Mishpacha

Mishpacha (Hebrew: משפחה‎, "Family") is a weekly Orthodox Jewish magazine published in Jerusalem. The Hebrew edition, founded in 1987, is part newspaper, but the English edition, founded in 2004, is a magazine. The Hebrew and English editions differ in content and style. Mishpacha reflects the various views of some parts of the Haredi public in Israel and the Diaspora.

Ownership and management

Mishpacha is owned by Eliyahu Paley, a Yerushalmi, together with the backing of a group of investors, mostly non-Orthodox.

As a Jewish publication that claims to speak for the Orthodox sector and that is not owned or controlled by a certain political movement or sector, it follows the guidance of rabbinical advisors who take responsibility for its content.

Editors and writers

• Eliyahu Paley, CEO of Mishpacha Publishing Group, has a background in Torah study and business. He studied full-time in the Hebron Yeshiva and kollel until the age of 26, when he initiated the Hebrew Mishpacha. Since 1990, he steadily developed Mishpacha from a small magazine to an international publication with a global readership. He lives with his family in Jerusalem.
• Rabbi Moshe Grylak, Editor-In-Chief, combines his background in Torah study with decades of experience in writing and speaking in his work for Orthodox Jewish outreach. Grylak studied in Kol Torah and the Ponovezher kollel, later teaching Torah in Brazil and in an Israeli Hesder yeshiva. For close to a decade, he penned a column in the secular Hebrew daily Maariv, presenting Torah ideals in a language and style targeted to the average Israeli. Grylak went on to found Yated Ne'eman and served as editor-in-chief for its first two years in print. In addition to writing over 20 sefarim on Judaism and Torah topics, he is also a novelist. For the past 12 years, he has served as editor-in-chief of Mishpacha. He lives with his family in Jerusalem.
• Shoshana Friedman, Managing Editor, English Edition, is a highly skilled writer and editor. A graduate of the exclusive Beth Jacob Jerusalem (BJJ), Friedman is a native of Brooklyn, NY. She is married to Rabbi Yosef Friedman, a posek and Rav in Jerusalem.
• Yosi Elitov, Assistant editor, is a Chabad Hasid whose upbringing as the son of a rabbi gave him experience reaching out to fellow Jews.
• Binyamin Rose, News Editor, has been with the English edition since its inception in 2004. Originally from Passaic, New Jersey,^[1] he has a BA in journalism from New York University (1976) and spent nearly a decade as a print and broadcast journalist, winning awards from his employers at Associated Press for his news coverage. He then pursued a longtime interest in finance and turned it into a career, serving as an investment advisor at Dean Witter Reynolds in Miami, Florida, for eight years before making aliyah in 1993. Rose worked in money management and trading for his first five years in Israel, then took a leave of absence for two years to study in kollel in Safed. He moved to Jerusalem and returned to the working world in 2001. He spent three years as project manager for the JersualemCom public relations firm before joining Mishpacha in March 2004.

Opposition

The magazine has repeatedly been widely denounced by prominent Haredi rabbis, primarily from the Lithuanian stream of the Haredi world, but from Hasidic streams as well. In 2011, a widely publicized denouncement was made by Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, Rabbi Yaakov Hillel, and rabbis from the Vizhnitz, Zvhill, Sanz, Erlau, and Boyan Hasidic dynasties.^[2][3] They alleged that Mishpacha distorts and blurs the Torah world view, and that one must not bring the publication into their house.

Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz referred to Mishpacha as being "false", not containing any benefit, and wreaking destruction on everything. After his death, Mishpacha claimed to have held an interview with his sons while they were sitting shiva; this was publicly denied by them.^[4]

Other uses

• Mishpacha is also the name of a magazine published in Perth, Western Australia for ex-pupils of Carmel School, a Modern Orthodox and Zionist Jewish day school.

References

1. ↑ Rose, Binyamin (June/19/13). "Binyamin Rose responds". Mishpacha (464): 12.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. ↑ "Letter About "Weeklies" (including Mishpachah), Radio and Internet". Dei'ah VeDibur. May 19, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2012. 
3. ↑ "News: Letter About Mishpacha". Dei'ah VeDibur. May 19, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2012. 
4. ↑ "Protest from the Sons of Maran Rosh Hayeshiva Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz ztz"l". Dei'ah VeDibur. July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2012. 

External links

• Mishpacha Homepage
• המשפחה הרביעית (Hebrew)