Magazines: pro and con, please

amother

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:45 pm

I live OOT. And I love magazines. All kinds. But on Shabbos and yomtov I want to read Jewish magazines. Thinking of subscribing. Which one should I pick: Binah, Mishpacha, or Ami? Please tell me what you like and don’t like about these 3 options. I am in my sixties, BT for 40 plus years, professional woman, married with grown kids. Large family. Chabad but love reading from all perspectives. Love Israel. TIA.

SuperWify

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:47 pm

It’s to say what you’ll enjoy most. Try them out for a week and see which you like best.

allthingsblue

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:48 pm

Mishpacha, hands down. Fits the bill based on how you described yourself- they have articles featuring people from all spectrums of Judaism, a lot of Chabad. They have a lot of articles about Israel.

amother

Green

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:51 pm

I enjoy the ami.

mommy2379

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:52 pm

allthingsblue wrote:

Mishpacha, hands down. Fits the bill based on how you described yourself- they have articles featuring people from all spectrums of Judaism, a lot of Chabad. They have a lot of articles about Israel.

Agree

sub

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:53 pm

Ami and mishpacha have alot of in depth political coverage and journalistic stories. Binah has good articles but it reminds me of good housekeeping. Zman is also very good.
Ami and mishpacha have a seperate children and seperate childrens section. Binah is geared for women.

naturalmom5

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:55 pm

No offense to anyone
Just being honest so you can make the right decision

Op, if you have a normal PS education and a normal IQ,
Stick to Zman magazine

amother

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:58 pm

I love recipes and inspirational stories. Which one is best for that? I’ve read all 3 but they’re all jumbled in my head!

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 12:58 pm

naturalmom5 wrote:

No offense to anyone
Just being honest so you can make the right decision

Op, if you have a normal PS education and a normal IQ,
Stick to Zman magazine

Not if you regularly watch documentaries though, you wont find fresh info. They also don't have op-eds, personal essays, fiction, or current events.

mommy2379

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:00 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I love recipes and inspirational stories. Which one is best for that? I’ve read all 3 but they’re all jumbled in my head!

All 3 have those

amother

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:01 pm

Also, OOT amothers , what about delivery? Would I receive it before Shabbos? I live a few hours from New York.

amother

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:02 pm

So please tell me the differences between them. Why do you prefer one over another?

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:10 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

So please tell me the differences between them. Why do you prefer one over another?

it really really boils down to personal preference. It's hard to pinpoint the exact differences without getting into lashon harah. like other posters said buy all three for a few weeks and you'll know which one you like best. If you ask three people here you're going to get three different answers

amother

Violet

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:13 pm

I like mishpacha the best. I find Binah boring and sometimes too yeshivish for me, and Ami can be sensationalistic and just plain weird at times.

amother

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:22 pm

Thanks amother violet. That was really helpful!

amother

Slategray

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:52 pm

I have to vote Ami.
If you buy all 3 for a few weeks in a row you'll see why.
My regular magazines at home are Family Circle, Readers Digest and Parents.
I buy the Jewish ones for Yomim Tovim and read them at family member's houses or whatever.
The Binah is pretty much geared to a very in town, stereotypical chassidish or yeshivish woman. There will be housekeeping tips and recipes, stories about Jewish women and raising Jewish families, etc.
The Mishpacha has 3 divisions, the regular which is mostly news and one lifelines story, and sometimes some articles, lots of which feel like eulogies. They have family first which has more articles, some serials, etc. The Junior is the kids division which we don't read. The whole thing has a very right wing feel, but they do try to diversify a little bit here and there to appeal to a wider audience.
The Ami is similarly divided in 3 magazines.
Ami main has some news article, it reads as an unbiased view on the local and international news, lots of politics written in clear to follow formats. The inspirational articles are pretty good (I don't read the inspirational articles in the other magazines).
There are some articles/stories etc. maybe a serial or two. The AmiLiving has different interesting articles about all different topics.
They have a kids magazine called the Aim which I don't read.
I subscribed to the Mishpacha for one year but got a little upset about the ad to reading material ratio, so I didn't renew.
If I were to subscribe to one of these again I'd surely choose the Ami, but for now I only buy it for Yom Tov when it's thicker and I want more Jewish reading material.
I do see where a very sheltered boro park, lakewood or monsey family would choose Mishpacha over Ami.
I definitely wouldn't blindly subscribe as I did last time.

Amelia Bedelia

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 1:57 pm

I vote Mishpacha. Mishpacha is the most professional, has the most quality reading material, and excellent editing. Their recipes are the best of the three mainstream publications.

amother

Slategray

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 2:03 pm

Double post- delete

amother

Vermilion

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 2:08 pm

I am very familiar with all three.
If I had to choose one, it would be Mishpacha, hands down.

They have the best writers. Most varied.
There's a little of everything. They are best in every category. They are quite broad and dont assume you live in boro park. However they are still within yeshivish norms.

Mishpacha Is constantly upping their game.
Ami feels empty at times, though I do enjoy some of their writers. Some of the stories seem juvenile or sensationalist. There's s lot of emphasis on chassidish culture, so if you don't live in BP or willi, you just may not get the innuendos. I think their food column is very good.

Binah bores me. It's like high school all over again. I love anything by EG and SARa Weiderblank and they write for Binah, so that's good. I get Binah only because my kids like the chikdren's magazine.

Zman is a totally different genre. They focus on in depth coverage of news, or interesting stories. You get like 8 stories in each magazine which Is more like a book. There's no food or fiction. And contrary to Natural mom, I don't think their writing is particularly good or sophisticated. Zman is enjoyable because you can sink your teeth into a subject.

Amelia Bedelia

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 2:12 pm

Zman Magazine is very different. When I want to curl on my couch to relax, I wouldn't choose Zman. Zman is excellent, but it's heavy reading. I choose not to subscribe to Zman because I have limited reading time which I prefer to spend on easy, light topics