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Meet a Man of Letters

Alan Stein ... wonderful dedication

Alan Stein is a retired college professor of mathematics who has been writing letters to newspapers since he was a teenager. He became involved in Jewish community activities after moving to Connecticut in the mid-1970s to join the faculty at the University of Connecticut. He and his wife of 46 years, Marsha, helped resettle Soviet Jews in America and, with their then 12-year-old daughter, visited refuseniks in the Soviet Union. He edited the monthly newspaper for the Jewish Federation of Waterbury for two years before becoming Federation president.
Alan also served as chair of his local Community Relations Committee and as an officer for JFACT, the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut. He joined CAMERA's National Letter-Writing Group shortly after its inception and served as president of PRIMER-Connecticut (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting) for nearly a decade. He appeared on Rabbi Rock, the public access cable television show hosted by Rabbi Shaul Praver, CAMERA's Letter Writer of the Year in 2007, on behalf of both the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur and PRIMER-Connecticut.

After moving to Massachusetts three summers ago, he saw a need for a local letter-writing group in the Bay State and founded PRIMER-Massachusetts last summer. Along with others, he now monitors newspapers in both Connecticut and Massachusetts and sends out email alerts to over 200 activists in Connecticut and over 60 activists in Massachusetts. Alan and Marsha are active in AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and have lobbied Congress on behalf of Israel while attending seven Policy Conferences in Washington DC during their Connecticut years.
Since 2010, Alan and his wife have split their time between the United States and Israel, and in October 2013 they made aliyah and now live in Netanya. Alan has conducted letter-writing workshops in both Israel and the United States, encouraging, informing and training members of the community to be better advocates for accuracy and fairness in the media.

Alan works with other activists to encourage English-speaking immigrants to write letters to newspapers in their former communities, while Marsha promotes Israel by writing about their experiences adjusting to life in Israel, and sending these posts to her own email list. They also work together to encourage American Jews visiting Israel to build personal connections by visiting synagogues during their travels and by visiting the Steins in Netanya. The Steins are active members of both Temple Israel of Natick (MA) and Bet Israel Masorti Congregation of Netanya.

CAMERA is proud to honor Alan for his wonderful dedication and hard work in educating the public and press about Israel and the wider Middle East. The award will be officially presented at CAMERA's Annual Dinner on Sunday, May 3, 2015, at Chelsea Piers in New York City. Alan proves once more the power of the individual voice in the information battle on behalf of the Jewish state. 

 

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