Many people who donate to the local Jewish Federation will get jay newspaper in the mailbox and not know why. That is because they get it as part of their donation. People ask, what is a jewish newspaper . We look at ourselves as a way to understand the world through a jewish lens. But that is not an uncritical lens or a uniform view. It is a way to give a sense of identity. And belonging to the approximately 400,000 jewish people that live in the San Francisco bay area. We have the third or fourth Largest Jewish Community in america depending on whose numbers you are looking at. But we are so geographically disbursed that i, as the editor and steve as the publisher, we look at jay the newspaper as a way to give a sense of belonging and give a voice to that geographically and politically and denominational he disparate community. I think a lot of people dont realize, demographically speaking across the country, particularly los angeles and new york are considered one in two as in terms of jewish populations. Then the San Francisco area. And south florida. Correct. And we have a lot of structures in the community. One is the Jewish Community federation that you mentioned earlier which is kind of like a Jewish Community united way, that people donate to for the sake of the community. And people then, as a benefit of that donation, often times get a subscription to the newspaper. Correct. And i wanted to turn it over to steve for a little bit to talk about how we function, how people can find us. Well we call ourselves a newspaper, we are evolving. We use the term media outlet because there are many ways to access content now. We have a print edition that comes out twice a month. That is the traditional newspaper that has been publishing for 122 years. We have a new website. It is jay weekly. Com. It was just designed and launched in january. It is breaking news throughout the day. It is updated throughout the day. If you sign up for the friday e mail newsletter of the top stories of the week, you will also get breaking news as it happens in the community. And we are very proud of that. For this new ups this new website, we were uploading weekly content. Now if you go to jayweekly. Com, you will see different news stories. I think it is interesting in this everchanging world about how we live in the Information Age and communicate to each other on many levels there used to be and i think there still is, a print newspaper world, a byline of all the news as a way of saying that it captures everything that is important in the world to communicate to the community. In that framework, what is jewish news . What is jewish news . What is jewish art . What is a jewish film . That is an ongoing conversation. For our publication, we are very hyper local. And that is very interesting. I would say 20 years ago, people that read jay would wait for the newspaper to come on friday or saturday morning on their news of what was happening in israel, or the news of what is happening in washington. That is no longer true. That it was 20 years ago. Today, our function is more what is happening in your synagogue . What is a new jewish film coming that you can see at the landmark cinema . What is a jewish book you might want to be reading . Letter jewish rituals on the peninsula . It is a different role. And technology has changed. That is interesting. We are going to take a break in a moment. It seems interesting that there is a conceptual paradox and a world of ever increasing globalization and the globalization of how the information is given out in a digital form or on the internet. The news becomes focused locally. That is our thought. That is what our readers want. In the printed edition, it is more and more local. Whether we still have the ability to post National News or International Book but what our readers want to know is what is going on in walnut creek, San Francisco, palo alto, or anyplace like that. That is what a local Community Publication should be. And if we do it right, we help people enjoy being jewish in the bay area better than if they didnt have access to our content. Lets take a quick break and come back and pick up on that topic when we come back in just a moment in on mosaic. Welcome back to mosaic. Im rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your host in the middle of a wonderful conversation with the editor and publisher of jay, the jewish news of Northern California. Welcome back. Great to be here. We were talking about this interesting conceptual paradox about how in a world of increasing globalization and the dissemination of information on so many different platforms, that the jewish news of Northern California focuses locally. Im just wondering it is kind of a big question. How do you think about this local Global Spectrum . We will both weigh in on that. From my perspective on the business side, i think it is fascinating and interesting and correct that most of the stories that we have are exclusive to jay. You wont read them anywhere else. A couple weeks ago, the San Francisco board of supervisors passed an anti semitism resolution. We covered breaking news. We had online and in print. But i dont think it was covered anywhere else in any other local media. Two years ago, mayor lee went to israel. His first trip to israel. There are sister cities with San Francisco. He brought a delegation to israel. We had a reporter with him. It became a cover story. Not only was at a cover story in jay, i didnt see it mentioned in any press or local coverage or anything. We have dozens and dozens of examples like that. Coverage that is important to us does that it would be a cover story or breaking news that might not go reported if it wasnt for us. So interesting. Im wondering faith communities across the country always spend a lot of time thinking about how do you develop support