Ami or Mishpacha | Imamother

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 10:49 pm

I find that in real life my friends like Ami better. It sells way better in our local grocery in Lakewood (I asked). On imamother ppl tend to choose Mishpacha. Its possible because there are more OOTs/Anglo Israelis here.

I find Mishpacha very anglo Israeli.
You're better off asking your friends and likeminded peers.

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 11:07 pm

Why don't you just buy one of each and see for yourself? Why commit to a full year when for just a few dollars you can make your own judgement?

Reason I prefer Ami:

Mishpacha is very inspirational, a lot of epiphanies, a lot of "celebrity" articles like "the favorite book of Jewish celebrities," origins of Jewish songs. When they write about Rebbes and rosh yeshivas, they are all the holiest, the greatest. An article about some randome chassidish rebbe with five chassidim will paint him in glowing terms. This is very Israeli style. These things don't interest me. I want news, travel articles, fascinating stories etc. If you're going to interview a rebbe, don't give me an hagioraphy. A cover story of the favorite tefillah of five educators makes me yawn. That's not to say it's not a good magazine. Many ppl love this stuff. I dont. This is why you should buy it and see for yourself.

out-of-towner

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 11:12 pm

I like Mishpacha better, and subscribe to it.

I find Ami to be more about American politics (and Mishpacha on a whole to discuss Israeli politics).

Ami can sometimes be controversial. It also leans towards the Lubavitch side if that bothers you (it doesn't bother me FTR, I'm just stating it as fact).

I enjoy Family First and Family Table much more than Ami Living and Whisk.

amother

Yellow

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 11:12 pm

They are both guilty of hagiography writing. Just in different ways!

Mishpacha tends to describe certain lifestyles or religious experiences in overly inspirational ways. Ami writes their interviews with the subject being treated as though they are on a pedestal, the interviewer always comes across as though they are in awe of the subject and holding their breath throughout. Sometimes one or the other in either mag will make me roll my eyes a bit.

They both have their pluses, too. It's a matter of taste.

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 11:21 pm

amother [ Yellow ] wrote:

Really? I totally disagree. Sometimes I wonder if the person being interviewed in Ami realizes there is some subtle disapproval there.

amother

Yellow

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 11:31 pm

amother [ Burlywood ] wrote:

Really? I totally disagree. Sometimes I wonder if the person being interviewed in Ami realizes there is some subtle disapproval there.

I disagree with you there. It's always a very fawning interview. Any disagreement brought is usually just to play devil's advocate imo. Except for sometimes when they interview a local politician, and bring up something that affects the frum community.

I will say that Ami gets more interesting people to interview, imo. Mishpacha does seem to interview the same "type" of person, and there is often an Israeli slant to the interviews. Definitely less local than Ami.

But, when you look at the letters to the editor section, Mishpacha is far and away superior. Both in regard to variety, controversy, willingness to publish letters of critique, or bring new pov. The letters in Ami just comes across as an echo chamber and don't add much. I don't know if it's because of what they choose to publish, or that's just the type of letter they get.

I think both would benefit from having a better dvar Torah editorial in the beginning. I find the one in Ami boring, and Mishpacha sadly no longer carries Rabbi Grylak's columns, which was my favorite column and I really miss it:(

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Sep 29 2020, 11:39 pm

amother [ Yellow ] wrote:

We'll agree to disagree-for now. I don't find the interviews fawning but on Sukkos I'll focus on that aspect and see. Maybe I'm wrong.

I agree with you re the letters page in Mishoacah being more interesting. However, it seems obvious to me that many of the Mishpacha letters are written by the Mishpacha staff. The tone, the language, so many of them seem to be written by the same author. They really need to do a better job hiding it.

Years ago when I read Hamodia, the letters page constantly had the word "behooves" in it. It was hysterical. Could they make it any more obvious that they were writing their own letters?

amother

Yellow

Wed, Sep 30 2020, 12:05 am

Maybe a few of the letters in Mishpacha are made up, nothing that frum publications do surprises me very much, haha. But a lot of them are signed and many with the names of people who I actually know or have heard of, lol. I wouldn't say they all have the same writing style, necessarily. I do think they are chosen very carefully and for sure edited somewhat.
And lots of times people will post the letter they got published on Facebook or online somewhere, people are very proud when they get featured there. I think the majority published in Mishpacha are legit.

But it bugs me (and this goes for probably every single frum periodical ever published including the Jewish Observer) that they always have the original author write a response to any letter of critique. If they made a good argument let it stand on its original merits, instead of letting them get in the last word. Very sneaky and unprofessional imo!!!

amother

Coffee

Wed, Sep 30 2020, 12:46 am

Ami- hands down.
I don't subscribe to any, but I pick up a magazine here or there while doing my groceries if the cover looks good, and buy them for Yom Tov.
I used to prefer the Ami, but after reading the last thread here where people preferred the Mishpacha I figured maybe I'll try it again. I bought a few issues and realized it's an ok magazine, just too right wing and very very conservative in their news coverage, where I end up feeling like I got half a story rather than the unbiased non partisan views I feel like I get in the Ami. The fiction stories were also too fake for me, and not relatable.
I'll stick with Ami for now.

Mama Bear

Wed, Sep 30 2020, 1:11 am

amother [ Yellow ] wrote:

I think both would benefit from having a better dvar Torah editorial in the beginning. I find the one in Ami boring, and Mishpacha sadly no longer carries Rabbi Grylak's columns, which was my favorite column and I really miss it:(

I was wondering about that! Did he retire? I thought maybe he isnt feeling well?

amother

Aquamarine

Wed, Sep 30 2020, 4:32 am

Anglo-Israeli here and true to stereotype I much prefer Mishpacha. The writing is higher quality and truer to Torah hashkafa. In every issue there are articles I skip over for reasons mentioned above (profile of someone who has no meaning to me, educators' favorite songs, etc) but the articles I do read are inspirational and stay with me a while.

We don't get much out of Mishpacha Junior or Family Table. My favorite part is letters to the editor.

Good luck with your decision and happy reading.

amother

Maroon

Wed, Sep 30 2020, 4:40 am

I prefer Mishpacha because of the layout.

I like Ami content-wise, but not the way it looks... I somehow don't like the letters and the layout.

In both magazines, I like that they are divided into three parts or even more, so that several family members can read their respective sections at the same time. That's a brillant idea...

In mishpacha, I think there are too many serials, especially in the women's section. I don't have a subscription, I buy the magazine on occasion, so all the serials do nothing for me and it irritates me that almost half of the women's section is filled with serials...

I like the extensive reports on single personalities, even if it is hagiography, I actually like hagiography... just not in the politics section...

I like that Mishpacha does a lot of subtle public education in the realms of education, health and general tolerance. (e.g. how to educate special needs children, more tolerance for OTD, etc...)

I like the receipes in Mishpacha and the way they are presented, I like that they give a good balance of healthy and light receipes andmore traditional ones. (Which does not mean I will cook what's in there, but I like to watch and read it)

In both magazines, I don't like the political standpoints and the bashing of everything that is not chareidi... In other words: I don't like all the regular opinion columns in the men's section. I think it's a shame that they indulge in so much lashon hara and condescendence about the outside world... However I like the columns by the psychologists and the like...