Letters

Prohibitive costs

The May 26 j. editorial and opinion pieces complained of assimilation, intermarriage and our lack of Jewish knowledge. The Jewish community's own inexcusable shortcomings are a large contributing factor for the very problems they kvetch about.

Arguably, the main reason for such problems is due to the prohibitive cost of attending Jewish school.

If the majority of our children attended Jewish schools, I'm certain these problems would dissipate.

In December 2004, j. reported that Catholic schools are often half the price of their Jewish counterparts. If the Catholic parochial system can educate their children at an affordable cost, why can't we?

It is a shanda that a Jewish education is only attainable to either the wealthy or those fortunate enough to receive a scholarship. Parents are asked to choose between free public school, affordable Catholic schools or expensive Jewish schools.

It's no wonder Jews are sorely lacking an appropriate Jewish education. Tuition should be commensurate with other parochial schools. In fact, tuition needs to also account for the several thousand additional annual dollars needed for extra child care due to numerous holiday closures.

Educating our children should be our No. 1 priority, rather than splurging on an ostentatious community center.

Sarah Pelta | San Francisco




Absurd 'de-coding'

David Klinghoffer's May 19 j. opinion piece equating the movie "The Da Vinci Code" with anti-Semitism is absurd.

In the story, one renegade Catholic bishop together with one renegade monk commit some crimes, are then caught and brought to justice by some other Catholics. That is not even anti-Catholic, much less anti-Semitic.

If Klinghoffer wishes to blackmail anyone who complains about Opus Dei or any other controversial Catholic policy with anti-Semitism, he should not be given a free outlet in your publication.

Mark Manber | South San Francisco




'Blending' surprise

I was fascinated by Saul Singer's May 19 opinion piece "To blend or not to blend." As a converted Reform Jew with a German Jewish partner who fled Nazi Germany with his parents at age 3, I was surprised by his desire to regain his German citizenship and European Union passport.

All his children have followed suit.

My question to him was how he maintained his identity as a German born citizen who is Jewish and also American, and what intrinsic sense of this led him to recently obtain this citizenship and passport of which he is so proud.

I would like to know how many other German Jewish exiles have done this.

Julia Humphreys | Daly City




No heartburn

I found Joyce Goldstein to be rude and condescending in the May 19 j. article "Foodies, academics parse gefilte fish and falafel."

Not all the customers of the California Street Deli are young mothers who know nothing about kasha varnishkes. Many, some not so young, know and enjoy kasha, but also like to build our own salads.

She is right about one thing: We are not East Coast Jews. At the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, we are California Jews and California non-Jews. We like the weather here and like to be out enjoying it. We like to exercise as well as to eat, and we like to put healthy food into our bodies.

So, if the make-your-own salad gives you heartburn, Joyce, eat something else.

Eva-Lynne Leibman | San Francisco




Same-sex support

I absolutely agree with Rabbi Nelly Shulman, who performed the lesbian ceremony in Russia (May 26 j.).

That is right and perfect.

Gays and lesbians should have all rights just as everybody else. They are also responsible people like everybody else. So, what's the difference between the GLBT and non-GLBT community? Nothing. We are all people.

What I couldn't believe was that she performed such a ceremony in Russia, where that was prohibited during the Soviet Union. Jews were prohibited in Russia because they were Jews, and because a lot of Jews are gays and lesbians.

Paul Shkuratov | San Francisco