When I was 5 years old, my Aunt Mabel came to visit and brought Life Magazines. They absolutely wowed us. The big pictures, colored ads and content were mesmerizing. She left them for us to cut up. We made scrap books and even put some our favorite pictures up in our tiny bedroom. We saw places in the world that were strange and exotic.
When I got to college, I started a quarterly residence hall magazine called Cadence. I recruited a volunteer writing staff, but had total control on content and wrote much of it. My least favorite task was selling advertising for it, but it was an important exercise now 42 years ago in my unfolding journalism career.
Over the years, I have taken special interest whenever a Vol. 1, No. 1 issue of a magazine has fallen into my hands. Each baby issue conjures the excitement I recall in 1965 when Cadence first came off the press at Iowa State University.
The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix has just released its first issue of
Chosen, targeting your city, your community, your life. The autumn 2007 issue, 62 pages of top quality color photography and slick paper, seems to only point out anew how remarkably the Valleys Jewish community is growing and unfolding. The Jewish News, founded in 1948, already puts out a weekly newspaper that can match any Jewish paper published in major American cities. Now comes this product to be published every three months.
In its Oct. 12 issue of the Jewish News, publisher Florence Newmark Eckstein explained that the magazine replaces what has been a quarterly special style section of the newspaper. She said the magazine will focus on many cultural and lifestyle matters, including food and dining, plus music, new products and entertainment calendar. The magazine nicely mirrors the high quality Jewish News annual Community Directory, which provides enormous information and resources on the entire Jewish scene in the Valley.
I say this often in print and when I talk to groups: No faith does a better job of telling its story, promoting its work and giving others an understanding of its beliefs and programs than Jews. If they get press that seems out of balance to their population numbers, its because they are so professional and skilled at communicating their messages. There obviously is a solid advertising base to support high-quality publishing.
Chosen is only more of that. Its editor, Jennifer Goldberg, in her letter near the front, said the magazine celebrates the lives we lead, lives that are shaped by the choices we make. She said her writers and staff will strive to cover those matters that helps Valley Jews better experience the scene.
A Q&A with Leonard Rubin, who recently was named Phoenix Chef of the Year for his work with the Southbridge chain of restaurants, lets the restaurateur talk about his Judaism. While growing up in Connecticut, he said his family did not keep kosher, unlike his grandfather and aunts. Yet, Judaism provides the foundation upon which I live my life and is my moral compass, Rubin explained. Although I do not belong to a synagogue, I wish somehow, someday, to find the time to get more actively involved in and with my religion. My wife is not Jewish but we believe in exposing our children to both of our beliefs. That certainly is a common story in the Valley where intermarriage exists.
The magazine, of course, will be able to draw richly from the Jewish News six decades of Valley coverage and from its archives. Chosens last past parting shot photo dates to Feb. 28, 1978, showing two women kicking up their heels Navy uniforms for a fund-raiser for the Womens Division Welfare Fund. At the event at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, they raised $10,000 for high school education for Israeli children.
Add another magazine to Valleys offerings, this one smartly targeted to its Jewish niche and available for just $3.95.
