Moment Magazine Editor Kicks Off Controversial Passover Campaign

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Moment Magazine, the award-winning independent magazine, is kicking off a campaign to encourage American Jews to invite non-Jews to their seders (April 3 & April 4). The campaign, developed by Moment editor Nadine Epstein, is designed for Jews concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism. It offers a way to help combat the ignorance that feeds the disease of prejudice.

Held on the first two nights of Passover, seders are ritual dinners celebrating the exodus of Jews from slavery in Egypt. Epstein's campaign #inviteanon-jewtoyourseder2015, which is contrary to traditional Jewish law but not mainstream practice, is inspired by seders she held as a single mother and her father's efforts to fight post McCarthyism anti-Semitism. "Seders are a powerful way to educate non-Jews about Jewish life," says Epstein.

Moment Magazine, established in 1975 by Leonard Fein and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, has grown under Epstein's stewardship becoming a prestigious multi-media platform of engaging journalism, nationwide events, and projects such as the Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative, which funds young writers to report on modern manifestation of prejudice.

Epstein wrote about the campaign in Moment's March-April issue, provoking reactions from Jews of various levels of observance. "I am delighted to hear that so many people will be making a special effort this year to include non-Jews, including Christians and Muslims." She has also received outraged responses. "Fear is deeply entrenched on all sides, and to fight anti-Semitism and all prejudice we need to move beyond it."

Interview Questions:

How does inviting a non-Jew combat anti-Semitism?

Why can Jews invite non-Jews for Shabbat dinners but not seders under traditional Jewish law?

Why are non-Jews prohibited from participate in the search for the Afikomen?

How are interfaith families affected?

Will including non-Jews make Jews less "Jewish"?

Nadine Epstein, the founder and executive director of the Center for Creative Change, re-launched Moment Magazine in 2004. Epstein's work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, other publications. She is a recipient of the prestigious Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan as well as grants from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Fund for Investigative Journalism.

SOURCE Moment Magazine

Related Links

http://www.momentmag.com