WASHINGTON, DC (Press Release) –Americans for Peace Now announced the death Aug. 13 of its longtime Board Member Leonard “Leibel” Fein. “We know that Leibel will be mourned by the countless people he touched through his writings and his personal contacts across a life that spanned 8 decades of extraordinary professional accomplishments, including as a writer, a teacher, and a prolific columnist; as the founder of Moment Magazine; as the founder of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger; and as the founder of the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy,” spokesman Ori Nir said.
In 1981, Fein was one of the founding members of Americans for Peace Now and was an active and energetic member of APN’s Board of Directors right up until his death. “His dedication to APN derived from and reflected his deep love for Israel and his ardent conviction that Israel can and must be a state that is Jewish, democratic, and characterized by true progressive Jewish values of pluralism and tolerance,” said Nir. ”
All of us at APN were grateful for Leibel’s vast wisdom, intellectual prowess, and clear-eyed, principled courage and honesty as we grappled with the challenges of promoting Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab peace. All of us were inspired by his relentless energy, buoyed by his irrepressible and often mischievous humor, and humbled in the face of his eloquence, both spoken and written.
“Leibel’s passing is a terrible loss,” Nir said. “On this sad day, we take a measure of solace in recognizing how fortunate we were to have known Leibel as we did – as a friend, a colleague, and a comrade-in-peacemaking. We are honored to have had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with him in the effort to repair the world – to make tikkun olam. Today we smile as we remember him lovingly as a combination of philosopher and reformer, organizer and agitator, truth-teller and joke-teller, irrepressible idealist and hard-boiled realist, and one of the finest men we have had the honor to know.”f
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Nadine Epstein, current editor and publisher of Moment, commented: “Leibel was the visionary behind the creation of Moment, and his passion inspired every page from the inaugural issue in 1975 through 1986. Leibel was a man of chesed—deep kindness—who dedicated his life to the Jewish community, State of Israel and the world, and never lost that abiding passion. Not only was he a great man of letters, he was a true activist, and that is a rare combination. Whatever he did, whether it was found a magazine, write columns and books at a prolific rate, found MAZON; A Jewish Response to Jewish Hunger and the National Council of Jewish Literacy, and fight on behalf of causes such as Americans for Peace Now, he gave his mind and his heart. Leibel’s passing is a great loss for me personally, for Moment, and for all of us.”
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Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service, commented: “I am deeply saddened by the loss of a major public figure and a true progressive visionary in American Jewish life. Leibel was a brilliant man who was the founder and godfather of Jewish social justice in the 20th and 21st century, who made a real difference with more people and more organizations than we can ever imagine. Personally, Leibel was one of the first people to engage with me when I came into the Jewish community as a professional in 1998. He shared his belief that Judaism’s texts and traditions must inform our actions in shaping a more just and equal world. I truly loved and was guided by him, and will continue to strive to make the world a better place, in his memory.
“In a column he wrote in the Forward after he traveled to El Salvador with AJWS in 2004, he said: ‘[The participants] are seized by the organic relationship between the Jewish tradition — our texts, our history — and the pursuit of justice.’ Fein himself lived and breathed this duality every day and transmitted it to all who were lucky enough to have been inspired by his teaching, his writing and his presence.”
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*Rabbi Jack Moline, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said of Fein: “His academic career, his guidance of Moment magazine and his founding of MAZON are only three of the contributions to the betterment of Jewish community, American society and human life. He was unabashed in his promotion of compassion and his opposition to injustice. He was my teacher and inspiration, so this loss feels personal — as it does to the many who admired him. May his memory be for a blessing.”
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Preceding provided by Americans for Peace Now, Moment Magazine, and American Jewish World Service