Erika Dreifus

And here’s a follow-up e-mail from Jewish Living:

Dear Jewish Living Subscribers –

Over the last few days we have been overwhelmed and gratified by the thousands of emails we’ve received from you expressing your deep disappointment at the suspension of publication. We share your disappointment and want to let you know that we did everything in our power to continue publication.

As of this past Sunday night there was no reason to think we were going to suspend publication. We had been operating in good faith and were about to go to press with our Nov/Dec issue.

Given recent market freefall combined with current economic conditions, our investors informed us on Monday morning (Sept 27th) that they would no longer continue funding the magazine. We immediately informed our staff, our subscribers and our suppliers.

That said, we deeply regret the situation we all find ourselves in. As we were a stand alone publication, the staff and principals of Jewish Living will now be starting the new year looking for other employment. We are also aware and very sympathetic to the fact that many loyal subscribers had recently renewed their subscriptions and new subscribers have come on board. Recently received credit card + check payment orders have not been processed.

We are making every effort – as is customary when magazines fail – to ensure that subscribers will receive a replacement magazine subscription to a comparable publication.

Thank you again for subscribing, for sharing the vision with us and – for a short time – for celebrating under the big tent of Jewish Living.

Sincerely,
Dan

—
Dan Zimerman
Jewish Living magazine

Several weeks ago I went ahead and subscribed to Jewish Living magazine. So I was surprised and disappointed to receive this e-mail message today:

September 29, 2008

Dear subscribers, colleagues and friends of Jewish Living,

After an extremely successful launch and five well-received issues Jewish Living will suspend publication as of today.

Launched in November 2007 and named one of the top launches of the year by Media Industry News (min), Jewish Living was already making headlines with features in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, New York Post, Mediaweek, Gawker, Jossip, Folio and others.

Jewish Living was fortunate to have attracted a significant subscribers base,
committed advertisers and the respect of the editorial and creative community.

However, given current economic conditions, it has become increasingly difficult to ensure sustainable funding and therefore the ongoing viability of the business.

We are gratified by the overwhelming response the publication has received from both subscribers and newsstand purchasers.

We are grateful for the stellar contributions of both our talented staff of art directors, editors, writers, photographers and stylists as well as those of our tireless publishing team and outside partners.

Thank you,

Jewish Living

Dan Zimerman
dzimerman@zspublishing.com

Carol Moskot
cmoskot@jewishlivingmag.com

The message says nothing about refunding subscription payments.