I discovered quite by accident how many Beth Am members do not read or even know about our local State of Washington Jewish newspaper, the JT News. The JT News ran an article about a year and a half ago about my transition from part-time to co-senior rabbi. I did not give a thought to the fact that not a single Temple member made mention of it during an intensely busy weekend of well-attended Beth Am activities, following its publication.

A full week later, I attended a Bar Mitzvah party of a member of another synagogue and large numbers of those congregants all said things like “nice article,” or “mazal tov.” It occurred to me then that Beth Am members weren’t reading the JT News. I wondered about that for awhile and then, as often happens, I got busy with other matters and forgot all about it. Last month, it happened again. Washington State rabbis take turns writing a column called Rabbi’s Turn for the bi-weekly paper. I wrote about my experience growing up in an anti-gay household. This time, one Beth Am member commented and not only assured me that they receive the JT News in their mailbox, but that they know of one other Beth Am member who also receives it! Numerous members of the Seattle Jewish Community School (SJCS) commented on my article at their fundraiser I attended.

You clearly do not need a subscription to the JT News to read about me; my writings appear in our Bulletin and Temple website. But I do encourage you to consider subscribing to the JT News because it is an opportunity to learn what is going on in our wider Jewish community and to support the very idea of a community Jewish paper. Each issue of the JT News contains articles of national and international Jewish interest; local Jewish news and events; and advertisements for a vast array of Jewish cultural, social, religious and educational programming all around the Sound. Of course, there’s always “The Rabbi’s Turn!” And even better, our own congregant, Diana Brement, writes the chatty M.O.T., Member of the Tribe, column.

Politically speaking, it’s harder than you might think to edit a community Jewish newspaper. Certain readers believe you should avoid covering controversies that might cast our community in a negative light, while others chide the editor for not shedding a brighter light on some of the challenging and complex Jewish issues of our time. I applaud editor Joel Magalnick for courageously creating a forum for a wide range of voices, ideas and opinions in the JT News. I mentioned to Joel that I don’t believe most Beth Am members are even aware of the existence of the JT News or know that they can have it delivered to their door. His office has started dropping off a stack of complimentary papers that you can pick up in the Temple lobby. Give it a try. Buy a subscription. Keep abreast of the happenings of the entire Washington Jewish community, and support our local Jewish paper.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Beth Singer