Moment (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Moment is an American
Jewish magazine. It publishes articles related to Jewish culture, lifestyle, politics, and religion. Moment is not affiliated with any Jewish organization or religious movement
, and its articles and columnists represent a diverse range of political views.
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."
Moments 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:
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, Moments associate 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.
reporter Dina Kraft, profiled three generations of Arab Israeli women, titled "From Arab to Palestinian Israeli: One Family's Changing Identity." The second, "Separate But Not Equal," which appeared in the September/October 2010 issue, examined the performance of Arab Israeli children in segregated public schools. "Separate But Not Equal" tied for first place in the Best Investigative News category of the Ethnic Media Awards, sponsored by the American University
School of Communication and New America Media
. The third and most recent installment, "The Arab Glass Ceiling," was published in the January/February 2011 issue. The articles are available in full on Moments website.
Editor and Executive Publisher Nadine Epstein wrote of her motivation for initiating the series and the importance of focusing attention on the Arab Israelis in a Letter from the Editor:
Future installments will focus on politics, economics, the media, women and radical Muslim movements, as well as possible futures for the Arab Israeli population.
The Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest, established in 2000, is held annually. The top three short fiction submissions on a topic related to Judaism or Jewish culture or history are awarded prizes and are published in Moment, with award ceremonies having taken place in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles. Past judges of the contest include Jonathan Safran Foer
, Anita Diamant
, Geraldine Brooks, Dara Horn
, Judy Budnitz
, and most recently, Erica Jong
. Past winners have included Sherri Mandell
, Joe Kraus, William Kaufman, and Edward Schwarzschild. The contest is funded by the Karma Foundation.
The Moment Magazine Emerging Writer Awards, founded in 2004, seeks out new and talented writers of any age and faith who have published at least one book that confront themes that are of interest to Jewish readers. Winners have included Anya Ulinich
, Ann Kirschner
, Gary Shteyngart
, Elisa Albert, Steve Sheinkin, Nicole Krauss
, Jennifer Mille and David Bezmozgis
.
Rabbi Harold S. White Fellowship annually pairs Moment with a beginning journalist who works full-time for one year at the magazine. The fellowship is named for Rabbi Harold S. White who, for more than 40 years, has served as an interpreter of Judaism to Jews and non-Jews and who has managed to articulate, as few have, the global dimensions of Jewish culture. This fellowship is funded by friends and admirers of Rabbi White.
The popular Publish-a-Kid Contest invites young readers (ages 9-13) to read selected books and write book reviews. Winning entries are published in Moment. Hundreds of children from all over the world participate. Teachers often include participation as part of their curriculum.
Each year, the You Can Change the World Essay Contest selects a social action issue and asks young people in grades 9 – 12 to respond. Winning pieces are published in Moment. Teachers often include participation as part of their curriculum. Questions have included: "What can you do to prevent genocide?", and, "What can you do to prevent global warming?"
The Daniel Pearl
Investigative Journalism Initiative, currently in its first year, was created in memory of the Wall Street Journal reporter murdered by terrorists in 2002 while on assignment in Pakistan. The Initiative is designed to provide young journalists with the opportunity to research and write in-depth stories about modern manifestations of anti-Semitism and other deeply-ingrained prejudices. The winner of the Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative is given a $5,000 stipend, assigned a mentor, and upon completing their piece will be published in Moment.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Jewish magazine. It publishes articles related to Jewish culture, lifestyle, politics, and religion. Moment is not affiliated with any Jewish organization or religious movement
Jewish denominations
Jewish religious movements , sometimes called "denominations" or "branches", include different groups which have developed among Jews from ancient times and especially in the modern era among Ashkenazi Jews living in anglophone countries...
, and its articles and columnists represent a diverse range of political views.
History
Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie WieselElie Wiesel
Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
co-founded Moment with Leonard Fein
Leonard Fein
Leonard Fein is a writer and teacher. He founded the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, and was co-founder and for 12 years editor of Moment Magazine....
in 1975, naming it for Der Moment, an independent Yiddish-language newspaper founded in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
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."
Moments editors have included Leonard Fein (1975–1987), Hershel Shanks
Hershel Shanks
Hershel Shanks is the founder of the Biblical Archaeology Society and the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review and has written and edited numerous works on Biblical archaeology including the Dead Sea Scrolls....
(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 DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
: The Unauthorized Spiritual Biography" - "Was Einstein a Jewish Saint?"
- "The Story of Sergey BrinSergey BrinSergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
" - "Meet Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz (aka) Jon StewartJon StewartJon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
: The wildly zeitgeisty Daily Show host" - "The Provocative Baron Cohen Clan"
- "Live from New York, It's Anthony Weiner"
- "Mel BrooksMel BrooksMel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
: King of the Politically Incorrect" - "The Man on J StreetJ StreetJ Street is a nonprofit liberal advocacy group based in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. It was founded in April 2008....
: The Story of Jeremy Ben-AmiJeremy Ben-AmiJeremy Ben-Ami is executive director of J Street, a liberal advocacy organization in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically...
" - "A Moment With Zinn," an interview conducted shortly before Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
's death - "A Leading Man's Wisdom: Kirk DouglasKirk DouglasKirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
reflects on faith, life, death and the immortality of the Jewish people"
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, Moments associate editor Sarah Breger's feature on Sara Hurwitz
Sara Hurwitz
Sara Hurwitz is a Modern Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader who received ordination from Rabbi Avi Weiss. She is the "Rabba" at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in Riverdale, New York and the dean of Yeshivat Maharat in Riverdale, New York....
, 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.
