Letter from the Editor

Thirty-five years ago this May, Leonard Fein and Elie Wiesel co-founded Moment. We celebrate with a symposium asking two questions that go to the heart of who we are now and will be: What does it mean to be Jewish today? And what do Jews bring to the world?

This is more than a celebration of a magazine that enriches Jewish American discourse. It’s a tribute to one of the world’s oldest, continuous and most influential peoples, one that has endured nearly all the evils humanity has to offer, including vicious prejudice and near genocide—and yet has survived. It is a living tradition shaped by the many generations that have poured their hearts, souls and minds into it, all the while debating which of its many threads is valid.

To answer these questions, we sought a spectrum of thoughtful American Jews. We turned to voices that embody the vitality of our community. Our symposium includes immigrants, converts, minorities, men and women, old and young, believers and nonbelievers, left and right brainers, insular and cosmopolitan, from a range of disciplines—rabbis, theologians, actors, writers, artists and scientists, each of whom sees Judaism through both a personal and a professional lens.

Together, the 35 responses here and 35 more on our website provide a rare big-picture look into what it is that makes Jewish thought and culture so appealing to so many people. This kaleidoscope of responses exemplifies our vigorous heritage of debate, our fears, our aspirations and accomplishments. It will warm your heart and prove that we are—for the most part—an optimistic people with much to contribute. Some responses will speak directly to you, and many more will challenge you to think.

My family is representative of so much of 2010 Jewish America. My parents, siblings and extended family are secular, independent, Renewal, Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and post-denominational. We practice Sephardi and Ashkenazi rituals, know Hebrew well and don’t, are well-educated about Judaism and are not. Some of us belong to synagogues, some do not. Some feel it is their responsibility to criticize Israel, others do not. We all have our reasons and deserve respect. Everyone is Jewish. We have all bestowed our Jewish values, as different as they are, on our children.

I am thankful that we can all be who we are under Judaism’s big tent. I also feel gratitude for what we have accomplished as a people, for our ancestors, for the blessings of our lives, for the leisure that makes it possible for us to examine the present and work toward a future that will be the wonder of our children and their children, and, I hope, all of humanity.

What do we bring to the world? First I would say our deep kindness, our unstoppable empathy. Then I would cite our educated awareness of past, present and future, and our ability to adapt and grow as people, whether organized or not; and our unquenchable thirst to better ourselves and others. We are leaders adept at finding a myriad of ways to organize ourselves, and others, to accomplish what needs to be done.

This all circles back to Moment. Each issue reflects the richness of the Jewish world. Centuries of debate appear on our pages as both history and as part of current civil discourse. Moment is home to a Jewish literacy that supplements what is provided by synagogues, community centers and schools. We also offer a way for people who are not connected to these institutions to acquire Jewish knowledge. Of course, learning about Judaism is not limited to Jews. We live in an era in which non-Jews have unprecedented opportunities to discover Jewish thinking. And they are fascinated: It is as if Jewish culture and religion are sweets, once-forbidden, that people now cannot get enough of.

It is fitting that this commemorative issue coincides with the May celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month. Moment co-founder and founding editor Leonard Fein reflects on the past 35 years of American Jewry, and Elie Wiesel, co-founder and first literary editor, participates in our symposium. Others who were a part of Moment’s inaugural issue also join in, including writer, and “deadline poet,” Calvin Trillin.

In partnership with the Jewish American Heritage Month Coalition, we bring you a guide to museums, archives, historical societies and roadside attractions. In time for your summer travel, we take you on a tour of Jewish American literary sites. We tell the story of Moment’s namesake, Der Moment (1910-1939), a Yiddish newspaper published in Poland, whose editor died in the Warsaw Ghetto. There’s a history of the very popular phrase, tikkun olam. Los Angeles Times and NPR contributor Kenneth Turan chooses his favorite Jewish American movies. We have book reviews written by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow and others, plus our annual children’s contest winners and an interview with a Newbery Medal winner, author Lois Lowry. And I’d like to call your attention to our columnists, who eloquently express a range of views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the path toward peace.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who came before us at Moment and to current staff, board members and friends who work so hard to make Moment shine. I am blessed to work with wonderful people I love and with magazine readers who discern and appreciate Moment’s value and participate so enthusiastically in the conversation. Thank you!