Letter from the Editor

Nadine Epstein

One summer when I was a kid, my family headed out west in our blue Dodge Polara station wagon. My dad was driving, fast as usual, as my mother, brothers, sister and I played games and entertained our wired hair terrier. We were on a rural stretch of a Pennsylvania interstate when the tire on our tent camper blew out. My dad skillfully brought the car and trailer to a halt on the shoulder and got out to inspect the damage. A sedan pulled over and a man hopped out to help him. A few minutes later, my dad climbed back in our car fuming. The man, he told us, had used the phrase “Jew them down” in conversation. We kids all clamored to know what that meant and he explained as we limped along into the next town.

Even though it stayed in my mind, this was an incredibly minor incident in the annals of human bigotry—I don’t even know if the ignorant man who uttered that expression knew that the blond, blue-eyed family in the car was Jewish. But it shows that I have been fortunate to live in a time and place in which I have not experienced serious anti-Semitism. Unlike my grandparents, I didn’t flee pogroms in Eastern Europe to come to a new country and struggle for acceptance. Unlike family members they left behind, nearly all of whom were killed in the Holocaust, I’ve never been persecuted. Nor have I experienced the subtler anti-Semitism that my parents encountered in post-war America, the prejudice that so angered my dad during our interstate encounter.

I was fortunate to grow up feeling at home as a Jew in the United States. My son, who was among the millions on the National Mall to witness the inauguration of the first African-American president, may be even luckier. He is coming of age in a country in which ethnic and racial diversity are actively celebrated. Non-Jews are fascinated and excited when I tell them that I publish and edit a magazine devoted to Jewish politics, religion and culture.

Several of the features in the March/April issue of Moment show the pendulum swinging in the direction of tolerance. In “Can Eric Cantor Save the GOP?” we meet the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives. Cantor is the first Jew to become Republican minority whip. He is young, socially and fiscally conservative and well-versed in foreign affairs—especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Republicans see him as someone who can attract Jewish voters, a traditionally overwhelmingly Democratic constituency. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Robert S. Greenberger traces Cantor’s career and his efforts to rally his party since its 2008 defeat.

Last summer, I visited Chautauqua, a unique summer community in western New York that was founded by Protestants in 1874. A Christian intellectual hub in an idyllic village setting, Chautauqua now has a thriving Jewish community that accounts for up to one third of residents and visitors. I hope you find Chautauqua’s history—and the story of its Jews—as interesting as I do.

A professor of Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, Ilan Stavans, recounts an altogether different tale of otherness in Mexico City. Stavans is the grandson of Eastern European immigrants to Mexico who grew up in the small Jewish community cloistered in the city’s suburbs. In his essay, “Return to Centro Histórico,” he takes us on a stroll through the city’s old downtown where he discovers Mexico’s long Jewish history—and his own.
Linguist Deborah Tannen, author of the classic You Just Don’t Understand, interviews actor and singer Theodore Bikel, best known for his more than 2,000 performances as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Bikel grew up in Vienna and never has been able to forget the day the Nazis marched into Austria or how his neighbors failed to stand up for the Jews. This experience shaped Bikel, who turns 85 in May. Since then, he has never been able to sit by when he sees anyone—Jewish and not—suffer from discrimination.

Passover is the ultimate holiday of the underdog, celebrating the freedom of a persecuted religious minority. In our Jewish Word section you will learn about the origins of the English word Passover and its many meanings. This issue also introduces our new “Talk of the Table” section, an intellectual peek at the world of Jewish food. You’ll learn about the origins of charoset—the tastiest food on the Seder plate—and the brilliant marketing ploy that transformed Maxwell House Coffee (and its Haggadah) into a Passover tradition.

Elsewhere, we tackle topics in the news. At a time when government’s role in the economy is expanding, we revisit the life of Paul Warburg, the German-Jewish immigrant to the United States who was the force behind the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank. Our rabbis reflect on the ethical lessons to be learned from the Bernie Madoff debacle, while Boston University professor Mitchell Zuckoff, a biographer of Charles Ponzi, illuminates some of the mystery surrounding the former NASDAQ chairman’s alleged $50 billion scheme.

At momentmag.com, read an exclusive online interview with Aaron David Miller, who has served as advisor to six secretaries of state on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Miller shares his thoughts on the aftermath of the Gaza war, the Israeli elections and what to expect from the Obama Administration on the Middle East.

Don’t forget to peruse our Inthemoment blog at momentmagblog.com and join the debate. Happy Passover!