The turn-of-the-century Jewish Encyclopedia also says that, "Editorially, The American Hebrew stands for conservatism in Judaism.

"[1] From the time of its founding, The American Hebrew covered many topics of intense Jewish interest internationally.

It covered the persecutions of Romanian Jews that followed the signing of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 and published a number of important letters on the subject from European writers, which led the American Jews to exercise their influence on behalf of their suffering coreligionists abroad.

The paper reported on the large influx of Jewish immigrants that followed these latter events, and which significantly changed the demographics of Jewish-Americans; it also covered the rise of institutions to deal with this influx, including the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and the Hebrew Technical Institute for their modern education.

[1] In literary terms, The American Hebrew also introduced leading figures in Jewish life, including the writing career of poet Emma Lazarus, who was covered extensively at the time of her death in 1887;[1] she later became famous for her sonnet "The New Colossus", which was inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1912.