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Facing anti-Semitism

Thank you Marnina Cherkin for speaking out against anti-Semitism on college campuses (June 2 local voice).

It is truly an act of chesed (lovingkindness) to advocate for other Jews when they face anti-Semitism. All too often college students and professors are naive or ignore the internal and external harms that anti-Semitism can cause for Jewish college students, faculty members and the greater community.

College should be a time where one can learn to respect people who are different from themselves and not an experience where hatred, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism occur.

Ben Pastcan | Benicia




Walking taller

Shlomi Ravid and the Israel Center do exactly as suggested in the June 2 j. article "Founding director reflects on Israel Center's first decade, looks to next" — they begin to roll snowballs.

Perhaps the highlight of the recent academic year for S.F. Hillel students was the Israeli band Fools of Prophecy singing and speaking of peace and tolerance between Israel and the Palestinians on the San Francisco State University campus to hundreds of students from all walks of life.

Jewish students walked a few inches taller for weeks after the concert and follow-up reception where band members expressed their pride at playing such a venue.

Such events are beyond the financial and organizational capacity of small and overstretched Jewish agencies. It was made possible by Ravid and his staff. There was, however, one thing missing from j.'s excellent article: Thank you, Shlomi.

Alon Shalev | San Francisco
executive director, San Francisco Hillel

No vandalism

For Michael Samson's edification (May 26 letters), all the wood donated by supporters to be used at the Yeashore Community bonfires has been recycled, nonpainted or nontreated, nail-free or from diseased trees. Thus, to my knowledge, no vandalism has occurred to obtain any of it.

Incinerators were banned because of the extreme amounts of air pollution they create. To compare small bonfires to them is ludicrous. To enlighten Samson, the Torah includes numerous references to fires used for religious purposes. Both the Psalms and the Haggadah mention watchfires in the night.

In fact, fires lit on the mountaintops were used to announce the coming of the new moon. These were used to inform Jews in the diaspora when to observe holidays. The Yeashore Community should be commended for holding bonfires to observe Havdallah at the close of Shabbat, in keeping with the finest Jewish tradition.

A.J. Izenberg | San Francisco




Facts and fallacies

On May 30, the U.N. Security Council discussed ongoing efforts to fight terrorism. The Syrian ambassador, Ahmed Alhariri, stated: "We will find that Israel was behind the eruption of both World War I and World War II."

Certainly Alhariri is aware of the fact that the state of Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Thus, Israel did not even exist when World War I began in 1914, nor did Israel exist when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, thus beginning World War II.

It is essential that we understand Alhariri's statement. To much of the Arab and Muslim world, "Israel" and "Jew" are synonyms. Hamas has clearly stated that reality; it openly states its goal to be the genocidal mass-murder of every Jew on earth, not just in Israel.

Thus, the idea that a person can be anti-Israel but not anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) is an absolute fallacy that feeds into the hands of Islamists, who make no distinction between the two.

Just as Nazi Germany defined who the Jews they were to murder were, so too have Islamists defined "Israel" as being all Jews, everywhere, for it is all Jews who are the source of all of mankind's problems.

Fred Korr | Oakland




'Slap in the face'

A recent boycott of Israeli academic institutions by Britain's college teachers union is a slap in the face of academia and free thought worldwide.

The NATFHE union shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the Middle East. At a time when Israel and the leaders of the world are doing their utmost to find a responsible peace partner on the Palestinian side, this boycott is untimely, misleading, counterproductive and destined to prove what many already suspect about British (and perhaps U.S.) academia — it has lost its touch with reality and is consumed by demagoguery and anti-Semitism.

It puts in question if the British people have the balanced views necessary to play a mediating role in Middle East.

While scapegoating Israeli universities, NATFHE mentions nothing about Palestinian universities, which continue to incite extremism. Neither does it intend to blacklist institutions in countries with far more questionable human rights records such as Sudan, Syria or North Korea.

Israeli universities are among the most tolerant places in the world, with large number of Arabs, Muslims, foreign students and women among teachers and students.

Does boycotting such institutions really make any sense? To everyone outside the limited world of NATFHE it certainly does not.

Vadim Rotberg | San Francisco

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