Venerable Jewish publication the Forward going digital-only

NEW YORK – The venerable Jewish-American publication the Forward announced Thursday that it is ceasing its print editions.

“In order to deliver better and better digital products, and reach our readership ‘where they live,’ the Forward will print its last paper issues in English and in Yiddish this spring,” publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen said in a statement.

Feddersen said the print editions are “no longer financially sustainable” and the switch to digital-only will allow the Forward to refine its focus and readership.

The Forward was founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily newspaper serving the American Jewish community.

It started publishing an English-language weekly edition in 1990. Both the English and Yiddish editions have been published monthly since 2017.

Feddersen said the Forward reaches more than 2 million online readers a month, dwarfing the print magazine’s 16,000 English-language subscribers and fewer than 1,000 Yiddish-language subscribers.

“Whereas our readers once went to the newsstand with a nickel to read the news of the day, today, the vast majority of our community connects through the digital world,” Feddersen said. “That is where the Forward is and will be.”

She said 10 staff members will be laid off with the elimination of the print editions.

The Forward is owned by the Forward Association, a non-profit organization.