sustained through Faith Development or Christian Development or Muslim Development in your community im just wondering how it is that people then see it. Because it seems to me it is interesting and maybe you have come upon something that is quite humanly real. Which is that we developed individually and locally by our families, neighborhoods and communities in which we have communities of care. That is what emanates out globally. Im just wondering if that is a way in which you understand your contribution to jewish identity development. When you say faith community, i smile a little bit. Because there is an ongoing conversation in the Jewish Community. What is judaism and what is jewish identity . We are a faith. We are in ethnicity. We are a people. We are a culture. We are a history. It is important to understand that jay, a jewish newspaper, we are not promoting the jewish faith. We are not looking for converts to judaism. But we serve the interests of the jewish faith. We believe and we know because we are jewish living in this community. That jews today in the bay area are looking for what gives their lives meaning and in a jewish context, what jewish aspects or what parts of jewish culture or faith give my life and my family lifes meaning. We look to that as a service that we can provide. It is a beautiful service, i think. Who do you consider your reader . People that want to look at the world through a jewish lens. That is a phrase that i choose very carefully. Because who is the Jewish Community, and the bay area where the majority of jewish families contain technically nonjewish people. But nonjewish members that have chosen to identify and jewish whatever that means. Our readers are jews and people concerned with issues and topics that jews are concerned with. In the bay area, it is such an innovative community. We are lucky and proud and happy to be reporting on the bay area Jewish Community. Not that philadelphia and new york and other places dont have vibrant communities. Birth there is something more innovative and diverse here. That is what our readers are looking for when they are reading local stories. That is our sweet spot. That is where we want to be. We are going to take another quick break and come back to this wonderful conversation here on mosaic in just a moment. Good morning and welcome back to mosaic. We are in the middle of the wonderful conversation with steve gelman, the publisher and also the editor of jay, jewish news of Northern California. Welcome back. Thank you. We were talking about the diversity of the Jewish Community. And our community is so diverse across the spectrum of demographics, the ways in which people identify with the community with a culture and community at large. Religiously, so many different ways. Im wondering, how do you account for our common diversity in the way you give and present news . Im going to turn that over to sue. That is really an editorial thing. I think it is amazing that, day after day and week after week, how sue chooses the opinion pieces. Every week the editorial that jay runs as something the letters to the editor. And talk about diversity. It is so balanced. You will see two positions in the same issue of the print edition, diametrically opposed. And it is fascinating. And the next issue of the print edition, you will see letters supporting each of those. That can go on for weeks. I dont know how they do it. I dont know how she does it. It is a very Diverse Community. Some think we are too right and some think we are too left. Some think we are just right. Everybody has an opinion. That is a good thing. It is part of being a community. It is interesting. We live in a world where we say, a news outlet is of this perspective or that perspective. And many times, we go to that news outlet to support what we already believe about the world or in some cases, want to find out about a different perspective, even though we may or may not agree with it. It is interesting because here in the community, the jay basically encompasses the diversity itself. And so a Diverse Community has diverse opinions. When it comes down to it, on an editorial level time to time, when somebody is literally reading something, how do you decide a particular perspective any particular time about anything happening in the world via an election a country like israel or a situation in another part of the world with a jewish perspective. You have this central delicate balancing act that, i as the editor and jay with publication, have to engage in every day. We have two roles. We are a community watchdog. We are reporting the news. We are Holding Power to accountability. At the same time, we are an advocate for our Jewish Community. And so we are criticizing and advocating for the same community that we are a part of. What is our role with israel . We have Jewish Community institutions that say we should be supporting the policies of the given government of israel. That is part of what a jewish publication is supposed to do. And then we have other readers who say, no, my key Jewish Values the individual writing to us those of the key values you need to be listening to, not just the opinions or the policies of the current israeli government. We support israel of the most exciting National Project of jewish exception and history. And within that, there is a wide range of opinions that are acceptable to us. And sometimes we just have to listen to our got. Does this letter to the editor feel right . Does it feel the criticism is constructive . Is it coming from a place of love and support from the community or Jewish Values . With balance. It is interesting. Because judaism at its core is a constellation of people, culture and theology. We need a device we need an information device that actually reflects all of that. Is a little different from other faith