Memorial Gathering for Gershon Jacobson Word from: Mordy

A memorial gathering is being held in honor of Gershon Jacobson, founder and chief editor of the Algemeiner Journal, this Tuesday (June 28th). Elie Wiesel and Norman Lamm will be speaking. The event comes 30 days after Jacobson's death, and marks the traditional shloshim period of mourning.

The Forward sent me down to Crown Heights last week to cover a rally protesting the withdrawal from Gush Katif. Overall it was a small, boring affair, and I spent most of the evening making small talk with the crew from Ma'ariv. I did bump into Yossi Jacobson, Gershon's son, who I studied under for about a year. The newspaper, for whom I wrote for a couple months while I lived in Crown Heights, is apparently in flux. I've been told it hasn't been profitable in awhile, and there are questions as to what form it's now going to take.

The Algemeiner Journal bills itself as the largest weekly Yiddish newspaper. I remember a sign in the Algemeiner's office that quoted I.B. Singer, "Yiddish may be a dying language, but in the Yiddish tradition, from dying to dead is a long long way."