Israel's Arab Citizens
Beginning in Moments September/October 2009 issue, the special series "Israel's Arab Citizens" has examined aspects of the social, economic, and cultural life of the 1.5 million Arab citizens of the State of Israel. Nine installments are planned, of which three have been published. The first installment, written by veteran New York Times and Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reporter Dina Kraft, profiled three generations of Arab Israeli women, titled "From Arab to Palestinian Israeli: One Family's Changing Identity." The second, "Separate But Not Equal," which appeared in the September/October 2010 issue, examined the performance of Arab Israeli children in segregated public schools. "Separate But Not Equal" tied for first place in the Best Investigative News category of the Ethnic Media Awards, sponsored by the American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
School of Communication and New America Media
New America Media
New America Media is a multimedia ethnic news agency and a coalition of ethnic media. Founded in 1996 by the nonprofit Pacific News Service, NAM is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC...
. The third and most recent installment, "The Arab Glass Ceiling," was published in the January/February 2011 issue. The articles are available in full on Moments website.
Editor and Executive Publisher Nadine Epstein wrote of her motivation for initiating the series and the importance of focusing attention on the Arab Israelis in a Letter from the Editor:
Our lack of knowledge has serious consequences: I regularly meet Jews and non-Jews who view Israel’s Arab citizens as, at best, suspect and at worst, terrorists. The reality is that this is a largely peaceful population—very few have been associated with terrorism—with a complex identity. They speak Hebrew, sometimes even better than Arabic, and many vote in Israeli elections. They support a Palestinian state, but their lives are in Israel and most have no intention or desire to leave. At the same time, they are often considered collaborators by some of their Arab brethren.
Future installments will focus on politics, economics, the media, women and radical Muslim movements, as well as possible futures for the Arab Israeli population.
Contests
Moment, in addition to its flagship print publication, sponsors several contests annually.The Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest, established in 2000, is held annually. The top three short fiction submissions on a topic related to Judaism or Jewish culture or history are awarded prizes and are published in Moment, with award ceremonies having taken place in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles. Past judges of the contest include Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer is an American author best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...
, Anita Diamant
Anita Diamant
Anita Diamant is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books. She is best known for her novel, The Red Tent, a New York Times best seller...
, Geraldine Brooks, Dara Horn
Dara Horn
Dara Horn is an American novelist and professor of literature.-Education and career:Dara Horn was born in New Jersey in 1977 and received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard University in 2006. In 2007 Dara Horn was chosen by Granta magazine as one of the Best Young American...
, Judy Budnitz
Judy Budnitz
Judy Budnitz is an American author. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Budnitz attended Harvard University, was a fellow at Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and received an MFA in creative writing from New York University in 1998....
, and most recently, Erica Jong
Erica Jong
Erica Jong is an American author and teacher best known for her fiction and poetry.-Career:A 1963 graduate of Barnard College, and with an M.A...
. Past winners have included Sherri Mandell
Sherri Mandell
Sherri Mandell is an Israeli author, a mother and activist. She is best known as the mother of Koby Mandell, a thirteen year old American boy who was murdered near their home in the West Bank in May 2001...
, Joe Kraus, William Kaufman, and Edward Schwarzschild. The contest is funded by the Karma Foundation.
The Moment Magazine Emerging Writer Awards, founded in 2004, seeks out new and talented writers of any age and faith who have published at least one book that confront themes that are of interest to Jewish readers. Winners have included Anya Ulinich
Anya Ulinich
-Awards:* Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Finalist * Goldberg Prize for Emerging Writers of Jewish Fiction Winner * National Book Foundation's "5 under 35" Winner -External links:***...
, Ann Kirschner
Ann Kirschner
Ann Kirschner is an American academic, entrepreneur, and author, best known as the author of Sala's Gift. She was the former head of Columbia University's interactive knowledge network, Fathom, and is now the University Dean of William E...
, Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart is an American writer born in Leningrad, USSR. Much of his work is satirical and relies on the invention of elaborately fictitious yet somehow familiar places and times.-Life:...
, Elisa Albert, Steve Sheinkin, Nicole Krauss
Nicole Krauss
Nicole Krauss is an American author best known for her novels Man Walks Into a Room , The History of Love and, most recently, Great House...
, Jennifer Mille and David Bezmozgis
David Bezmozgis
David Bezmozgis is a Canadian writer and filmmaker.Born in Riga, Latvia, he came to Canada with his family when he was six. He graduated with a B.A. in English literature from McGill University. Bezmozgis received an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television....
.
Rabbi Harold S. White Fellowship annually pairs Moment with a beginning journalist who works full-time for one year at the magazine. The fellowship is named for Rabbi Harold S. White who, for more than 40 years, has served as an interpreter of Judaism to Jews and non-Jews and who has managed to articulate, as few have, the global dimensions of Jewish culture. This fellowship is funded by friends and admirers of Rabbi White.
The popular Publish-a-Kid Contest invites young readers (ages 9-13) to read selected books and write book reviews. Winning entries are published in Moment. Hundreds of children from all over the world participate. Teachers often include participation as part of their curriculum.
Each year, the You Can Change the World Essay Contest selects a social action issue and asks young people in grades 9 – 12 to respond. Winning pieces are published in Moment. Teachers often include participation as part of their curriculum. Questions have included: "What can you do to prevent genocide?", and, "What can you do to prevent global warming?"
The Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
Investigative Journalism Initiative, currently in its first year, was created in memory of the Wall Street Journal reporter murdered by terrorists in 2002 while on assignment in Pakistan. The Initiative is designed to provide young journalists with the opportunity to research and write in-depth stories about modern manifestations of anti-Semitism and other deeply-ingrained prejudices. The winner of the Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative is given a $5,000 stipend, assigned a mentor, and upon completing their piece will be published in Moment.