July 2013
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection From Rabbi David Saperstein (Director, Religious Action Center)
In every generation, there arise figures of influence that reshape the Jewish community. Sometimes they are public intellectuals, sometimes institution builders, sometimes analysts, sometimes power brokers. Rarely does one person embody all of these qualities – and more.
Welcome to Leonard (Leibel) Fein, whose remarkable writings the Berman Jewish Policy Archive features this month. Leibel’s 1950s book on the government of the new Jewish State was a standard for a generation. His 1960s Reform is a Verb helped shape the Reform Jewish Movement as it grew to be the largest stream in American Jewish life. His 1970s creation with Elie Wesel of “Moment Magazine,” which became one of American Jewry’s most influential sources of Jewish ideas, launched Leibel’s role as the most influential liberal ideologue in American Jewish life. His 1980s creation of “Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger” as well as the 2000s launch of the “ National Jewish Coalition for Literacy” testified to the ability of an individual to create lasting new institutions that captured the imagination of the Jewish community. In a lifetime of speeches, he inspired two generations of American Jewish leaders who heard and responded to his clarion calls to justice.
And above all, his writing is elegant in the poetic quality of its language, incisive and brave in its analysis of the human condition, Jewish life and politics in America and Israel, and always morally inspiring. So enjoy the wisdom of this Jewish intellectual Renaissance man and the distinctive voice of his writings that continues to enlighten, entertain, illuminate and inform. From Dr. Leonard “Leibel” Fein
My first reaction when I browse through this collection is: Gulp. It’s all here – the musings, the crafted essays, the memorable and evocative, the by the way and the very by the way. My life (minus the books).
I think especially of how frequently I yearned to hit just the right image, idea, even word, and missed – and those too rare occasions when the words, as if by magic, came out exactly as they were intended. I’ve never been sure whether the mot juste is the product of an altered state of consciousness or a heightened state of consciousness, but in the end it doesn’t much matter. The truth is, I love the process – loved it more back in the days of the typewriter, when I could watch the pile of typed-on paper grow, a thrill now tempered by the computer and its ongoing invitation to change here, change there, edit and edit, altogether too easy. Yet internally, of course, I continue to sweat, life as ongoing marathon, no finish line, God willing, until death do us part.
What it all adds up to is for others to decide. What remains for me to say is how grateful I am to Seth Chalmer and the folks at the Berman Jewish Policy Archive – in particular my dear friend, Steve Cohen – for wrestling all this into a more or less orderly collection. Identity & Continuity
Studying Jewish Identity | American Jewish Congress, 1966
University Life and Judaism | National Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, 1966
Some Consequences of Jewish Intermarriage | Jewish Social Studies, 1971
Translating Jewish Commitment into Practice Journal of Jewish Communal Service, September 1975
Speech on the Demography of American Jews | 1977
From Integration to Survival: American Jewish Anxieties in Transition Co-authored with Steven M. Cohen, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July 1985
The Soul of a New Magazine | Moment, November 1985
Address to The Hebrew University on Who is a Jew | December 27, 1988
Lies, Damned Lies, and Intermarriage | Draft for the Forward, 1991
Speech to the New York Jewish Labor Committee on Peoplehood and Continuity | June 1992
Speech to the Harvard Hillel on Survival vs. Continuity in September 1992
What Connects Us To One Another? | Forward, November 2012
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Reform Judaism
Reform is a Verb UAHC, August 1971
Charisma Is Not Enough CCAR Journal, 1973
Reform is a Conjunction 1984
Speech to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations on The Shape and Future of Reform Judaism October 9, 1988
Remarks to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism on Creating a Legacy for this Generation of American Jewry 1995
Address to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations Biennia November 1997
Kosovo and the Reform Jewish Movement Draft, 1999
CHIP (The UAHC Chai Investment Program) Draft, 2000
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Race in America
Race, Rhetoric and Reason Congress bi-weekly: A Journal of Opinion and Jewish Affairs, 1968
Measuring the Black-White Gap Draft, 1970
The Limits of Liberalism Saturday Review, June 1970
Mandela in America Draft, 1990
Not Wholly Right, Not Wholly Wrong Draft for the Forward, 1992
Address in Memphis on Urban Policy and Racial Temper Speech, May 1992
