The American Israelite

The American Israelite

August 5, 2010, front page
Type	Weekly newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Publisher	Netanel Deutsch
Editor	Netanel Deutsch
Founded	July 15, 1854
Headquarters	18 West Ninth Street Cincinnati, Ohio
Circulation	6,500
Website	www.americanisraelite.com

The American Israelite is a Jewish weekly newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1854 as The Israelite and assuming its present name in 1874, it is the longest-running English-language Jewish newspaper still published in the United States.

The paper's founder, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, and publisher, Edward Bloch and his Bloch Publishing Company, were both very influential figures in American Jewish life. During the 19th century, The American Israelite became the leading organ for Reform Judaism in America. During the early 20th century, it helped geographically dispersed American Jews, especially in the West and the South of the country, keep in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.

The first Jewish newspaper published in Cincinnati was the English-language The Israelite, established on July 15, 1854. It was also among the first Jewish publications in the nation. It was founded by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who became known as the father of Reform Judaism in the United States. Its initial issues were published by Charles F. Schmidt. The paper lost $600 in its first year, and although Wise repaid the publisher out of his own funds, Schmidt terminated the relationship. Edward Bloch and his Bloch Publishing Company began to publish the paper with the issue of July 27, 1855. Bloch, who was Wise's brother-in-law, subsequently became known as the dean of American Jewish publishers.

From the start, the newspaper's motto was יהי אור "Let There Be Light," and still is. Its two goals were to propagate the principles of Reform Judaism and to keep American Jews, who often lived in small towns singly or in communities of two or three families, in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.

The publication, along with Die Deborah, a German-language supplement that Wise started the following year, soon attracted a large circulation and was influential in helping the nascent Reform movement spread throughout North America. Both Wise and the paper had a reach beyond Cincinnati, and especially to the growing Jewish communities in the American Midwest and South. In 1858, for instance, the members of Congregation B'nai Israel in Memphis, Tennessee advertised for their first rabbi in The Israelite, at the same time they advertised for a kosher butcher.