This article appeared in the Dec. 11, 2003 Jewish Advocate.

JALSA brunch to mix delicacies and discussion

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

This Sunday, it will again be food for thought when the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action holds its Second Annual Meeting at the Brookline Holiday Inn. Last year, Congressman Barney Frank addressed a room packed with JALSA members, interested citizens and many noted community and civic leaders. With delectable food and drink adding to the lively and spirited air of camaraderie and commitment, it was a highly memorable occasion; according to the group’s leaders, more of the same can be expected.

“JALSA will be honoring Ellen Feingold, civil rights and housing activist, and President of Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly,” said JALSA Outreach Consultant Cindy Rowe, who added that the keynote speaker will be noted teacher, writer, and social activist Leonard Fein. As before, a full kosher dairy brunch will be served.

“JALSA is a progressive voice within the Jewish community, engaged in working on issues of social and economic justice, civil rights, and constitutional liberties,” said Executive Director Sheila Decter, who noted JALSA’s bimonthly speaker events for social activists.

JCHE, a non-profit, non sectarian developer, owns and manages over 1,000 units of low-income senior state housing. Feingold, whose entire career has focused on equity issues for the vulnerable, was appointed co-chairperson of the Congressionally-mandated US Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facility Needs of Seniors in the 21st Century (“the Seniors Commission”), in 2000.

Feingold’s service in elderly housing affairs is legion. She served as Director of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Civil Rights in the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1981, was the non-lawyer member of two American Bar Association commissions, and served as lobbyist for Massachusetts’ Special Legislative Commission on Low Income Housing, which produced a pioneering 1965 17-piece legislative package on Massachusetts low-income housing.

On the board of the Association of Jewish Aging Services (AJAS), for 15 years, Feingold served as its Vice President and Public Policy Chair. She has been the Public Policy Chair of the New England Elderly Housing Association, and is a member of the Housing Committee of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Current board positions include JALSA, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the American Civil Liberties Union. She has volunteered as President of Citizens Housing and Planning Association in Massachusetts, and was a founder and Treasurer of the Committee to End Elder Homelessness, which advocates for homeless and near-homeless elders. A recipient of numerous housing advocacy awards, Feingold received the National Council on Aging’s National Institute of Senior Housing’s Sidney Spector Memorial Award in March.

“Our country must find new ways to deal with the shortage of affordable housing linked to health and supportive services needed to serve the growing numbers of frail elderly,” said Rowe. “Ellen Feingold will continue to advocate for that most basic of human services, the place where we live.”

“JALSA remains the preeminent organizational home for Jewish progressives in Boston, the report of whose demise is decidedly and wildly premature,” said Fein, who writes a syndicated Op-Ed column for the Forward, and has penned over 900 articles and essays for periodicals including The New York Times, The New Republic, Commentary, Commonweal, The Nation, and the Los Angeles Times. His recent book, “Against the Dying of the Light: A Story of Love, Loss, and Hope,” joins “Where Are We? The Inner Life of America's Jews,” a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, “Israel: Politics and People,” for ten years a required text in all Israeli universities, and other works.

Fein’s academic appointments have included Deputy Director of the MIT/Harvard Joint Center for Urban Studies and Director of the Commission on Social Action of the Reform Jewish movement, as well as Klutznick Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Brandeis. He taught political science at MIT during the 1960s and Politics and Social Policy at Brandeis in the 1970s.

Fein founded “Moment” magazine, which became America's leading independent magazine of Jewish affairs, in 1974. He served as editor and publisher for 13 years, and in 1985, founded Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and in 1986, the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, a project which provided 100,000 volunteer tutors for the Read America program, and which now has tutoring programs in 55 American cities.

“JALSA is a new organization whose call letters are less than a household word,” Fein continued. “But JALSA, though in a new bottle, is old wine. Its people and program have very deep roots in this community, and deservedly so.”

Fein, who has lectured in over 400 American communities, on 60 college campuses, and in over a dozen foreign countries, has been the keynote speaker at over 100 national conventions. A board member of 40 domestic and international groups, he has consulted for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the United Jewish Appeal, the New Israel Fund, Facing History and Ourselves, the Reebok Foundation's Program in Human Rights, and other organizations. He has testified before a number of Congressional committees, advised in four presidential campaigns and numerous Congressional races across the country, and served for two years as Chair of the Policy Committee of the National Jewish Democratic Council.

His awards have included a 1991 honorary doctorate by the Hebrew Union College, a 1994 award for achievement in Jewish Scholarship from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, a 1999 honor for a lifetime contributions to social justice by the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, and a 2000 recognition “for creative leadership in public service that has benefited society and reflected credit on the University” by the University of Chicago, his alma mater.

Tickets are $50 for the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action’s Second Annual Meeting, honoring Ellen Feingold and featuring Leonard Fein, will be held Sunday, Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m. at the Brookline Holiday Inn, 1200 Beacon St., Brookline. A kosher dairy brunch will be served. Sponsorships in honor of Ellen Feingold and JALSA will also be available. To RSVP and/or to receive the weekly e-mail newsletter, contact 617-227-3000 or email Sheila@JewishAlliance.org. Any available tickets can be purchased at the door.