HaTzofe

HaTzofe held a prominent place in Israeli religious-Zionist journalism as the long-running newspaper of Mizrachi and, later, the National Religious Party.[1][2] It was a Hebrew-language publication based chiefly in Tel Aviv; the National Library of Israel's online archive begins on 3 August 1937 and covers more than three decades of its early run.[1]

The paper carried the subtitle "the newspaper of the global Mizrachi movement" from its inception, following the model of the Jewish political press of Eastern Europe. Party structures controlled editorial appointments and funding while directing coverage toward movement goals.[1] It is distinct from an earlier Hebrew daily of the same name published in Warsaw from 1903 to 1905, which was a general newspaper and conducted the first short-story contest in Hebrew literature.[3]

When Israel was established in 1948, it had sixteen daily newspapers—thirteen in Hebrew, one in English, and two in German—serving a population of 650,000. HaTzofe was among the party-affiliated titles.[4] One historical survey grouped it with the religious-party newspapers Hamodia, Yated Neeman, and Yom Leyom, reporting at the time that their combined circulation was below 5,000 and that they primarily served their parties' political and spiritual leaderships.[5]

HaTzofe was founded on 3 August 1937 (26 Av 5697) by Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (born Berlin, 1880–1949), a prominent Zionist figure and Mizrachi leader who served as the newspaper's first chief editor. The paper was intended from the outset to be the movement's mouthpiece.[1]

Mizrachi was a religious-Zionist faction established in 1902 at the initiative of Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines and other religious Zionist rabbis. It became active within the Zionist Organization as a representative of religious supporters of the Jewish national movement.[1] By founding HaTzofe, Bar-Ilan gave that movement a dedicated voice in the emerging Hebrew press of Mandatory Palestine.

Although later known as a daily, HaTzofe initially appeared three times a week and shifted to daily publication in December 1937. Its first issues were published in Jerusalem before the operation settled in Tel Aviv.[3][2]

At launch, HaTzofe circulated approximately 3,000 copies, mostly to subscribers.[1] Because of economic constraints, it did not develop a broad news-gathering infrastructure in its early years; much of its material came from news agencies and letters from different localities. Its content emphasized the Zionist national struggle and issues affecting the religious community. The party appointed the chief editor and senior staff, while individuals and groups close to the party establishment provided funding.[1]

HaTzofe covered religious and halakhic issues that resonated with its national-religious readership, including Orthodox feminism and the separation of boys and girls in Bnei Akiva youth activities.[6]

Under Shabbetai Don-Yahia's editorship from 1951 to 1980, the paper promoted the integration of modern Orthodoxy into Israel's institutions and wider society. Moshe Ishon, editor from 1980 to 1997, produced polemics supporting Jewish settlement. After Gonen Ginat became editor in 1997, HaTzofe adopted a bolder tabloid style, recruited younger journalists, and broadened its literary coverage under Chayuta Deutsch. Encyclopedia Judaica reported circulation of 12,000 daily and 18,000 on Sabbath and holiday eves in 2005.[2]

The paper frequently adopted a hawkish editorial line. A 1998 editorial reproduced by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy declared of the Wye Agreement, "This agreement is a failure. Even a glaring failure," and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of its implementation.[7]

A study of Orthodox and Haredi media identified ha-Tsofeh as a publication serving those communities and affiliated with the NRP, noting its value as research material for examining changing demographics and increasing engagement with the broader world.[8] A review of Yoel Cohen's work on religion and Israel's media described HaTzofe as the newspaper that reflected a modern Orthodox position within Israel's media landscape.[9]

During the British Mandatory period, HaTzofe supported the establishment of a Jewish state while demanding that the prospective state adhere to the laws of the Torah.[1] After Israel's establishment in 1948, the paper continued to advocate religious and traditional principles in Jewish education and sought to place religious studies at the center of the national educational curriculum.[1]

In February–March 1947, HaTzofe established HaTzofe le-Yeladim ("The Children's Observer"), which the National Library describes as the first religious serial for children and a publication that continued for a considerable period.[1] The paper's readership was concentrated among people employed by Mizrachi- and NRP-affiliated institutions, including Mizrahi Bank, the Religious Kibbutz Movement, Bar-Ilan University, and Bnei Akiva schools.[6]