To Be Black in America Today Draft for the Forward, 1994
Speech on Social Justice, Multiculturalism, and the Melting Pot 1995
Speech to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on Race, Public Policy and Affirmative Action on February 25, 1998
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Black-Jewish Relations
Negro and Jew: A "Special Relationship" | Israel Horizons , November 1968
The Negro Revolution and the Jewish Community Synagogue Council of America, 1969
Blacks, Jews and Utopia | Speech, 1970
Jews and the Urban Crisis | Speech, 1975
The War inside the Jews- A Painful Breakdown of the Liberal Consensus The New Republic, 1977
The Andrew Young Affair... To Be Continued | Moment, October 1979
Blacks And Jews, Egypt And Jordan | Speech, 1985
The Awkward Alliance | Moment, February 1986
Crown Heights and Kristallnacht | Draft for the Forward, 1991
Remarks on An Historical Perspective on the Relationship between America's Blacks and Jews | Speech, 1992
Address to SUNY Stony Brook on Black-Jewish Relations | April 25, 1993
Black-Jewish Confrontations | Draft for the Forward, 1993
Farrakhan and Black-Jewish Relations | Draft for the Forward, 1995
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Christian-Jewish Relations
Jewish Particularism in Contemporary Universalism National Council of Churches, November 1969
Mending the World: A Jewish Approach to Social Justice Commonweal, 1994
The ADL and the Christian Right Draft for the Forward, 1994
Is Pat Robertson an Antisemite? Does it Matter? Draft for Forward, 1995
An Unholy Alliance Forward, 2003
Looking for God At Auschwitz Forward, 2006
Why Do We Fawn Over John Hagee Forward, 2008
Blog Post: Evangelical Zionism APN Blog, 2008
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection American Politics
Clinton’s Election | Draft for the Forward, 1992
Welfare Reform, or Welfare Repeal? | Draft for the Forward, August 1996
Comments on Cohen's "Religion and the Public Square | Draft, 1999
Religion and Politics | Draft, 1999
George W. Bush's Reign of Error | Forward, 2006
Why Obama? | Private letter, January 2008
Jews and the Democratic Party | Draft for the Forward, October 2008
Why Labor Issues Are Jewish Issues | Forward, March 2011
Agreeing With the 99% Protesters | Forward, November 2011
Poverty in America | Forward, February 2012
Is Our Tradition Liberal or Conservative? | Forward, April 2012
Predicting Jewish Vote for President | Forward, August 2012
Barack Obama Asks Americans To Trust Him When History Proves We Cannot | Forward, June 2013
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Israeli Politics
The Political Worlds of Jerusalem's People: A Study of the Political Orientations and Cultural Backgrounds of Traditional, Transitional, and Modern Types in Jerusalem | Dissertation, Michigan State University, 1962
Ideology and Politics in Israel | American Jewish Congress, Summer 1966
Thoughts on the Peace Treaty with Egypt | 1978
Along The Way: Prime Ministers And Me | Draft, 1992
A Correspondence With Menachem Begin | Draft, 1992
The Inter-Agency Coalition on Israeli Arabs - So Far | Memo, 2001
Getting to Know Ariel Sharon | Forward, March 2003
Is Olmert a Man Of Action? | Forward, January 2006
The Fantasies of Avigdor Lieberman | Forward, October 2006
Blog Post on Political Corruption in Israel | APN Blog, 2008
Hardliner and Tent City Leader Tell Tale of Two Israels | Forward, September 2011
My Battered Zionism: Liberal Zionists Speak Out | Huffintgon Post, April 2012
Israel's Shooting Star Yair Lapid May Quickly Crash Back to Earth Forward, January 2013
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Israel & Diaspora
Israel's Crisis: Its Effect on the American Jewish Community and its Implications for Jewish Communal Service Journal of Jewish Communal Service , Fall 1968
Attitude Towards Israel: The Data and Thin Limits Speech to CJP, 1977
Israel Politicians Shouldn't Be Invited to Address UJA Meetings Moment, June 1988
Letter to Stephen Walt Concerning “The Israel Lobby” September 2007
Confessions of a Sometime Israel Lobbyist Draft for Dissent Magazine, Spring 2008
Review: 'The Israel Lobby' Draft, 2008
Michael Oren's Incredible Shrinking Tent Forward, January 2010
My Battered Zionism: Liberal Zionists Speak Out Huffington Post, April 2012
Is Israel Losing Young Democrats? Forward, April 2013
Reader’s Guide: Leibel Fein Collection Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Two Kinds of Jew Draft for the Forward, 1992
I Told You So Draft for the Forward, 1993
Arafat's Silence After Terror Draft for the Forward, 1994
Lunch with Arafat Draft for the Forward, February 1996
Call for Meeting on "Hamatzav" Correspondence, 2006
One Hand Clapping: the 40th Anniversary of the Six Day War Draft, 2007
The Inadequacy of " There is No Partner" APN Blog, 2008
Why Jews Should Back Palestinian U.N. Bid
Forward, November 2012
Why Can't Israelis and Palestinians Both Be Right? Forward, May 2013
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