Daily Jewish paper turns 10 &mdash but still no photos of women

Sen. Hillary Clinton could be America’s next president, but her picture will never appear on the pages of the country’s only Jewish daily newspaper.

The English-language version of Hamodia, which touts itself as “the Newspaper of Torah Jewry,” does not publish photographs of women because its editorial board believes that pictures of the female form are immodest and displaying them, even in the context of news coverage, would be out of line with Jewish law.

The English edition of Hamodia — its forebear started out in Eastern Europe as a religious Yiddish paper in 1910 and was resurrected as a Hebrew publication in Israel in 1950 — just celebrated its 10th anniversary, and is on the rise: In its decade of existence, the English edition has seen its circulation grow to 45,000 households.

Unlike most Jewish publications, Hamodia’s copy is not all about Jewish news, all the time. It presents the major news of the day as would a secular daily, along with Jewish fare.

For instance, the lead story on the tabloid’s front page Feb. 6 was about the presidential campaigns, while the kickers highlighting stories inside featured the 40th anniversary of the Bais Yaakov school in Denver and a guide to Jewish weddings. — jta