In November 1956, during the closing days of the Sinai War, HaTzofe published on its final page the prayer for the welfare of Israel Defense Forces soldiers composed by Chief Military Rabbi Shlomo Goren.[10] The prayer subsequently became widely established in synagogues, ceremonies, Sabbath services, and periods of war or security tension.[10]

When Mizrachi and HaPoel HaMizrachi merged in 1956 to form the National Religious Party, HaTzofe became the new party's official organ, a role it maintained until 2003.[1] Its pages documented political conflicts involving the national-religious parties and the ruling Mapai alignment, including debates over immigrant education, German reparations, immigration priorities, and the question of who qualifies as a Jew under Israeli law.[1]

In 1976, HaTzofe published a notice about a ceremony welcoming the Israeli Air Force's first F-15 fighter jets that had been scheduled too close to the beginning of the Sabbath. According to the National Library's account, the notice contributed to two NRP ministers abstaining in a subsequent no-confidence vote and ultimately to the dissolution of the Knesset.[1]

After the Six-Day War of 1967, HaTzofe moved rightward alongside much of the national-religious movement, and its pages served as a prominent voice for Gush Emunim and Jewish settlement in the territories after the war.[1] The paper also reflected the political upheaval of the 1977 elections and the national-religious movement's gradual realignment away from the Zionist Left toward the secular Zionist Right and the settlement movement.[1]

An American Jewish Archives document identifies HaTzofe as the daily newspaper of the NRP and reproduces an editorial condemning the burning of a synagogue in Tel Aviv. The editorial rejected comparisons between that act and the burning of bus shelters and called for mutual respect and coexistence between religious communities.[11]

Sources differ on the precise date of the NRP's sale of HaTzofe. The National Library places its purchase by Shlomo Ben-Zvi and Ron Lauder in 2003, while Encyclopedia Judaica dates the NRP's sale to Ben-Zvi to 2005.[1][2] The transfer ended the newspaper's formal role as the party's mouthpiece, although it retained its national-religious character and hawkish, right-wing orientation.[1] Ben-Zvi subsequently merged HaTzofe with his weekly Makor Rishon ("Primary Source"), and the combined publication was converted into a daily.[6]

On 25 April 2007, HaTzofe's daily edition was folded into Makor Rishon.[1] The paper continued as an independent weekend journal until 26 December 2008, when its Friday insert was also incorporated into Makor Rishon and HaTzofe ceased operating independently.[1] Makor Rishon–HaTzofe was described as a right-of-center daily serving nationalistic and religious readers who valued a writing level comparable to that of Haaretz.[12]

After the merger, HaTzofe was reduced to a weekend supplement covering religious affairs, and eleven employees were reported to be losing their jobs.[6] Management described the restructuring as a strategic decision to concentrate resources on building Makor Rishon, connected in part to cost-cutting amid an economic slowdown. Immanuel Shiloh, editor-in-chief of the competing religious-Zionist weekly Be'sheva, warned that the paper's disappearance would make public discussion less diverse.[6]

The Jerusalem Post reported in December 2008 that HaTzofe was printing its final edition after 71 years of publication.[6] Its closure closely followed the NRP central committee's vote to disband the party and establish Habayit Hayehudi. Shaul Schiff, who had worked at HaTzofe for 45 years, interpreted the paper's demise as part of a wider weakening of religious-Zionist social cohesion, citing changes involving religious kibbutzim, Bank Mizrahi, educational institutions, and the NRP itself.[6]

The National Library characterizes HaTzofe's closure as reflecting both the broader crisis of print journalism at the beginning of the twenty-first century and difficulties within the religious-Zionist community, particularly the decline of the NRP.[1] Its sale and final closure formed part of the wider disappearance of Israel's party press, following the earlier closures of the Labor-affiliated Davar and the left-wing Al Hamishmar.[1][6]

For seventy-one years, HaTzofe gave national-religious readers a forum for political advocacy, religious discourse, and cultural expression. Founded during the struggle for Jewish statehood, it addressed immigration, religion-state relations, education, modern Orthodox participation in Israeli society, and Jewish settlement.[1][2] Its pages also first carried the prayer for IDF soldiers that became established in many Israeli synagogues and ceremonies.[10]

After Gonen Ginat became editor in 1997, HaTzofe pursued politically charged coverage, including an investigation of the relationship between Shin Bet agent Avishai Raviv and Yigal Amir and opposition to the 2005 withdrawal from Gush Katif. Encyclopedia Judaica also records that accusations published by the paper on other subjects led Ginat to issue apologies in its pages.[2]