From the Editor, El Jurnal israelit

From the Editor:

With God’s help, the time has come for our newspaper to appear before the community, and I am sure that at first our esteemed subscribers will not judge us for its errors, because all beginnings are difficult, and little by little we will correct these errors. And I thank my patrons at the Meclis Pekidim,¹ who decided to establish this newspaper, so much needed and required by the community and even more so by the government, whose goal is to do everything possible so that the people would not lack any knowledge.

Until now, many newspapers were founded and began to come out, but none of them managed to survive, because nobody supported them except for their publishers, and nobody appreciated their significance. Now that many other good and important things have been introduced in our nation, the Meclis Pekidim established El Jurnal israelit.² We must first of all ask the pure and almighty God on High to give a long and brilliant life to our ruler, our king, the source of our life, king of the earth and master of the seas, a king who is son of a king who was son of another king, Sultan Abdulmecid, may He exalt his majesty, may his glory and power extend from one end of the earth to the other. In his time, the world saw the light and brilliance of science, and many implements were invented to facilitate knowledge and inquiry and to ensure that we would not miss anything. Our nation has taken similar measures and is trying to promote progress.

I hope that with the help, first of all, of the almighty God and also of the Meclis Pekidim, our newspaper will succeed and, even though it starts as a weekly, will grow to a daily. I am asking my esteemed subscribers in all parts to welcome and encourage this periodical, so that it can develop and continue to appear. May it be favorable before Him, may it be according to His honor that the Messiah come and reveal himself, he “who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” [Isaiah 52:7].

Ezekiel Yeḥezkel Gabay

El Jurnal israelit, 27 December 1860