''Hamodia'' ( – "''the Informer''") is a Jewish daily newspaper, published in Hebrew-language in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

in the United States, as well as weekly English-language editions in England and Israel. A weekly edition for

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

readers debuted in 2008. The newspaper's slogan is "The Newspaper of Torah Jewry". It comes with two magazines, ''Inyan'' and ''Insight''. ''

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 ''Hamodia'' 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.

History

''Hamodia'' was founded in 1950 by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin, son of the

Agudat Israel Agudat Yisrael (; Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party representing Haredi Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement in Upper Silesia. It later be ...

leader Rabbi

Yitzhak-Meir Levin Yitzhak-Meir Levin (; 30 January 1893 – 7 August 1971) was a Haredi politician in Poland and Israel. One of 37 people to sign the Israeli declaration of independence, he served in several Israeli cabinets and was a longtime leader and Knesset ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and

. Its current director general is Rabbi Chaim Moshe Knopf, and its deputy director general is Knopf's son, Rabbi Elazar Knopf.

English-language edition

The English-language edition of ''Hamodia'' is published by Levin's daughter, Ruth Lichtenstein. It was first printed on 27 February 1998 as a weekly paper, and on 15 December 2003 it expanded to include a daily publication as well. The daily edition is published from Monday to Friday, with no edition appearing on Saturday (the

Jewish Sabbath Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the cre ...

), Sunday, or the week of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

, or the week of

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

. The weekly edition is printed on Wednesdays, and includes expanded sections and two glossy magazines: ''Inyan'' and ''Insight''. The English-language ''Hamodia'' is published in four editions: United States (daily and weekly), Israel (weekly only), Australia (weekly only), and Britain (weekly only). The daily edition of the American ''Hamodia'' is also available in a digital online edition, which is updated throughout the day. The American version is the first

Jewish daily newspaper ever published in English in the U.S. The newspaper has a website plus print circulation of 160,000.

Editorial policy

Its editorial policy reflects the Haredi point of view. Although not Zionist, on ideological grounds, it is right of center in its Israeli coverage. It is very vociferous on the thorny issue of Jerusalem, and opposes even minimal concessions. It includes editorials on all sides of American political and economic issues. The publication prohibits photographs of women on its pages and website. It avoids

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...

and reveling in tragedies. As Haredi culture shuns television, internet usage, and the reading of

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

newspapers, ''Hamodia'' is one of the few news sources available to many of its readers. At first, the publishers refused to produce an internet edition of ''Hamodia'', but it now exists.

Notable journalists and writers

Dovid Kaplan Dovid Kaplan () is an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish rabbi, Orthodox Jewish outreach, kiruv educator, author, and speaker. He is known for his inspirational and humorous storytelling both in his international speaking engagements and in his ''I ...

, '' chinuch'' (Jewish education) columnist * Issamar Ginzberg * Tziporah Heller, columnist * Abraham J. Twerski

References

External links