For the past eight years, it has been my privilege to publish Jmore. Baltimore’s Jewish community needed a unifying publication when the previously dominant local publication was bought by a D.C.-based group. The effort has been a dramatic success.
Each edition of Jmore features community stories, important news, and the opinions of varied voices. We print over 13,000 copies of each edition and the magazine is read by more than 25,000 Baltimore area Jews. Tens of thousands log on to jmoreliving.com. The magazine is in a great place with your help.
Today, I am pleased to announce that Jmore will expand its mission and form a non-profit organization. The new entity will be led by Marc B. Terrill and myself. The mission of Jmore will expand to include the creation of educational opportunities for young students who wish to pursue journalism from a Jewish perspective.
As you know, Marc is a nationally respected community leader who recently retired from The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, which he led for 21 years. He brings a wealth of knowledge, an informed perspective, and a national network of admirers. His guidance will allow Jmore to grow and serve the community and our youth.
Jmore will add educational opportunities for students from eighth grade through college. The focus will be on journalism from a Jewish perspective.
We live in an era of growing hate and antisemitism. We have haters on the right and on the left. Even some of our children have been influenced on college campuses by a narrative that lacks historical context and turns them against Israel and Judaism.
I am not, by any means, a religious person but I do deeply care about our culture and history. Israel needs to be defended and supported.
It is the new mission of Jmore to bring young folks into the process of creating a journalistic product from a Jewish perspective. Hopefully, they will go on to spread the word and have a complete perspective on Jewish issues both here in the United States and in Israel.
If we lose the young folks, we will lose our future.
Over the next few months, we will form a Board of Directors and announce educational programs. We need volunteers to serve on the board and to help with the educational activities of the non-profit.
If you want to be in leadership, we want to talk to you. If you want to help run programs and educate young folks, please reach out as well.
If you want to help raise funds, I especially want to talk to you. My email address is scottrifkinmd@gmail.com. We need your help so don’t hesitate.
With true appreciation of our loyal readership,
Scott Rifkin, MD
Publisher
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