Letters

Sad choices

The Reform movement has a policy that interfaith parents must commit to raising their children Jewish before enrolling them in religious school. The movement claims to be welcoming, but this is far from welcoming.

Isn't it enough to pay dues and send our children to religious school?

This policy can only have a negative outcome on our community.

Families that are affected by this policy have several choices. The first is to lie, send their children anyways, and teach their children to lie. The next choice is to give up on Judaism all together and join the non-Jewish spouse's congregation, which is likely more welcoming. The final choice is for the non-Jewish parent to accept the policy and give up their heritage. This may be the saddest choice of all.

How can we ask anyone to give up their beliefs? Isn't the most likely outcome resentment towards Judaism and their spouse?

It shouldn't be that hard to make Judaism so appealing to the non-Jewish partner that they choose for themselves to become Jewish. Let's choose to unconditionally welcome these families that want to be a part of our community.

David Matz | Lafayette




'No peace offered'

Steve Berley's July 15 opinion piece states that the majority of Israelis have consistently expressed their support of "land for peace" concessions. He writes this to justify his position to label the position of Americans for a Safe Israel as "extremist."

I do not understand his reasoning. The unilateral disengagement plan is not the result of a "land for peace" agreement. No peace was offered by the Palestinians, nor an agreement of any sort.

Sanne DeWitt | Berkeley




Orange alert?

Steve Berley's July 15 opinion put things in perspective better than I ever could in reference to disengagement extremists picketing Israeli consulates across North America. In my own Chicago neighborhood, settler activists — in full violation of city ordinances — have adorned orange ribbons to stop signs and lamp posts.

They are also planning to demonstrate in front of the Israeli consulate here July 24. I could hope these Windy City settlers would step back, take stock of their actions and then disengage from them. By vociferously attacking Ariel Sharon's program for Gaza they show they are more loyal to their agenda of a greater Israel than the Jewish state itself.

If the Jewish Orangemen in our midst really loved Eretz Yisrael, as they stridently claim to do, they'd support the Gaza disengagement without qualification.

David L. Blatt | Chicago




'Under the rug'

In his July 15 article "Jews rallying against Israel will only cause harm," Steve Berley starts off by not imagining that things could ever "come to this": Jews protesting outside Israeli consulates and embassies over the upcoming withdrawal.

Nobody should be surprised that things could come to this.

For decades, certain American groups and entrenched leaderships have seen Israel not as a Jewish homeland but as a means toward power and influence. We saw this with the threatened boycott of El Al should it fly on Shabbat, and later with the threat to disregard Israeli identity cards during the latest conversion fight.

For decades, various extremist American Jewish groups have made their support of Israel conditional. The demonstrations we are witnessing is merely another manifestation of what has been conveniently swept under the rug since the Six-Day War.

Mark Lautman | Rockville, Md.




Palestinian 'ineptitude'

There's a dangerous tendency to blame Israel for the degradation of the "calm" of the past several months, as did many media outlets. Israel's killing of seven wanted Hamas "ticking bombs," was justified. If they weren't ticking bombs, attacks would be a return to the Israeli policy of targeted killings that Israel foreswore in February.

Missing from this argument is the "ineptitude of the Palestinian Authority and its inability to enforce its rule" as Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz generously put it. Hamas and Islamic Jihad were responsible for a spate of rocket launches from Gaza that killed six civilians in Israel this past week. Palestinian failure to confront the rejectionist elements in their own society, as required in the road map, is the reason for the disintegration of the so-called "calm." Not when Israel acts to clean up their mess.

"Calm" is not simply the absence of successful attacks. Tell that to the family of Dana Glakowitz, who was killed in Netiv Ha'asara recently or the families of the victims of the suicide bombing in Netanya. Calm is the absence of violence coupled with systematic efforts to root out those that would perpetrate terror against innocent civilians.

Steve Lipman | Foster City




Sharon's tactics

I keep reading that Ariel Sharon's Gaza evacuation plan was approved by the Knesset and the majority of Israelis. But let me make these observations:

• Sharon won the election over his opponent by supporting the settlements (cities, actually) while it is his opponent who supported evacuation.

