Newspaper Scoops Up Letter

By COLlive reporter

The Jewish Tribune, third oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in England, was recently rumored to be closing due to financial difficulty.

Messages circulated on the Twitter social networking site in August 2010 that the newspaper would fold following Rosh Hashana.

In what might be a possible response, one of the weekly’s longtime columnists Joe Lobenstien has highlighted in the Rosh Hashana edition a letter the paper got from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

The letter sent to the Stamford Hill-based newspaper on the occasion of its founding in 1962 by Agudath Israel of Great Britain.

It would appear every Thursday, providing news, views, social and cultural reports, as well as editorials and feature articles, as well as a section in Yiddish (the only one in the UK).

When it was sent, the letter was featured on its front cover with the title “Greetings from Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

“The Rebbe’s letter was dictated before the first issue of the Jewish Tribune has reached him, and he expressed his “disappointment and regret that the Jewish Post has ceased to appear”,” the wrote then.

“The letter states that the absence of the paper was a loss for orthodox Jewry at a time when all positive factors should be strengthened and increased.

“Prior to the Rebbe signature on the letter, there is a hand-written post-script: “Just received The Tribune – Veyehei Behatzlocho”,” the added.

Lobenstien – who local Lubavitchers tell COLlive is “not necessarily a friend of Chabad” – ends off with a note “written 48 years ago – yet how topical!”

While the rumours about the Tribune’s closing remain unverified, a London resident told us there are efforts “within the charedi community to end the financial collapse” and revive the paper.