When my husband and I got married, the most unusual wedding gift we received was a six-month subscription to the Intermountain Jewish News, a weekly Denver-based Jewish newspaper. (A family friend is the editor of the newspaper). I admit that I was a bit annoyed at what I thought was a not-so-useful gift, but I started reading the paper on a regular basis…and we’ve ended up re-subscribing for going on 3 years now!

I’ve enjoyed learning about Jewish communities around the world and the latest events in Israel, reading the Torah column for that week’s portion, and hearing about various Jewish-themed human interest stories (e.g., people discovering their family’s Holocaust history, Jews in sports, and more). My other favorite thing about the paper is the Jewish-themed crossword puzzle, which I am relatively good at given my specialized trivia knowledge base. All in all, I would say that local Jewish newspapers are a great, often-overlooked resource for learning.
–Leeyat Tessler