Beginnings
New readers of this magazine—of whom there are several tens of thousands this month—will note that moment begins with Alef and ends with Tav. Alef, which is where you are right now, is sometimes an...
...Bill Novak, who in an earlier incarnation served as Executive Editor of this magazine, and Moshe Waldoks, are preparing The Big Book of Jewish Humor, to be published in the fall of 1981 by Harper and Row...
...A magazine is, in some ways, a living thing—growing, changing, developing a personality of its own...
...It's also a place where reader participation is welcome...
...Subscribers to this magazine are able to purchase introductory gift subscriptions for the ridiculously low price of just $9...
...Called "The Spice Box," it's our effort to ; provide space for shorter tidbits of interest, a place to browse for a bit before plunging into the rest of the magazine...
...It's far, far better to send a gift of moment than to curse the darkness...
...Just send us your order, or call it in on our toll-free number (see page 7), and we'll take care of the rest...
...It's been a while since we've explained the origin of our name, and we thought you might be interested...
...The $9 price is less than half the normal full-year subscription cost, and I'm afraid that it will not be with us much longer...
...It will again next year...
...We hope you'll like it, and want to be part of it...
...Happy autumn...
...Needless to say, the best way to be careful—and thoughtful, too—is to take advantage of moment's special gift program...
...It may help to bear in mind that we have always been short-term pessimists, but long-term optimists...
...Alef, which is where you are right now, is sometimes an introduction to the pages that follow, and always a place for odds and ends of useful information and miscellaneous musings...
...Even "It could be worse" does not offer much comfort...
...More often, counsel...
...Hence, moment...
...Der Moment was one of the principal daily papers of pre-Holo-caust Warsaw, a Yiddish newspaper of mass circulation and considerable influence...
...Avishai and Whitfield are among the most provocative and productive of the new generation of Jewish intellectuals in America, and we expect, in due course, that you will enjoy their writing as much as we enjoy having them on board...
...That's not terribly helpful advice this time, as most of us prepare to enter the polls with considerable reluctance...
...If this year's version of America's quadrennial festival of booths leaves us uninspired, there is another, our annual Festival of Booths—on the eve of which I write—to help sustain us...
...In due course, it will become familiar—and, we hope, highly prized...
...Simple, and smart...
...Answer: from time to time, an article...
...When we were casting about for a name, back in 1974, we decided that it would be entirely appropriate—given our hopes for this magazine—to honor the tradition whereby the newborn is named for a deceased ancestor...
...Eban's stunning standards, and I also think it makes a marvelous companion piece to Elon Salmon's story, "A Fall of Jerusalem," which appears later in these pages...
...So this is your last chance to save—money, time, effort, all at once...
...The tax man is Dan Levenson, one of Boston's most distinguished attorneys, who specializes in taxation and—as you will see for yourself—is an unusually thoughtful commentator...
...Incidentally, you can look forward to a major article by Mr...
...Speaking of contributing editors, I invite your special attention to this month's offering by Abba Eban...
...The autumn now arrives, nature's extravagant gift to New England...
...And more...
...I cast my first vote for President in Chicago, Richard Daley's town...
...This magazine's personality is best fathomed through encountering it, so I shall spare you the burden of a detailed description...
...They have become, thereby, repositories for a vast collection of jokes, puns and other chortle-inducing material, which they will be sharing with us in TSB regularly...
...This month, we welcome Bernard Avishai and Steve Whitfield as contributing editors...
...Eban on the state of world Jewry today in an upcoming issue...
...If you are not careful, it will sneak up on you and take you entirely by surprise...
...Political famine, perhaps, but spiritual harvest...
...But available only for introductory subscriptions, please...
...A more formal welcome to our new readers appears on page 3.) Old-time readers will observe a new feature in this month's issue, one we hope will work well...
...In fact, there's still a paper by that name published in Brazil...
...And speaking of looking forward, a word of caution: Chanukah happens very, very early this year...
...Daley was fond of saying, "Vote early—and vote often...
...I think it especially eloquent, even by Mr...
...And Jews, too...
...After Chanukah, it will cost more to be nice...
...of course, it could be, but it should be much, much better...
...Which raises the obvious question: what does a contributing editor contribute...
...One of the regular features in TSB, starting this month, will be "Notes of a Tax Man," reflections on matters of tax law with specific relevence to Jewish law, tradition and concern...
Vol. 5 • October 1980 • No. 9
