The Canadian Jewish News, the country’s largest Jewish weekly newspaper, is ending its operations.

The not-for-profit media organization, which also offered a website updated daily, announced on Thursday that its April 9 issue would be its last. Digital operations will also cease.

“Please know that we have done everything in our power to continue The CJN for as long as possible,” said Elizabeth Wolfe, CJN president, in a notice posted online. “It is with tears in my eyes that I conclude: It had a good run. Everything has its season. It is time.”

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Wolfe pointed to the coronavirus pandemic as a factor in the decision to shutter, and said that the organization’s first obligation was to its staff.

“Unfortunately, we too have become a victim of COVID-19,” Wolfe wrote. “Already struggling, we are not able to sustain the enterprise in an environment of almost complete economic shut down.”

CJN began publishing in 1960, and became a not-for-profit in 1971. It previously announced its closure in 2013. Then, Wolfe wrote, the organization restructured and launched a new version of the newspaper and website.

“The outcry [about the shuttering] at the time encouraged our efforts. It did not, however, translate into widespread support for The CJN, although our dedicated subscribers, advertisers and friends kept us afloat.”

In the announcement, Wolfe included a desire that the CJN might once again, in some form, return to publication. “I have no doubt that there will be another outcry from the community, particularly from those readers who rely on the print edition as their source of information, and perhaps, their connection to the Canadian Jewish community,” Wolfe wrote. “It is my hope that members of our community will recognize the need for a national platform and that a new CJN will emerge.”

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