S. Shatz was hired as the council's first executive director. By 1961, Calgary's Jewish population had grown from around 400 families in 1930“20,000 Jews in Western Canada, Late Figures Show,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dec. 3, 1930. to an estimated 2,881 people."Jewish Federations, Welfare Funds, Community Councils," American Jewish Year Book 1964, vol. 65, New York: American Jewish Committee, 1965, p. 163.
In the early 1960s, most Canadian Jewish newspapers and magazines were independently owned and operated.See the list in American Jewish Year Book 1963, vol. 64, New York: American Jewish Committee, 1965, p. 470. The purpose of the monthly, tabloid-sized Calgary Jewish News, according to Shatz, its first editor, was to unite the community and eliminate the redundancy of competing organizational publications.
Expansion At the end of the 1970s, Calgary Jewish News expanded beyond its initial purpose. In 1979, it published articles in Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish,Calgary Jewish News, October 1979, pp. 4-5. reflecting the growth and diversity of the community; in 1980, it began subscribing for the first time to the Jewish Telegraphic News Service,Calgary Jewish News, February 1980, p. 1. and also published a 24-page edition, its largest ever.Calgary Jewish News, April 1980, p. 1.
Competition By 1980, Canadian Jewish communities "were moving to take-over Jewish weeklies,""Canada," American Jewish Year Book 1982, vol. 82, New York: American Jewish Committee, 1981, p. 184. but the trend was reversed in Calgary with the appearance that year of The Jewish Star, the city's first independent Jewish newspaper. The ensuing uneasy relationship between the organized Calgary Jewish leadership and the independent Jewish Star mirrored tensions playing out in the 1980s and 1990s in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and elsewhere between a free press and Jewish federations."Newspapers Say Federations Threaten Free Press," The Jewish Star, Calgary Edition, March 30, 1984, pp. 1-2.Editorial, "Jewish newspaper war to shape American Jewry's integrity," Intermountain Jewish News, July 13, 1984, p. 24.Mark Fitzgerald, "A fight for survival. Independent Jewish newspapers battling competitive threat from newspapers started and subsidized by Jewish charities," Editor & Publisher, July 21, 1984, pp. 11-12.Edwin Black, "Federation vs. Independent Press," B'nai B'rith Messenger (Los Angeles), two parts, June 21, June 28, 1985.Jerome Wm. Lippman, "The Jewish Press – Chronicle of the Contemporary Scene," Judaism vol. 36, Spring 1987, pp. 238-242. For the first time, the Calgary Council saw reports from within the community which it deemed unflattering.For example: Editorial, "An Embarrassment to Calgary's Jews," The Jewish Star, Calgary Edition, March 6, 1981, p. 4 and Joe Spier, "A Response", April 3, 1981, p. 4; Avrim Namak, "Report on Centre was 'Misleading', Inaccurate," The Jewish Star, March 5, 1982, p. 4.
In 1982, in a move that saved the Council thousands of dollars on mailing costs, the Calgary Jewish News was inserted into, and delivered by mail with, The Jewish Star."New Distribution Method for Calgary Jewish News," The Jewish Star, Calgary Edition, March 19, 1982, p. 1.
Closing Calgary Jewish News was discontinued in 1988, and followed by the Calgary Jewish Community Council's newsletter, Dor L'Dor.
Editors Calgary Jewish News was edited by Harry S. Shatz from September 1962 to September 1978. Subsequent individuals named in the publication as editor included Gil August (1978–79); Douglas Wertheimer (1979–80); Avrim Namak (1980-82); and Rose Suissa (1981).Gloria Strathern adds Gary Kohn as another editor, between Shatz and August, without an indication of a timespan. Alberta Newspapers, 1880-1982: An Historical Directory, University of Alberta Press, 1988, p. 47.
References
External links Calgary Jewish Community Council fonds, The Archives of the Glenbow Museum Works by or about Calgary Jewish News in WorldCat catalog