Gary Rosenblatt

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of the The Jewish Week of New York, will speak at Sinai Temple in Springfield, Mass. on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.

Rosenblatt, who has held his position at The Jewish Week since 1993, will discuss his new book, Between the Lines: Reflections on the American Jewish Experience – a collection of some of his award-winning columns over the last two decades. They cover a wide range of topics, from hard-hitting reporting to witty satire to warm remembrances of his childhood as “the Jewish rabbi’s son” in Annapolis, Maryland.

While at the Baltimore Jewish Times, where he was editor for 19 years prior to joining The Jewish Week, Rosenblatt published an article in 1984 titled “The Simon Wiesenthal Center: State-of-the-art Activism or Hollywood Hype?” analyzing whether Wiesenthal Center officials were truthful in marketing their Holocaust museum as a non-sectarian, humanitarian institution in order to receive funding from the state of California. The article was one of two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Special Reporting, marking the first time an article in a Jewish publication was cited in the Pulitzer competition.

In his book, Rosenblatt writes of his own struggles to be both a loyal member of the community and an independent and – sometimes critical – voice. His in-depth reporting in 2000 on a rabbinic youth leader accused of abusing teens in his charge for three decades led to the rabbi’s arrest and conviction. It is seen as a watershed event in an ongoing effort to alert the community to speak out on sexual abuse – and to protect its children rather than those who would harm them.

“Gary Rosenblatt has raised the practice of Jewish journalism to new heights,” says Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic. “For his profession and for his community, he is a treasure.”

Sinai Temple is located at 1100 Dickinson St. in Springfield. For more information on Gary Rosenblatt’s talk call (413) 736-3619 or visit www.sinai-temple.org.