• Sharon fired all ministers who opposed his evacuation plan. So, naturally, the Cabinet supports him.

• Sharon paid off his supporters in the Cabinet with promises of wealth in the form of favorable administration appointments, financial support for their agendas, etc.

• Sharon refuses a national referendum on the issue of Gaza evacuation. Why is that? Is it possible that the only poll that counts, a referendum, would contradict the " less formal" poll results?

• Sharon demonizes opponents, calls them traitors and troublemakers, has had many of them beaten and jailed for their opposition.

All of these maneuvers are considered corrupt politics in this country. Is it possible that Sharon's evacuation plan for Gaza is a diversion for the criminal activities of his family and himself ? Victimization of minorities is a historical method of deflecting criticism from an incompetent and corrupt leader.

Lawrence M. Weiswasser | Avenal




Love thy neighbor?

Here in the USA we now are seeing on our television screens scenes of Israeli soldiers beating and dragging other Jews who are protesting the present governments attempts to deport them from the Gaza area.

We do not need any anti-Semites to tell us that Israelis can, and do, behave brutally. We see it for ourselves on our television screens.

We can only hope that our Christian President George W. Bush will remind the present Israeli government of the biblical injunction to " love thy neighbor as thyself."

Yehuda Sherman | Lafayette




Who killed them?

"Parents, united by death, cross Israeli-Arab divide" (June 3 j.) told the story of two women belonging to " an organization of Israeli and Palestinian families who've lost loved ones during the conflict." The article said David, son of Israeli Robi Damelin, was killed by a Palestinian sniper, but did not say who killed Naila, sister of Palestinian Nadwa Sarandah.

The article's context might suggest an Israeli Jew killed Naila. In fact, a Palestinian confessed to the crime. While there is doubt about the confession, j. could have included that information — it is not even clear that the killing was related to " the conflict."

Similarly, " Killing seen as attack on Geneva Accords" reported the assassination of Samir al-Rantisi, former spokesperson for an author of the Geneva Accord, but the article gave no information on responsibility for the murder.

According to Ha'aretz: Palestinian Authority " police forces ... said they believe the assassination was related to opposition to the Geneva Initiative, and the incitement being carried out against the initiative by Islamic groups." J. could have included this information, which points to a Palestinian assassin.

It is important to make clear that many Palestinian deaths have been at the hands of fellow Palestinians.

Dan Fendel | Piedmont




Missing the point?

Rabbi Avi Shafran's May 20 opinion regarding PETA is in itself slanderous. He completely misses the point of the " Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign by tacitly condoning the factory farming industry.

There is no mention in any texts from ancient Judaism condoning the abuse of farm animals for food, or any indication that using sentient beings as experimental tools are allowed.

While working as a medical social worker at Mt. Zion Hospital in 1999 I met a patient who was a retired physician named " Eli," who worked as a physician in San Francisco for nearly 40 years. He had also escaped the Nazis in Poland. When I discovered he was also a vegetarian, I asked him why. He stated, " I don't believe someone should die for my pleasure."

Although donating money to the ASPCA is a good deed, the most effective way an observant Jew can be sensitive to the welfare of a large number of animals is to stop eating meat. My monthly automatic donation still goes to PETA.

Anne Feingold | San Francisco




Alternative education

In his May 6 opinion piece "My temple failed to teach me about Judaism," Jesse Brooks complained that his Sunday school education had lacked intellectual content and that he had learned little about Jewish history or thought.

For over a decade I have been teaching seventh and eighth grade at the Palo Alto School for Jewish Education . The course I teach focuses on Jewish history and the philosophical underpinning of the Talmud. My students engage in lively discussions and debates, applying Jewish law to modern situations. They graduate after the eighth grade with a clear understanding of Jewish history and intellectual thought.

PASJE is not affiliated with a synagogue, and serves a wide community of students seeking a Jewish education. Its Chanukah parties, Purim festivals and Passover seders are open to the community and are memorable events for the students and their families.

The school has served the community for over 35 years, meets on Sunday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon, and offers classes for kindergarten through eighth grade.

The school does not compete with the education offered by local synagogues. For some families, it augments a synagogue education and for others, it provides an alternative.

Terry Fayer | Stanford




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