communities that might have the perspective of a geological stance or Something Like that. So im wondering really, it seems to me that it has become a kind of mirror to the community itself. A kind of educational device for the community itself. And really has become a kind of nourishing, sustaining mechanism for the community to have a self reflective experience. Im wondering in what ways, maybe your letters to the editor reflect that deeper kind of i would say, yearning that we all have, to be connected and to care for one another. That is a beautiful way of putting it. And i think we all do have a yearning to connect. That is what a jewish publication does for a Jewish Community. And again, not an unthinking or uncritical connection, but exploring what is meaningful about this. At the same time, this week, we and the jewish press around the country are very involved in looking at pieces White Nationalist groups that are shouting antisemitic and anti immigrant hate. And at the same time, i as the editor at jay have to be concerned about that and how it is affecting the local community. People also want to read recipes. They want to cook. They want to send children to jewish schools. People want to read the commentary of the week. We really have to Pay Attention to the diverse roles that we play in the community as well as political opinion diversity. We are going to take a break in a moment. It seems, if it is a communal enterprise, it is kind of a big question. Before we go to the next break, i want to ask you, what is the responsibility of readership . Does readership have a responsibility . I think the responsibility of the readership is to be engaged. And when you see the amount of letters we get and you see people answering letters in a subsequent issue when you see the comments we get on our Facebook Page where we have 11,000 followers on our Facebook Page, it is a very engaged audience. We are a nonprofit now. Number years ago, we became a nonprofit. There is really a way for our readers to tell us how much they appreciate the work that we do in the community. And since we became a non profit, we have over 3000 donors that have contributed to keep jay publishing the way it has been publishing. Thank you. We will take another quick break and come back to mosaic in just a moment. Good morning and welcome back to mosaic. Im rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your host. We are about to conclude a wonderful conversation with the publisher and editor of jay, the jewish news of Northern California. Welcome back. Thank you. Can you talk a little bit about some general things like, how to reach you how to subscribe or access your news and a little bit about your functionality. I wanted to mention, when we were talking about diversity and diversity of opinions is that, we are independent. We are not owned by an individual. And we are not owned by the federation. In many cities, the jewish publications and jewish newspapers are owned by the federation. We are governed by a board of directors and we are independent , which means that, like all printbased media entities, we base our revenue on advertising and we would love to see more nonjewish advertising like jewelry stores, car dealers anything like that, to reach a demographic that is hard to reach demographic. A Jewish Community of the bay area. And i went to quickly give a couple web addresses. If you want to subscribe to the print edition, it is jayweekly. Com subscribe. If you want to sign up for the weekly newsletter which is a roundup of the top stories in jay and it comes to your inbox, it is jayweekly. Com newsletter. And if you want to donate, because we are so proud of the fact that we are a nonprofit, it is jayweekly. Com donate. And i say that because, it magically appears in your mailbox every two weeks without fail, for 122 years. It is a stateoftheart website. We base it on the money we received from the community and advertising. And the Community Aspect is becoming more and more important and one that we embrace as a new nonprofit. Can you talk about who your reporters are and who your staff is a . I will give a couple numbers. We have 18 full or parttime Staff Members that put out this newspaper and website. We have an annual directory called, resource, which is a guide to jewish life in the bay area. It is a directory of everything you would need or want from Senior Living to bat mitzvah today camps to preschools. It is also online at jayweekly. Com jewishresource guide. We do it with 18 full, part time staff. And when we are talking about the diversity of the bay area and the fact that our focus is local, we are doing it with one and a half fulltime reporters. Meaning a fulltime reporter and a parttime reporter. We are driven by mission. We are driven by passion and care for the Jewish Community. And we are part of the Jewish Community. We went to hear from our leaders. I answer every letter we get. We respond to every call we get. And you come our readers, are part of determining what we write about. Thank you so much for this wonderful conversation. And please, go to the website and Pay Attention to the jewish news here in california. This morning. Art, gala events. Even some tech. First. Something r welcome to bay sunday. Im your host, kenny choi. So many great things happening. The art gala event. First, something rotten. That is how we are starting. The name of a hit Broadway Musical here in San Francisco. Here to tell us about it is one of the stars, adam pascal. Welcome to bay sunday. Thank you. Good to have you with us. This musical focus is on shakespeare and some of the characters in his shadow. Tell us a little more. It is set in the renaissance. It is about these two others, nick and nigel who are playwrights. They have not had much success in their career. So nick goes and visits a fortuneteller