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Who's responsible?

It's a travesty that when criminal charges were finally placed against Mordechai Gafni, a sexual predator, a communal leader who knew of the accusations said, "Had he been a member of my organization I would have referred him to our ethics committee" (June 2 j.).

Does that mean so long as rabbis are "unaffiliated" no one is responsible for protecting the public from their actions? What of the principle of kol Yisrael araivim zeh l'zeh, every Jew is responsible for one another?

Judaism is replete with robust guidelines for interpersonal conduct. The Shulchan Aruch, Code of Jewish Law, states that it is prohibited for a man to be alone in private with a female over the age of 3. Many balk and fail to see this wisdom. However, just last month we read the inspiring j. cover story of Rana Lee Berman overcoming the devastating affects of sexual abuse that began when she was only 3 years old.

Community leaders need to step up with a strong response, drawing from the wisdom of Judaism, not only targeting threatening rabbis, but also fortifying resources for individuals' protection.

Rabbi Chaim Mahgel-Friedman | Berkeley




'Cruel and degrading'

As rabbis, we deplore the cruel and degrading treatment of detainees that has precipitated over 40 suicide attempts, an ongoing hunger strike and now three coordinated suicides in Guantanamo.

Detainees at Guantanamo are being held in subhuman conditions and interrogated with techniques crafted to shatter their very personhood. They can anticipate no due process or end to their misery. It is a grim day when the only avenue of protest against our government's policies is suicide.

We view ourselves as religiously obligated to protect human life and dignity and prevent unnecessary harm and debasement to God's creatures. The Israeli Supreme Court, in its categorical prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, extends these tenets of Jewish teaching to the interrogation and detention of terror suspects.

Without due process, we cannot know whether individual detainees at Guantanamo are affiliates of terror networks or unfortunates rounded up "by mistake." We do know that they are human beings created in the image of God.

We call on our government to live up to American, international, and Jewish law. The question isn't whether or not to close Guantanamo. It is how we can return our country to the shared norms of humanity.

Rabbi Margaret Holub | Albion
Rabbi Melissa Weintraub | Brooklyn

Rabbis for Human Rights




2 demonstrations

Only one group protested the June 4 celebration of Israel's Independence Day at Yerba Buena Gardens. At 12:30 some dozen members of the Bay Area Women in Black arrived, intending to protest just outside the gardens. However, the San Francisco Voice for Israel had a permit to use that space — the Women in Black did not. The police allowed both groups to demonstrate.

A procession of black-clad figures, followed by police officers, marched back and forth, past another row of demonstrators holding Israeli and American flags. The Women in Black were silent, except for one member who produced a funereal drumbeat. The Voice for Israel group chanted: "Pro-Israel — pro-peace." Background music was provided by "Israel in the Gardens."

The Women in Black profess to mourn for "mothers grieving in Israel and Palestine," but at every celebration of Israel's independence they hover, like vultures, to protest the very existence of that state. They've also declared solidarity with terrorists, Holocaust-deniers and Yasser Arafat.

Unofficial sources in the Jewish community believe that hostile demonstrations have declined because of counter-protests. This time, happily, the pro-Israel demonstration eclipsed that of the Women in Black.

Jean Sered | San Francisco




Each day counts

In your June 9 editorial about the importance of the Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life to the entire federation region, you mistakenly credited me for fund-raising accomplishments that truly are the work of our dedicated board and other lay leaders.

Their extraordinary generosity of spirit in raising the funds necessary to create an intergenerational Jewish campus in the heart of the South Peninsula has been matched by the generous response of other donors who share this compelling vision.

TKCJL President Jim Koshland and Vice President/Fund-raising Chair Carol Saal lead the capital campaign. To work with these leaders has been a highlight of my experience in helping develop the campus, along with Daniel Ruth in his role as CEO of the Jewish Home of San Francisco, and Alan Sataloff, CEO of the Albert L. Schultz JCC.

As one committed team, we make each day count toward the time when the new Oshman Family JCC and greatly needed options for active senior living will enrich the lives of thousands in our community.

I am very proud to represent the campus publicly and to be reminded continuously of what can be achieved when our Jewish community united for the betterment of all.

Shelley Hebert | Palo Alto
executive director, campus development
Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life

A 'transformation'

Your June 9 cover story, "How AIDS battered one S.F. synagogue," was excellent and informative. However, the inside photo captioned "Sha'ar Zahav at its current location" is the mortuary building the congregation purchased; it was taken before the congregation moved into the building and before the mortuary was redesigned and converted into the new synagogue.

I am the architect who designed the new synagogue for Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, so I am particularly sensitive to this, especially since it is possible that the poorly designed mortuary in the published photo could be incorrectly attributed as a design by me and my architecture office.

Working with the Sha'ar Zahav community, we redesigned and made additions to the old mortuary, completely transforming the interiors and exterior of the building. The picture of the mortuary does not show a building which the congregation would be content to occupy.

The congregation is quite happy and proud to occupy its new building.

John Goldman | San Francisco




'Organic' Jewishness

At 14 I was in a French convent. The mother-superior once said, "You never pray." To placate her I gathered some younger Jewish kids, telling them to do exactly as I did: Kneeling, I recited: "Baruch ... ata ..."

The mother-superior smiled the only smile I saw on her face in months, then left us alone.

What I intend by relating this story is to say that Jewishness is inbred in children at home, from birth, and so are traditions.

The nuns never would have succeeded in converting me because my Jewishness was such a big part of me.

Parents have to create an environment where children know "in their heart" that they are Jewish — organically.

I also feel that kids should attend Jewish summer camp to widen their horizons. That can be our community's investment in the future.

Arnoldine Berlin | Oakland

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