We ran the wedding announcement because we felt, as a community newspaper, that it was our job to serve the entire community — something we have been doing for 80 years.

We did not expect the heated response we got, and — in truth — we believe now that we may have acted too quickly in issuing the follow-up statement, responding only to one segment of the community.

We are now having meetings with local rabbis and community leaders. We will also be printing, in the paper and online, many of the letters that have been pouring in since our statement was published.

We urge everyone to take a step back and reflect on what this series of events has taught us about the community we care so much about, and about the steps we must take to move forward together.

James Janoff, publisher of New Jersey's The Jewish Standard, today addressed popular outrage over his paper's decision to prohibit gay marriage announcements from its pages.

"We believe now that we may have acted too quickly in issuing the follow-up statement, responding only to one segment of the community," Janoff wrote in the letter published today after word spread that the paper had caved to conservative pressure.

The paper's team will now meet with local rabbis and other community leaders to decide how best to proceed.

In the meantime, Janoff asks everyone to "take a step back and reflect on what this series of events has taught us about the community we care so much about, and about the steps we must take to move forward together."

Read Janoff's short letter, AFTER THE JUMP.