Leonard “Leibel” Fein: With Gratitude and Appreciation Leibel Fein, who died this week at age 80, was my friend, my editor, my sparring partner, my patron. Shortly after moving to Israel in 1982, I received a call from Leibel, whom I didn’t know. Leibel was then the editor of Moment, and he invited me to be a regular contributor to the magazine. We agreed on a bi-monthly schedule, but Leibel insisted on paying me monthly: I was a destitute young journalist taking my first steps in Israel, and Leibel wanted to help. I once took nearly a full year to write a single article, but the monthly checks kept coming. Finally, a letter came from Leibel: I’m sure you’re writing an important piece, he began delicately, but when do you think you’ll be ready to submit? The kind of editor, in other words, a young journalist can only dream of. In recent years, my encounters with Leibel became one long argument over Israel. Leibel faulted me for not seeing the occupation as the root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and I faulted him for fixating on the result, rather than the cause of the conflict. There were hard moments between us. But even at our most heated, I never forgot with whom I was arguing. Unlike some Jewish critics, Leibel didn’t feign love for Israel; his commitment to its well-being defined his life. May his memory, and his love, be a blessing.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 06:20:31 +0000
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