Boston — Historians usually study people or events many years after they have elapsed. When I expressed interest in studying an aspect of Jewish culture of the 1960s for an honors thesis in college, a professor expressed strenuous concern that the subject’s proximity in time made it impossible to undertake a fair analysis of its significance.
My professor was probably right. Fads and ideas rise and fall, and real-time history cannot capture people and events in their full complexity.
Sometimes, however, an opportunity is too good to pass by. During the past month, I’ve had the chance to work closely with a passionate participant and active shaper of 20th-century American Jewry.
Leonard Fein has been involved in a wide range of contemporary issues. He was a founder of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Moment Magazine and Americans for Peace Now.
Though in his sixties, he continues to work. He recently wrote a book about his daughter’s death and initiated Amos: The National Jewish Partnership for Social Justice.
I first met Fein when I was working at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C. He served for many years as director of the Commission on Social Action of the Reform movement.
When I recently arrived in Boston to work for the summer, I called Leonard and asked for a meeting. During our conversation, he pointed to a big stack of papers and said those were all the speeches he had given during the last 40 or so years and they really need to be organized.
Sensing a hint, I volunteered and have subsequently served part-time as Leonard’s assistant and occasional sounding board. I’ve had the chance to read many of his speeches and essays and to probe his mind for reflections on the current crisis in the Middle East, the future of American Jews and the personalities of significant Jewish figures in the 20th century.
I’ve also tried to learn from him how one goes about translating ideals into actions. The organization Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, emerged out of Fein’s realization that the traditional Jewish practice of providing for the needy during family celebrations could be revamped to fit the circumstances of modern Jewry.
Mazon encourages Jews celebrating weddings, b’nai mitzvot and other occasions to donate three percent of their costs to fight hunger. It has raised more than $26 million since its founding in 1985.
Working with Fein has also impressed upon me the importance of a thoughtful and strong American Jewry. Israel and America are the central pillars of the Jewish future.
While American Jews must support Israel, Fein has consistently argued that we are not its proxy or outpost. This country’s separation of church and state has permitted American Jews to bring our values to bear on the public square; and Jews, such as Fein, have been leaders in the struggles for social justice and civil rights.
As American Jews we can teach Israel about the need for religious pluralism and just treatment of minority groups, just as Israelis can help reinvigorate our commitment to Jewish peoplehood and solidarity.
Israel’s existence has forced us who continue to live as a tiny majority in a mostly-Christian country to strive for a mature self-understanding that synthesizes the best of our Jewish and American traditions.
Fein’s life and work provide an exemplary model of what we can achieve.
Evan Moffic, a graduate of Nicolet High School and Stanford University, is a rabbinical student at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, which serves the Reform movement.
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