Soon after the English Yated began publication, we had
an opportunity to visit Maran HaRav Shach zt"l. In the
course of our short conversation, we asked if the intended
audience of the paper is "bnei Torah." Maran answered
that the paper should be written for "all chareidim."
Though HaRav Shach's answer broadened the audience compared
to the expectations of the question, it still leaves it
narrower than many expect. From the mere fact that we write
in English, many conclude that our intended audience is all
English speakers or all Jewish English speakers, as is the
case for most English-language publications, at least in
theory.
Much of the work produced in English, even by thoroughly
chareidi sources, would like to reach every English-speaking
Jew, the non-religious as well as the religious. They
translate the first occurrence of almost every Hebrew word,
and they are tempered in the content of what they publish, to
make what they write accessible and friendly to anyone who
can read English.
This is a fine, well-worn, time-honored approach, and it is
not our concern to try to determine how much of this hope is
realistic and how much is wishful thinking.
Our approach is different, with all due respect to the other
approach. We address the already-fully-committed chareidi
community.
This is not, of course, just a matter of which Hebrew words
we feel the need to translate. Although we write with an
awareness that English is accessible to a wide range of
people of many persuasions, nonetheless we do not feel the
need to argue or defend or apologize for our basic positions.
We assume that our readers feel basically the same way as we
do about things, and go on from there. We hope that the paper
will appeal to as broad an audience as possible, but we are
nonetheless not driven by a desire for popularity but by a
feeling of responsibility to convey daas Torah.
In an important sense, this is true of our rabbonim as well.
Even though we call them the gedolei hador, as they
truly are, large segments of the dor do not recognize
them as such. They in fact address, for the most part,
primarily those who listen to them. They are also aware that
they are "overheard" by many who have varying degrees of
commitment to them and to what they represent, and this
awareness informs what they say and how they say it, but
their prime audience is the community that follows them.
It is not just a coincidence that their approach and the
approach of Yated are similar, but a reflection of the
strong relationship between Yated and its rabbonim.
Our Vaada Ruchanit is not an advisory board, but is really a
board of directors. They direct what we put in and what we do
not, and the entire organization is built to ensure this.
Though rabbonim can block what goes in to some other
publications which hire their own rabbinical advisors,
Yated remains the only newspaper in which rabbonim can
be sure of getting their statements published, no matter what
they say — since they fully control it.
Sometimes we are criticized for not being convincing or for
"writing off" those who do not agree with us. Chas
vesholom. Every Jew is precious — but there is a
lot of diversity in Klal Yisroel. When we address
issues that are debated in modern society, our aim is to
provide chizuk for those in our community who come
into contact with those ideas. We are not necessarily trying
to convince a serious skeptic. That does not mean we have
written him off, but that he should look elsewhere to find
someone who will engage his skepticism.
If we do not live up to our standards, then by all means let
us know. But neither we — nor the gedolim
— should be criticized for not addressing those we do
not set out to address.
