''Mishpacha'' () - Jewish Family Weekly is a
Haredi
Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
weekly
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both
English and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
.
History
''Mishpacha'' is one of the four major English-language newspapers and magazines serving the
Haredi Jewish community in the United States. Together, the four publications had a circulation of about 100,000 as of 2015. ''Mishpacha'' is the only one based in Jerusalem.
The Mishpacha Publishing Group was founded in 1984 with the publication of the Hebrew Mishpacha magazine. Publisher and CEO Eli Paley teamed with Moshe Grylak towards the goal of producing a magazine that would serve as a conduit for the exchange of ideas and values between the varying streams within
Jewish orthodoxy
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...
, among them the
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
,
Yeshivish,
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
, and
Modern Orthodox communities. With no other weekly or monthly magazines geared towards Orthodox Jewish readership at that time, Mishpacha quickly gained popularity, in effect launching the Jewish Orthodox magazine industry.
The first editor for the Hebrew edition was Asher Zuckerman (now the editor of the Hebrew newspaper ''Sha'ah Tova''). First beginning as a monthly magazine, it became a weekly magazine at the beginning of 1991.
After a while the newspaper split into two competing weekly papers. One is left with the original name ''"Mishpacha"'' and the other is called ''"Hashavua"'' (This Week).
In November 2010 by the husband & wife team of Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter (previously Torah Editor for ''Mishpacha'') and Rechy Frankfurter (previously ''Mishpachas American Desk Editor), founded the
Ami Magazine.
According to a TGI (Target Group Index, a subsidiary of market research company
Kantar Group) survey of September 2016, the Hebrew "Mishpacha" exposure rate is 24.1%. In light of this, it is the most popular Haredi
weekly and
weekend
The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most o ...
in Israel. A magazine ''"Te'imot"'' (tasting), which is also published by Mishpacha, is rated 6.7% according to this survey.
In the years 2011–2013, Hebrew "Mishpacha" released a
Free newspaper
Free newspapers are distributed Gratis versus libre, free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. T ...
which was distributed in the middle of the week, but its publication was halted due to pressure from religious leader
Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who protested against what he felt were distortions of Torah.
In 2014, ''Mishpacha'' launched an online edition.
English edition
The English Mishpacha launched in 2004 with a weekly package including the flagship Mishpacha Magazine and Mishpacha Junior. Mishpacha was the first full-color weekly magazine targeting the Anglo-Orthodox population worldwide, with the standalone children's magazine also serving as an innovation. Family First, introduced to the package in 2005, was also the first of its kind, a full-color weekly magazine by and for Jewish women.
Mishpacha frequently addresses social problems. For example, it has addressed issues such as the ''
shababniks'' (
Haredi
Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
street youth) and
violence in the family; and has waged a battle against educational institutions’ discrimination against
Mizrahim
Mizrahi Jews (), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () in plural and ''Mizrahi'' () in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jewish commun ...
and the
newly religious. But it brings up these issues without mentioning names, so no one will be hurt.
[
Mishpacha's publications tend to not print photos of women. There have been exceptions to this. For example, when ]Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
was running for president against Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, the magazine chose to print her face, although obscured by a blue field.
Some attribute the significant increase in Haredim joining Israel's army to Mishpacha as well as mental health
Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
awareness and mental health services access over the past decade amongst Orthodox Jewish populations to the public dialogue stimulated by Mishpacha magazines and other Jewish publications such as ''Ami''. Mishpacha has been banned by many rabbinical leaders including Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. However, Mishpacha has turned to the rabbinical court of the Haredi community ( Badatz) which forbade harassment of the magazine. Haaretz
''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
, the newspaper of Israel's secular left, describes the Hebrew version of ''Mishpacha'' as one of the "most powerful" newspapers in the Haredi
Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
community.
Contributors
Some of the popular contributors to the English version of Mishpacha are noted authors Yisroel Besser and Yonasan (Jonathan) Rosenblum, political editor Binyomin Rose, Jewish historian Yehuda Geberer, educator Yakov Horowitz, and former ''Ami'' White House correspondent Jake Turx.
References
External links
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{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States
1984 establishments in Israel
Haredi Judaism in Jerusalem
Jewish magazines
Magazines established in 1984
Magazines published in Jerusalem
News magazines published in Israel
Weekly magazines
Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew