Letters

Seriously underpaid

The average annual salary for the person who dishes out pasta salad at my neighborhood deli is $24,646; the man who collects my garbage in the wee morning hours earns $38,028; and the guy who walks my neighbor's dog makes a whopping $42,000. The teachers at my daughter's Jewish preschool earn about $18,000 a year. The rabbis of the Midrash wrote, "If you see cities uprooted, know that it came about because they did not maintain teachers' salaries." 

Debbie Findling | San Francisco




Insensitive?

All I seem to hear these days is how insensitive we Americans are to the Muslim "culture." A "culture" where female genital mutilation takes place. A "culture" where honor killings are more important than education in deciding the future of children. A "culture" where toddlers are dressed up to look like homicide bombers. (Yes, I meant homicide and not suicide. State it as it is.) A "culture" where people danced in the streets to celebrate the death and destruction visited upon us on 9/11 by wealthy religious Muslims.

How often is it mentioned when Muslims/Arabs torch or bomb Jewish institutions and synagogues throughout the world? Where are the rage, outcry and condemnation toward these despicable acts of violence? And what "sensitivity" is shown to a people who have been oppressed and persecuted for thousands of years in the Middle East — long before there was such a religion as Islam?

Ron Caine | Emeryville




Who are real martyrs?

The Palestinian Authority has finally come out strongly against despicable terrorism! They courageously called the 8-months' pregnant mother and her four little daughters "settlers" and "terrorists" for their attempt to build a new neighborhood in N'vei Dekalim.

This provocative family was then machine-gunned to pieces at close range by what the Palestinian Authority described as "heroic martyrs" in an act of "heroic martyrdom." They ended up as martyrs because they didn't fare too well when Israeli soldiers arrived upon the scene. Why is this not reported in your newspaper? Why is this brief letter showing the true face of what decent people are up against not printed?

Dr. Robert Katz | Cupertino




'Arafat is responsible'

As you know, again a terrorist attack struck Israel and killed a 34-year-old woman and her daughters. When will it stop? Yasser Arafat is responsible for every thing. He keeps in his mind to destroy Israel and the United States. Those people who were killed were not guilty. They were not occupants.

Arafat and Hamas don't want to live in peace. They just want to take all our territory that doesn't belong to Palestinians. Arafat is responsible for the Palestinian terror against civilians, Israelis citizens. He is responsible for intifada 2000. Peace will be impossible as long as Arafat stays in power. We have to destroy Arafat and send him away. It's not only the Hamas that sends their members to kill Jews; Arafat does the same.

When Arafat speaks English, he promises to do his best to make peace in the region. When he speaks Arabic, he tries to destroy the peace process. We shouldn't talk to him. He shouldn't negotiate with us, because we are not going to give up with our country. We are not going to give him one peace of land including Jerusalem.

Paul Shkuratov | San Francisco




Shul offers community

While Lauren Hauptman's April 30 letter highlights some valid points about the marginalization of childless couples, I disagree that "... in the Jewish community... there are no offerings for anyone between JDate and Mommy & Me."

Consider my demographic: divorced, middle-aged convert, father of three grown non-Jewish children. Not a senior, not a teen, not a young adult, not much of a dater, not even intermarried. No programming director is looking for ways to reach out to me.

So am I totally excluded from the Jewish community? No, I go to shul every Shabbat. The other regulars all know me, and they are my most important social circle.

Of course, not everyone likes to daven. But there are lots of other things happening: men's club, women's club, Israel action, social action, speakers, classes, concerts, etc. None of this targets any particular demographic.

My conclusion is that you can be as involved (or uninvolved) in the Jewish community as you care to be.

Fred Zemke | Foster City




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