{"id":19677,"date":"2016-06-24T00:43:32","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T07:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=19677"},"modified":"2016-06-22T16:53:07","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T23:53:07","slug":"outlooks-final-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/06\/24\/outlooks-final-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Outlook\u2019s final edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cover of Outlook<\/em> magazine\u2019s final issue features a painting by Lithuanian artist Yehuda Pen (1854-1937). The newspaper in the image, explains the caption, is Der fraynd<\/em> (The Friend<\/em>), which, \u201cfounded in 1903, was one of the major Yiddish newspapers of its day before it was closed down in 1913 by czarist censors.\u201d For Outlook<\/em> \u2013 \u201cCanada\u2019s only progressive Jewish periodical\u201d \u2013 it wasn\u2019t censors that caused its demise, but the economy, one that has seen many print publications close their doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have struggled uphill for quite awhile with the difficulties and expenses of sustaining a print publication with a small and specialized \u2013 although devoted \u2013 readership, and we must finally let go,\u201d writes editor Carl Rosenberg in the magazine\u2019s final issue, the Spring 2016 edition.<\/p>\n

\"image\u201cLooking back, we are proud of having given a home to diverse voices in the left and Jewish communities: liberal Zionist, non- and anti-Zionist, Yiddishist, Marxist, feminist, anarchist, environmentalist, social democratic,\u201d he continues. \u201cWe have covered and reflected the Canadian and international scene, including labor struggles, environmental issues, women\u2019s issues, issues of sexuality, gender, human rights and civil liberties. We have hosted lively, often impassioned, debates on many issues, and we hope they have usually been respectful as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have upheld a cultural heritage dear to most secular Jews \u2013 that of Yiddish language and literature. We have published works by and about a wide variety of Yiddish writers, men and women, and recounted the rich and dynamic history of the secular Yiddish culture that emerged in Eastern Europe a century and a half ago and has played such a large part in modern Jewish history and culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have remembered one of the greatest crimes in recorded history \u2013 the Nazi Holocaust or Shoah against the Jews of Europe, paying tribute to those who resisted against impossible odds. We have tried to draw universal lessons from this monstrosity, speaking out against racism, chauvinism and fanaticism of all kinds. On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we have supported the rights of both peoples to exist in peace and equality, while opposing violence on all sides, and we have opposed the decades-long Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the systematic Israeli violation of Palestinian human and national rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an article by Leslie Dyson, managing editor Sylvia Friedman \u2013 whose involvement with Outlook<\/em> goes back 43 years \u2013 explains a bit of the publication\u2019s history. While she connected with the magazine in Toronto in 1973, it started in 1963, evolving, writes Dyson, \u201cfrom an English-language insert in the Vochenblatt<\/em> (Weekly Paper<\/em>),\u201d which closed its doors in 1978, \u201cdue to the ill-health of its editor, Joshua Gershman, who was also for a time the de facto editor of Outlook<\/em>, where [Friedman] worked with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1979, Friedman announced that she was moving with her family to Vancouver. It seemed that Outlook<\/em> (known then as Canadian Jewish Outlook<\/em>) would have to fold. Ben Chud and Hank Rosenthal, progressive Jewish activists in Vancouver, asked if they could jointly take over the role of editor and have Friedman manage the magazine in Vancouver \u2013 an arrangement that was accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magazine describes itself as \u201can independent, secular Jewish publication with a socialist-humanist perspective.\u201d Published six times a year, it had collectives in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. It has had an office in the Peretz Centre for Secular Culture (which used to be called the Vancouver Peretz Institute) since the late 1980s. Rosenberg became assistant editor in 1993 and editor in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t follow a particular policy,\u201d Friedman told Dyson, \u201cbut we have been critical of what\u2019s happening in Israel, the States, Canada and B.C. I guess the focus has been on equality and principles of socialism. But even left-leaning governments never received blind support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financed by fundraisers held in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto; subscriptions; and funds bequeathed by \u201cJoseph Zuken (a long-time openly communist city council member in Winnipeg) and Ben Shek (a professor, social justice activist, active member of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir and regular contributor to Outlook<\/em>),\u201d making ends meet has always been challenging for Outlook<\/em>. At its highest, circulation was 3,000 copies in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

With older readers literally dying off and younger readers getting their information from the internet, plus constantly increasing printing and mailing costs, publishing the magazine just became too expensive.<\/p>\n

The final issue features many comments from readers about what Outlook<\/em> has meant to them, essays on such topics as the future of the NDP and the state of public broadcasting, and several book reviews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cover of Outlook magazine\u2019s final issue features a painting by Lithuanian artist Yehuda Pen (1854-1937). The newspaper in the image, explains the caption, is Der fraynd (The Friend), which, \u201cfounded in 1903, was one of the major Yiddish newspapers of its day before it was closed down in 1913 by czarist censors.\u201d For Outlook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5993,5991,4717,5990,5992],"class_list":["post-19677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-friedman","tag-magazine","tag-outlook","tag-progressive","tag-rosenberg"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}