Highlights from Moment’s Extraordinary 2025 Gala!

More than 250 friends and supporters of Moment magazine gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Sunday evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the magazine’s founding and its distinguished record of independent journalism and to honor an impressive roster of trailblazers in journalism and democracy. 

Guests were welcomed by the evening’s emcee, former NPR senior host and Moment Special Literary Contributor Robert Siegel, and by Annie Simonian Totah, honorary gala co-chair along with Wolf and Lynn Blitzer. Special guests included CNN’s Dana Bash and cookbook author Joan Nathan, who led the assembled guests in a Hamotzi blessing.

Honoree Rabbi David Saperstein, director emeritus of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, was introduced via video tribute by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Governor Pritzker called Saperstein “a mensch, a friend, a leader” and said that “at this crossroads moment in American history, the Jewish vision is needed more than ever.” Accepting the inaugural Leibel Fein Tzedek Award, Saperstein lauded Moment’s founders, the late visionaries Leonard “Leibel” Fein and Elie Wiesel, as “kindred spirits in the belief that our particular Jewish values and our universalist convictions both call for justice.” He said that the founders’ “hearts would be breaking at the failure of democracy in the two countries they loved the most.” Jessica Fein, Leibel Fein’s daughter, helped present the award.

Elisha Wiesel (left), son of Moment cofounder Elie Wiesel and recipient of the 2025 Moment Inspirational Leadership Award, and Jessica Fein (right), daughter of cofounder Leonard “Leibel” Fein. Credit: Betty Adler.

Prolific writer and co-founder of Ms. magazine Letty Cottin Pogrebin received the Mitchel and Gloria Levitas Literary Journalism Award. In her video tribute, actor Marlo Thomas praised the “four Lettys”—writer, activist, wife and mother, friend. Pogrebin noted that for 35 years, “Moment has given me a platform and protected my speech along with the speech of writers with views very different from my own.” She thanked the magazine’s editors “for giving me the freedom to speak, no matter how provocative, intimate, political or passionate my voice.”

The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Human Rights Award went to Alice Wairimu Nderitu, former UN undersecretary general and special adviser on the prevention of genocide, for her work combating genocide and Holocaust denial and her efforts toward reconciliation following the Rwandan genocide. In accepting the award, Nderitu said her work has shown her “both the resilience and the fragility of humanity” and that she was “grateful to Moment magazine for carrying the dreams of Elie Wiesel and other survivors forward.” Nderitu, who is now the global president of the Isōko Centre for Humanity, was congratulated via video by James Smith, co-founder of the Aegis Trust.

Pioneering broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff, who was honored with the Robert S. Greenberger Journalism Award, praised Moment’s work “at a time when press freedom is on the line every day.” In a taped tribute, fellow broadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell called Woodruff “the premiere broadcast journalist of her and of any generation.”

Marion Ein Lewin, philanthropist and survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, said that she had long felt hesitant to talk about her experiences during World War II, fearing that she could not do justice to the memory of millions of victims, but that she gives honor to “institutions like Moment that keep the flame alive.” She was the recipient of the inaugural L’Dor V’Dor Award and received a standing ovation. 

Lewin’s son Mark Ein spoke glowingly of his mother as a parent and a human being in a taped introduction, saying she had shown him that even from the darkest experiences “a beautiful soul can emerge,” while teaching the lesson that “we must savor every moment of life.” Lewin praised Moment Editor-in-Chief and CEO Nadine Epstein as “an inspiring mentor” and “someone offering leadership amid the calamities and shockwaves in recent years that have added an extraordinary challenge to journalism.” 

(Left) Gala Co-Chairs Wolf and Lynn Blitzer. (Right) 2025 awardee Marion Ein Lewin (left) and Moment Editor-in-Chief and CEO Nadine Epstein (right). Credit: Betty Adler

Elisha Wiesel, chairman of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, accepted the Inspirational Leadership Award to wrap up the evening. He issued a stirring call to bring disaffected young Jews “back to the tent,” describing his own youthful rebellion as the son of such a towering figure as Elie Wiesel. In a video introduction, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York lauded Elisha Wiesel’s efforts fighting antisemitism and working on behalf of victims of war and oppressed minorities such as China’s Uyghurs. Torres called Wiesel “fearless and forceful, an oasis of moral authority and courage in a world of cowardice,” and praised him for carrying forth his father’s legacy with “a moral authority few can match.”

Actor Richard Kind, who was the recipient of the Moment Creativity Award, and Broadway performance coach Michael Lavine provided an interlude of comedy and musical entertainment.

The evening featured a moving tribute film to Moment co-founders Leonard Fein and Elie Wiesel. An exciting new Founders’ Next-Gen Fund, embodying the values of Fein and Wiesel, was announced. The fund provides mentorship and training to equip young journalists with the skills to explore Jewish life and identity with the honesty, complexity and nuance needed today and in the future.

The event was a fundraiser to support Moment’s critical work. It helps make it possible for us to produce our high-caliber, trustworthy journalism and programs—and to be a haven for thoughtful and respectful conversation in polarized times. Please make a donation in honor of Moment’s 50th anniversary here.

Gala emcee Robert Siegel (far left) and 2024 awardee Dana Bash (far right) are joined by members of Moment’s editorial staff.

Clips from the evening, as well as the full video, coming soon. 

Top image: Moment 50th Anniversary Gala Co-Chair Annie Simonian Totah (far right) with 2025 Awardees (from left): Richard Kind, Judy Woodruff, Rabbi David Saperstein, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Elisha Wiesel, and Letty Cottin Pogrebin. Credit: Betty Adler