50 YEARS OF MOMENT!

KOL HAKAVOD, NADINE

Mazal tov to Moment on reaching the age of 50. I wrote two pieces in the magazine’s early years that Leibel Fein creatively titled “The Youngers of Zion,” about UJA creating a division for up-and-coming young machers (now a mainstay) and “The Jewish de-Press,” on the problems facing Jewish journalism.

I’ve become an avid reader again in recent years and look forward to innovative and thoughtful pieces in each issue. So kol hakavod to Nadine and the staff for sustaining, strengthening and broadening the content and reach of Moment. Keep up your vital work.
Gary Rosenblatt
Bronx, NY

ODE TO ELIE

“My door will always be open to you.” These are the words from Professor Elie Wiesel to me that changed my life as a student at Boston University in 1976. For the next forty years he inspired me and showed me how to appreciate the miracle of Jewish survival through study, song and spirit. I became a cantor as a response to his teachings and an understanding of our responsibility to carry on our traditions. I learned to light Shabbat candles for one whose life was cut short, to hold a prayer book with reverence and awe, and to sing melodies that leave a mark on your heart and soul. I miss his prophetic voice, especially today when a leader of his caliber is needed more than ever.
Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray
Lewes, DE

ODE TO LEIBEL

Congratulations on the beautiful, informative 50th anniversary issue. So much to read, so much to learn. As a representative of my Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, I was thrilled to attend meetings with Leonard Fein as he launched Moment in 1975. Leonard was charismatic and brilliant, and he spoke to each of us in the audience as if we were the only one there. I became an early subscriber to the magazine, which I have enjoyed on and off for the past 50 years.

I also remember when Leonard started MAZON, the program that fought food insecurity inspired by the famine in Ethiopia, and I read his book about the untimely death of his beloved daughter. I have been a fan for many years and recommend Leonard Fein for the Jewish Hall of Fame.
Eleanor Rubin
Tinton Falls, NJ

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

DANCING DELAYED

I have known of Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s activism for many years and was pleased to read “Tranquility Will Have to Wait” (Summer 2025). As she says, she remembers events pretty vividly, especially the milestones achieved in her lifetime. There was one milestone, however, that requires correction. She recalls “the euphoric night in May 1948 when Jews danced in the street to celebrate the UN vote that recognized the Jewish state.” The vote she refers to that partitioned Israel into two countries was actually on November 29, 1947. The whole country was glued to their radios, listening to the votes called out country by country. There was no dancing in the streets that night, just huge relief that the Jews would get their country. May 14, 1948, was when Ben-Gurion announced the State of Israel. Then there was dancing in the streets.
Roberta Winter (also born under FDR)
Skokie, IL

NOT A “FEMINIZATION” FAN

Since I generally approve of consistency, I should tip my kippah at Letty Cottin Pogrebin, as I cannot recall a single column of hers when I didn’t think, surely this must be satire. In her latest, she writes approvingly that “Today few congregants would remark at the sight of a woman rabbi, cantor, synagogue president, baal koreh…and bat mitzvah girl on the bimah at the same time.” While I am sure that this is true in non-Orthodox synagogues, I am equally sure that virtually none of those congregants attend services outside of Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, let alone pray daily, keep kosher or observe Shabbat. In the 1970s the non-Orthodox Jewish birth rate in America was between 1.6 and 2 children per woman; now it’s approximately 1.4. The non-Orthodox intermarriage rate was approximately 25 percent back then. Since 2010 it’s approximately 72 percent. Yes, the feminization of non-Orthodox Judaism is a roaring success!
Shalom Gittler
Cherry Hill, NJ

STOP THE CONDEMNATION

WISE WORDS

I loved the wisdom in Nadine Epstein’s “Hop In the Time Machine” (Summer 2025): “I cringe at all the proud condemnation going on right now in the name of integrity. Who’s it really helping?” Seldom have better words been spoken. If we’re going to survive as a community, and a nation, we need to heed them.
Alan Rosenberg
Warwick, RI

PLATH’S PROBLEM

IT WASN’T HERS ALONE

I was at Smith for part of the time that Sylvia Plath was there, and was certainly aware of the dichotomy between the flirtations with Jewish friends and the put-downs, most of which I’d forgotten, partly because they were ubiquitous at the time.
Looking back, my guess is that her antisemitism was simply an outgrowth of the WASPiness that—as Carl Rollyson points out in “Plath’s Private Jewish Problem” (Summer 2025)—was so prevalent at Smith in the 1950s. Jews were outcasts of a sort, not quite acceptable in polite society, yet their appeal, as the piece mentions, was tantalizing to some. Nor were Jews the only outsiders. WASP condescension was bestowed equally on Catholics—especially if they came from Eastern or Southern Europe—and Blacks, of whom there were few. I particularly admire Rollyson’s conclusion. Altogether, the piece was a welcome contrast to the nastiness of The Collected Prose of Sylvia Plath review that appeared recently in the London Review of Books. Thank you, Moment, for publishing this!
Ravelle Brickman
Washington, DC

VISUAL MOMENT

PHILIP? PAUL? SCARJO?

What a task Arts Editor Diane M. Bolz assigned herself (“50 Years, 50 American Jewish Artists,” Summer 2025). It’s a fine list, composed, I assume, of those who made waves in the period 1975-2025. That said, is there a reason playwrights were included but not novelists? I’m nominating Philip Roth and Herman Wouk in that possible category and will let others add more. Musically, I’d add Paul Simon and Neil Diamond. In the film department I’d add Scarlett Johansson.
Scott Benarde
West Palm Beach, FL

YASHER KOACH, DIANE

Thanks for an interesting article and list. You alluded to some contenders not fitting the “parameters” but didn’t delineate what those were, as best I can tell. Why was Rothko booted off the island? Of course, one can quibble with any such list, but yasher koach on taking up the challenge.
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
Los Alamos, NM

TOM LEHRER

MATH & MUSIC

“Tom Lehrer: American Cassandra” by Gwydion Suilebhan and Steven Gimbel (momentmag.com, July 30, 2025) is a wonderful memorial of a superb person. I was so fortunate to be able to take Lehrer’s mathematics class at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the mid-1970s. He could come up with genius examples for problems, leaving us in awe. He was open, kind, interested—as well as interesting. I wish I’d taken his American Musical class as well!
Joyce Beattie
Palo Alto, CA

MOMENT DEBATE

DUE PROCESS GOOD 4 THE JEWS?

In his “No” response to “Is Due Process Always Good for the Jews?” (“Moment Debate” Summer 2025), William Choslovsky argues that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil would get less in the way of due process in some of the countries that he supports. This raises the specter of moral relativity; the issue is about us, not anywhere else.

Referring to the political asylum issue, Choslovsky wraps his argument in the cloak of due process, yet what he is really railing against are corrupt lawyers who encourage their clients to offer perjured testimony. That’s a subversion of the entire judicial process. And as long as we are talking about due process in the immigration system, where is the due process when immigration judges are employees of the Department of Justice who serve at the whim of the attorney general, rather than being independent under the judicial branch like Article III judges? Choslovsky’s argument really craters when he conflates a monetary issue—Harvard and Columbia—with the life-threatening results of a deportation order and extra-judicial killings. After reading his rebuttal to Rep. Jamie Raskin’s “Yes” argument, I wondered whether Choslovsky, as an experienced litigator, would advocate these same positions if it was one of his clients who was denied due process.
Steve Tamber
Houston, TX

MOMENT DEBATE POLL

We asked Moment’s followers on X to weigh in on last issue’s Moment Debate. The majority answered “No.”