Beginnings
Jewish life is infinitely complex, infinitely diverse. Sometimes it overwhelms; at other times, it dazzles. Just now, looking over the array of articles in this issue, and knowing what's being...
...We want them...
...EST, so light the candles (that's the third night of Chanukah), eat your latkes, take your Digel, and settle back for what should be a good watch...
...What makes a magazine environment attractive...
...Some of what we've published would likely have been published elsewhere if there hadn't been a moment...
...So, more than most magazines, we depend on our subscribers themselves to spread the word...
...Principally, its readership...
...They've not heard of moment because we can't engage in heavy advertising...
...I expect you'll remember our issue of last May, the one with a photo of Bill on the cover, and with Linda Kerber's description of Bill's life ("Coming of Age at 66—A Most Unforgettable Bar Mitzvah") inside...
...Forgive me, because I know I've said this before—and I promise that I will say it again...
...And we believe they need us...
...So much for that...
...Sixty issues and some 900 articles later, we look back with pride...
...We need them...
...So now, as promised, we've turned our attention to the next urgent item on our agenda, the immediate and substantial increase in our circulation...
...Writers without a good audience are like a lighthouse without ships...
...much more would not have seen the light of day...
...But turn it, like a prism, and a new dimension appears, a new angle, gleam, dimension...
...Please...
...But give a writer an audience that cares, that matters, that responds—and he comes alive...
...And moment, despite all the problems of its early years, gives its writers that...
...Putting a magazine together month after month is not just about collecting interesting articles into a pleasant package...
...I continue to meet people, all over the country, who have never heard of moment, and who ought to be subscribers...
...there's no point in keeping the beacon lit...
...most important, a solid chunk of what we've published would not ever have been written if there were no moment...
...The more attractive the environment, the more worthy of the writer's time and effort...
...It's scheduled for 9 p.m...
...Talk about a good audience, one that cares...
...Problems galore, some genuine crises...
...A magazine at its best creates an outlet and an environment that suggests to writers and thinkers that their words and ideas are worth sharing...
...You knew, of course, that I could not refrain from noticing that this is the first issue of Volume 7.1 would not presume to describe the event as auspicious, but it is immensly satisfying...
...Just now, looking over the array of articles in this issue, and knowing what's being planned for our next issue (remember, please, that next comes January/February, scheduled for mailing mid-January), I am struck by the richness of it all...
...On December 22, the CBS Tuesday night movie will be "Bill," starring Mickey Rooney...
...If, as I know many of you do, you care about this magazine, then please, please—coax, cajole, inform, persuade, demand, entice, harass, seduce your friends, relatives, enemies, neighbors...
...Jewish life is an ongoing festival of lights, and that is helpful to remember in a season of gathering darkness...
...As to those problems, you will be pleased to know—we are much more than "pleased"—that your response to our recent fund raising effort has netted, to date, $110,000...
...Chag Sameach...
Vol. 1 • December 1981 • No. 7
