Hamodia

Hamodia is Israel's oldest Haredi newspaper and one of the principal publications associated with Agudath Israel. Founded in 1950, it has served as a newspaper, public forum, and community institution, accompanying Haredi Jewish life in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad. Its pages address religious and communal affairs, education, public institutions, Israeli politics, and events affecting Jewish readers around the world.

The newspaper was established on 18 Elul 5710 by Yitzhak-Meir Levin, president of the World Agudath Israel movement. Its name continued an earlier journalistic tradition: a publication called Hamodia appeared in Poltava from 1910 to 1915 under the editorship of Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva Rabinovich. In Israel, the newspaper was owned from its beginning by the World Executive Committee of Agudath Israel, the supreme body of the international movement. It was created both to report the news and to express the movement's outlook to its readership.

Built within the institutions of Agudath Israel

At the beginning of its history, Yitzhak-Meir Levin's son, Yehuda Leib Levin, served as editor-in-chief. In 1958, Levin and his son appointed Chaim Moshe Knopf as the newspaper's administrative director. Moshe Akiva Druck and Israel Spiegel were also editors during this period. The newspaper's editorial and management structure reflected the internal balance of forces within Agudath Israel, while its pages provided a channel between the movement's leadership, its rabbis, and its readers.

Financial difficulties led to the newspaper's conversion into a limited company, with 49 percent sold to its employees. After the death of the first editor, Knopf, Druck, and Spiegel were appointed joint editors-in-chief with equal status, representing three important centers of influence within Agudath Israel at the time. Spiegel, who was associated with Rabbi Elazar Shach, later left for the Lithuanian Haredi newspaper Yated Ne'eman. Druck, a supporter of Menachem Porush, died, leaving Knopf, a member of the Gur Hasidic community, as the sole editor and manager. Knopf's son Eleazar later became deputy director and then chief executive.

A public voice in Haredi Israel

For many years, Hamodia was widely identified with the Gur Hasidic movement, in part because many of its editors came from that community. As the Haredi press developed, questions of representation, style, and influence contributed to the creation of competing publications; in 2009, the Hasidic newspaper Hamevaser was established. At the same time, Hamodia maintained a restrained editorial style and generally avoided detailed coverage of political intrigues and internal disputes.

The newspaper's slogan is “The Daily Newspaper of Haredi Jewry.” Its editorial direction is guided by a rabbinical committee. Its coverage reflects the concerns of its readership, including religious life, education, community affairs, public institutions, political leadership, and events in Israel and abroad. In this way, Hamodia has functioned as a communications framework shaped around the values, language, and communal needs of a distinct Jewish public.

Reaching Jewish communities abroad

In the 1980s, Agudath Israel in the United States began publishing an English-language weekly also called Hamodia. In 2003, the American edition became a daily newspaper. Weekly English editions are also published in Israel, England, and Australia. Ruth Lichtenstein, granddaughter of the founder of Hamodia in the Land of Israel and daughter of its first editor, has served as editor of the English-language Hamodia since its founding.

A French-language weekly is published in France and Israel as well. Distribution is handled by Bar Marketing and Distribution. This multilingual expansion extended the newspaper's reach beyond Israel and helped create a shared news environment for Haredi and other Jewish communities in different countries.

Financial challenges and ownership

In 2014, the newspaper encountered financial difficulties and efforts were made to sell it. It was eventually sold to chief executive Eleazar Knopf, who had been a member of the operating association, and to his relative by marriage, businessman Chaim Schechter; both were associated with the Gur Hasidic community. In July 2019, Knopf was removed following a demand arising from a report by the Registrar of Associations, which required the change as a condition for the association's continued existence. In August 2020, the Registrar of Associations filed a request to dissolve the association operating the newspaper, citing serious administrative deficiencies.

Reach and influence

According to a 2016 TGI survey, Hamodia reached 16.3 percent of the Haredi public through weekday newspapers and 16.2 percent through weekend newspapers. These figures indicate the newspaper's substantial presence in the everyday life of Haredi society and its role as an important source of information for a large readership.

Why Hamodia belongs in Moreshet

Hamodia merits inclusion in Moreshet because it documents more than seven decades of Haredi Jewish life in Israel and in Jewish communities abroad. Its history reflects the development of Agudath Israel, the relationship between rabbinical leadership, communal institutions, and readers, and the ways in which Jewish communities create their own language and public sphere.

Its importance lies not only in its age or circulation. Through daily and international editions in Hebrew, English, and French, Hamodia connects communities, shapes public discussion, and preserves an ongoing record of the institutions, values, and changes that have marked Haredi society. For Moreshet.com, it is an important heritage subject because it helps future readers understand one of the most enduring media institutions in the history of Haredi Jewish life in Israel and around the world.