Moment Magazine - Celebrating 40 Years of Jewish Media For Jews

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Celebrating 40 Years of Moment

Leonard Fein, who passed away in 2014, and Elie Wiesel—both writers deeply concerned about Judaism and Jews—founded Moment to be an independent voice in the Jewish American community. Fein served as the founding editor for 11 years, establishing Moment as a forum for conversation on Israel and social justice. Fein interviewed Israeli leaders such as Shimon Peres (below, top left) and produced the magazine along with editors such as Carol Kur (below, bottom left). During this period, Moment's pages abounded with opinions and stories by writers including Chaim Potok (below, bottom center), Calvin Trillin, Abba Eban, Wolf Blitzer, Alan Dershowitz, Susan Dworkin, Yossi Klein Halevi, A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, Norman Lear.

Like much of the Jewish American landscape, Moment has its origins in Eastern Europe. Fein and Wiesel named Moment for the influential independent Yiddish-language Der Moment, founded in 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. "Der Moment became a massive-circulation newspaper, and lived until it was murdered together with Polish Jewry," says Wiesel. He adds: "I never read the paper because that was not what Yeshiva boys read. But I was very curious about it."

The independent, non-partisan daily was founded by writer and editor Zvi Prylucki and his son Noah, who was an attorney, political leader and Yiddish philologist. Der Moment was extinguished in 1939 when Nazis overran Warsaw. Zvi died in the Warsaw Ghetto and Noah was tortured and shot in Vilna. Above: Der Moment staff with Zvi in center. Left: The broadsheet, which was famous for its cartoons. Below left: The linguist Deborah Tannen's grandfather, Symcha Binem Tenenwurcel, holding a copy of Der Moment in 1914. Below right: Moment editor Nadine Epstein stands on the spot where the Der Moment office was located at 33 Nalewki Street. The building was destroyed when the Nazis leveled the Warsaw Ghetto. The street plan was altered after the war.

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