In Dr. Seuss’s 1971 book The Lorax, a character called “the old Once-ler” tells the tale of an ecosystem nearly entirely destroyed by pollution and greed.

Over at the New York Times, the Once-ler seems to have stealthily taken over editing coverage of the American Jewish news.

Exhibit A. is a recent food-section reference in the Times to a kosher bakery that is described as “a living tribute to Miami’s once-thriving Jewish culture.”

Once-thriving? What, the Jewish culture in Miami is no longer thriving? Or is the Times just inaccurate?

Allan Jacob reported in The Wall Street Journal, under the headline “Why Orthodox Jews Are Leaving Brooklyn for Florida,” that “figures from Florida’s Education Department show enrollment in Jewish day schools statewide grew in 2020 to 12,482 students from 10,623 in 2018. The number of such schools grew to 64 from 50 during that time.”

A demographic study released in 2014 by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation reportedly found “The Jewish population of Miami-Dade County increased 9 percent over the last decade, to 123,000 from 113,000 in 2004.” The Times of Israel published that news under the headline “Study finds Miami Jewish community is booming.” The New York Times itself reported in November that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump had moved to Miami, though that news was buried under the arguably antisemitic front page headline “Kushner Chases Mideast Money.” Maybe it’s a semantic issue about the city of Miami versus the surrounding jurisdictions such as Miami Beach, but I doubt it.

Lest one think that the paper’s disparagement of Miami Jewish culture is merely typical New York City arrogance, consider that the Times Once-ler cast its shade at the hometown Jewish community, too. A Times article about delis in New York City contended, “there’s something slightly off-kilter about this attempt to resuscitate, through deft branding, the cranky, cerebral, irreverent Jewish culture that was once a dominant feature of New York City’s character.”

Once a dominant feature? Well, maybe it’s accurate that New Yorkers are no longer cerebral, if the writing that appears these days in the once-respected New York Times is any evidence. The newspaper’s publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, hails from the once-Jewish branch of the Ochs-Sulzberger family. It’s one thing for Jewish culture to get the Once-ler treatment from the Times once — but for the newspaper to be so dismissive of both the Miami and the New York Jewish communities is disappointing. Especially when it comes so glancingly, in the form of nostalgic asides rather than in news articles, editorials or obituaries formally declaring that the best days of the American Jewish community are behind us.

The Lorax ends with the Once-ler offering one last seed and advising a visitor to plant a new tree, “Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.” At least the Once-ler hoped for the forest to grow back. As for the Times, it’s not so clear whether it is rooting for a Jewish comeback in New York or Miami, or if it prefers instead to keep thinking of and writing about American Jewish communities in terms of “once.”

Were the Times to consider a correction on these articles, possible wording would be: “Correction: An article in the dining section referred imprecisely to Miami’s Jewish community. It is still thriving.” Or “Correction: An article about delis referred incorrectly to New York City’s character. It is still cranky, cerebral, irreverent, and influenced significantly by the city’s Jewish population.”

Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.

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