Alan Stein, of Natick, Mass., formerly of Connecticut, has been named Letter-Writer of the Year by CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

A retired college professor of mathematics, Stein 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, Marsha, helped resettle Soviet Jews in America and, with their then-12-year-old daughter, visited refuseniks in the Soviet Union.

Stein edited the monthly newspaper for the Jewish Federation of Waterbury for two years before becoming Federation president.
He also served as chair of his local Community Relations Committee and as an officer for the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut (JFACT).

Stein joined CAMERA’s National Letter-Writing Group shortly after its inception and was named the organization’s Letter-Writer of the Year in 2007. He conducted most of his media-monitoring activities as president of PRIMER-Connecticut (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting), a post in which he served for nearly a decade.

After moving to Massachusetts almost three years ago, he saw a need for a local letter-writing group in the Bay State area and founded PRIMER-Massachusetts last summer. The group continues to monitor newspapers in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, and sends out e-mail alerts to more than 200 activists in Connecticut and more than 60 activists in Massachusetts.

Stein and his wife are also active supporters of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and have lobbied Congress on behalf of Israel while attending seven AIPAC Policy Conferences in Washington, D.C.

Since 2010, the Steins have split their time between the United States and Israel and, last October, made aliyah. Today, Stein, who lives in Netanya, conducts letter-writing workshops in both Israel and the United States, training members of the community to be advocates for accuracy and fairness in media reporting.

The Steins are active members of Temple Israel in Natick and Bet Israel Masorti Congregation in Netanya.