Present Tense (magazine)

Last updated

Present Tense was a magazine of Jewish affairs published by the American Jewish Committee (AJCommittee) from 1973 - 1990. Murray Polner was the editor from the time of the magazine's creation until its final issue. The magazine covered social and political issues in the United States, Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. [1] [2] [3]

The magazine was initially established with a grant from Morris and Adele Bergreen, New York corporate attorneys and active members of AJCommittee leadership. [4]

The magazine was issued on a bimonthly basis. [3]

Related Research Articles

Jewish Defense League Jewish far-right organization

The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right wing terrorist group" by the FBI since 2001, and is designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States. Most terrorism watch groups classify the group as inactive.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is an American non-profit organization that addresses issues of critical concern to the Jewish community, and the state of Israel in particular. It comprises 51 national Jewish organizations. It was founded to develop a consensus voice among Jewish organizations in dealings with the executive branch.

<i>Commentary</i> (magazine) American magazine

Commentary is a monthly American magazine on religion, Judaism, and politics, as well as social and cultural issues. Founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945 under Elliot E. Cohen, editor from 1945 to 1959, Commentary magazine developed into the leading postwar journal of Jewish affairs. The periodical strove to construct a new American Jewish identity while processing the events of the Holocaust, the formation of the State of Israel, and the Cold War. Norman Podhoretz edited the magazine in its heyday from 1960 to 1995. Besides its coverage of cultural issues, Commentary provided a voice for the anti-Stalinist left. As Podhoretz shifted from his original ideological beliefs as a liberal Democrat to neoconservatism in the 1970s and 1980s, he moved the magazine with him to the right and toward the Republican Party.

American Jewish Committee U.S. Jewish advocacy group

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to The New York Times, is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish organizations". As of 2009, AJC envisions itself as the "Global Center for Jewish and Israel Advocacy".

Jewish Currents is a progressive, secular Jewish quarterly magazine and news site whose content reflects the politics of the Jewish left. It features independent journalism, breaking news, political commentary, analysis, and a "countercultural" approach to Jewish arts and literature.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency International news agency and wire service

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service, founded in 1917, serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world as well as non-Jewish press, with about 70 syndication clients listed on its web site.

American Jewish Congress Nonprofit organization

The American Jewish Congress is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts.

Jewish Federations of North America Non-profit organization located in Canada and the United States

The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization representing 146 Jewish Federations and 300 independent Jewish communities across North America, which raise and distribute more than $3 billion annually and through planned giving and endowment programs to support social welfare, social services and educational needs. JFNA also provides fundraising, organization assistance, training, and overall leadership to the Jewish Federations and communities throughout the United States and Canada. The Federation movement protects and enhances the well-being of Jews worldwide through the values of tikkun olam, tzedakah and Torah.

<i>The Jewish Week</i> Weekly Jewish community newspaper in New York City

The Jewish Week is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. The Jewish Week covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, The Jewish Week announced its partnership with the online newspaper The Times of Israel. Later in 2016, The Jewish Week acquired the New Jersey Jewish News. In July 2020, The Jewish Week suspended publication of its weekly print publication, and in January 2021 announced its acquisition by 70 Faces Media, the publisher of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and other Jewish brands, under whose umbrella it continues as an all-digital brand.

Washington Jewish Week (WJW) is an independent community weekly newspaper whose logo reads, "Serving the nation's capital and the greater Washington Jewish community since 1930." Its main office is located in Rockville, Maryland, a Maryland suburb of the District of Columbia.

History News Network (HNN) at George Washington University is a platform for historians writing about current events.

<i>The American Israelite</i> Jewish weekly newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio

The American Israelite is an English-language Jewish newspaper published weekly in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1854 as The Israelite and assuming its present name in 1874, it is the longest-running English-language Jewish newspaper still published in the United States and the second longest-running Jewish newspaper in the world, after the London-based Jewish Chronicle.

Albert Vorspan was an American author and long-time leader of Reform Judaism. He was director emeritus of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. and served as senior vice president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the predecessor organization of the Union of Reform Judaism, at the time of his retirement in 1993.

Midstream was a magazine established by the New York-based Theodor Herzl Foundation, which was associated with the American Section of the World Zionist Organization. Described as an "intellectual Zionist journal". It to a significant degree was a saw itself as playing a role somewhat similar to that of Commentary, an intellectual publication of the American Jewish Committee, but with an explicitly Jewish focus. Midstream began publication in 1955. Started as a Quarterly Jewish Review, it became a monthly in 1965.

<i>Calgary Jewish News</i>

Calgary Jewish News, the first community-run newspaper of the Jewish community of Calgary, Alberta, was published from September 1962 to 1988.

This is a timeline of LGBT Jewish history, which consists of events at the intersection of Judaism and queer people.

Shammai Engelmayer American journalist

Sheldon David Engelmayer is a full-time pulpit rabbi at the Temple Israel Community Center, an egalitarian Conservative synagogue in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. He is the author of eight nonfiction books on topics ranging from corporate irresponsibility in the A.H. Robins Company's Dalkon Shield intrauterine device case, to biographies of public figures, including Hubert Humphrey and Martha Mitchell.

Murray Polner

Murray Polner was an American editor and author. He was the founding editor of Present Tense, a job he held for the entire two decades that the magazine was published. He was an anti-Vietnam War activist and a committed pacifist.

Menachem Ribalow was an immigrant, American Jewish editor, writer, and Hebraist. He is noted for his role in developing Hebrew language publications and culture in the American Jewish community.

Hadoar was a Hebrew language periodical published in the United States by the Histadruth Ivrith of America.

References

  1. "Murray Polner, founding and only editor of Present Tense magazine, dies at 91". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. Kaplan, Allison (8 February 1990). "Ajcommittee Board Approves Plan to Restructure Agency Radically". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  3. 1 2 Cohen, Roger (February 8, 1990). "Liberal Jewish Bimonthly Magazine to Close". New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  4. "Institute on Jewish Communities to Be Established by Aj Committee". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. December 7, 1972. Retrieved 1 August 2022.