Jewish Post and Opinion

Following graduation from the University of North Carolina, Gabriel Cohen (1908-2007) established the Chronicler Spokesman, which became the Kentucky Jewish Post and Opinion, in December 1930. He was a Louisville native and previously had served as a reporter for the {Louisville Herald-Post}.

Cohen served as editor and publisher of the Post and Opinion and began publishing an Indianapolis edition in 1935. With the Indiana edition, the paper became known simply as the Jewish Post and Opinion. It was one of the first in the country to offer insight into the lives of the Jewish community, nationally and locally, and it provided a strictly Jewish perspective on such events as World War II. Cohen also founded the American Jewish Press Association in Indianapolis in 1944.

Cohen continued to publish a Kentucky edition of the newspaper into the 1940s. From 1949 to 1992, there was a Missouri edition, and a Chicago edition was published from 1962 to 1981. He also at one time ran editions for Chicago and New York. The National Jewish Post and Opinion first appeared in 1948.

The newspaper helped to launch the careers of several well-known Jewish writers and journalists, including Carl Alpert, Moshe Kohn, Yossie Klein Halevi, and Daniella Ashkenazy. Subscribers to the national edition have come from all of the U.S., Canada, and Israel. After Gabriel Cohen’s death, his daughter Jennie Cohen took over as publisher and editor.

As of 2020, Indiana and national editions continue to be edited and composed in Indianapolis and appear monthly. They report on local, national, and international Jewish-related events and issues. The Indiana edition of the paper covers organizations, institutions, and life cycle events of local Jewish residents as well as highlighting other Jewish communities in the state. Several special issues are published each year on the occasion of Jewish holidays.