Moment (magazine) - History

History

Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel co-founded Moment with Leonard Fein in 1975, naming it for Der Moment, an independent Yiddish-language newspaper founded in Warsaw in 1910. Der Moment, one of the two most important Yiddish newspapers published in the city, appeared regularly until the eve of Yom Kippur, 1939, when the building housing the newspaper was destroyed by a German bomb. Upon founding Moment, Wiesel and Fein dubbed it "The New Magazine for America's Jew." In its premier issue Fein proudly declared that Moment would include diverse opinions "of no single ideological position, save of course, for a commitment to Jewish life."

Moment's editors have included Leonard Fein (1975–1987), Hershel Shanks (1987–2004) and its current editor and executive publisher Nadine Epstein, a journalist and entrepreneur who relaunched Moment in 2004. The magazine is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3), funded by the Center for Creative Change. Moment celebrated its 35th year in 2010.

Moment has published in-depth profiles of leading Jewish politicians, artists, and entrepreneurs. Some of the most recent features include:

• "Bob Dylan: The Unauthorized Spiritual Biography"
• "Was Einstein a Jewish Saint?"
• "The Story of Sergey Brin"
• "Meet Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz (aka) Jon Stewart: The wildly zeitgeisty Daily Show host"
• "The Provocative Baron Cohen Clan"
• "Live from New York, It's Anthony Weiner"
• "The Ten Commandments, 2.0: For millennia, these ancient laws have been central to our way of life. Are they still relevant? Or is it time for an upgrade?"
• "Mel Brooks: King of the Politically Incorrect"
• "The Man on J Street: The Story of Jeremy Ben-Ami"
• "A Moment With Zinn," an interview conducted shortly before Howard Zinn's death
• "A Leading Man's Wisdom: Kirk Douglas reflects on faith, life, death and the immortality of the Jewish people"
• "The Bag Lady of Park Avenue" A piece on Judith Leiber.

In 2011, Moment was presented with the Be'chol Lashon Media Award for Carl Hoffman's "Letter from the Philippines," which chronicles the history of the island's Jews and his rediscovery of Judaism as a foreigner living in Manila. More recently, Moment's managing editor Sarah Breger's feature on Sara Hurwitz, the first Orthodox woman to be ordained as a "rabba," won the Religion Newswriters Association award for Best Religion News Story of the year. Navid Marvi won Best Magazine Graphics for his cover for the same issue.