A New Chapter for Southern Jewish Life

Change is afoot at Southern Jewish Life… Subscribe to our new Substack site!

With the current issue, we are rebooting the print edition, as part of an overall reworking of SJL. We are changing our print distribution, adding a new venue for even more stories, and enhancing our weekly e-news.

Two major factors have influenced this. First, we have far more stories than pages, so we are launching this Substack, a website where writers publish and are supported by readers. Much of the additional content on the Substack will be free, and we encourage everyone to sign up for it, but much of it will also be premium content — by subscription (there is also a founder’s level, which will include a signed prepublication copy of one of our two forthcoming books — one is a collection of greatest SJL stories from the last 35 years, the other is based on our series of articles about the Southern Jewish community during the civil rights battles). Some premium pieces will be features or in-depth news, there will also be a new weekly editorial, and access to the long-delayed community guide. Please explore this site and subscribe.

We are also asking everyone who wants to receive the print magazine to let us know. The second factor is that printing and postage have gone up 65 percent in three years, in a shrinking print advertising world (and postal delivery has been a challenge as well). That makes it impossible to send free to everyone in our coverage area, and it is increasingly difficult to get updated mailing lists from communities. Many of our colleagues’ publications have shrunk, and the Atlanta Jewish Times recently introduced a “voluntary subscription” for its free distribution.

Those in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida panhandle who want to keep receiving the magazine can email us at subscribe@sjlmag.com, mail us at PO Box 130052, Birmingham AL 35213, or automatically stay on the list by subscribing, free or paid, to this new Substack. Outside the coverage area, the print magazine is still available by paid subscription, whether standalone or with the Substack.

If you prefer to read the magazine online on our issuu platform, rather than receive the printed version, let us know as well, by emailing or mailing us.

For those who don’t want to do the Substack, we also welcome voluntary subscriptions or other contributions, at supportsjl.com, or by mailing to us.

We thank all of you who have supported our publication through the years, and look forward to many more years of providing a high-quality independent Jewish news magazine to our communities. Help us make that happen!