The front page of the final edition of The Jewish Advocate. News U.S. Boston’s 118-year-old Jewish Advocate ceases publication Facebook Twitter Email SMS WhatsApp Share By Marcy Oster, JTA | September 23, 2020 The Jewish Advocate, a 118-year-old newspaper in Boston founded by Theodor Herzl, is the latest victim of the coronavirus crisis. The weekly announced Wednesday that it will suspend publication. “The decline of advertising revenue and now in the current pandemic its virtual disappearance, has not been sufficiently offset by contributions and organizational support, and The Jewish Advocate has been left with no alternative but to suspend publication,” the Advocate said on the front page of its Sept. 25 issue. “Please know that we have done everything in our power to continue for as long as possible, and it is with tears in our eyes that we concluded that our decision to suspend publication is a sad but necessary response to this crisis.” The paper said that plans are being developed to launch a digital edition focusing on advocacy for Jews, the Jewish community and Israel, thus allowing the Advocate “to continue the mission envisioned by Theodor Herzl,” the journalist and political activist behind modern Zionism, in founding the paper. Financial stress has taken a toll on a number of major Jewish newspapers, including several for whom the drop-off in advertising during the pandemic spelled disaster. The Canadian Jewish News, for example, ceased publication in April, and The New York Jewish Week announced in July that it was going online only at the close of that month. Two longstanding British Jewish newspapers also announced that they would shutter because of the pandemic, though they later changed those plans and remained open with different management. Marcy Oster Israel-based JTA correspondent JTA Content distributed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service. Also On J. Bay Area S.F. Supes meeting latest to be hit by antisemitic remote comments Opinion My synagogue is building affordable housing — and yours can, too Local Voice After 50 years, pioneering female rabbi is still practicing peace Religion How an Arizona pastor abandoned Jesus and led his flock to Judaism Subscribe to our Newsletter Enter Email Sign Up