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'The wrong path'

Once again the Palestinian leadership dominated by Hamas has gone down the wrong path leading to a serious escalation of the tensions in the region.

Lost in the shuffle of recent events is the fact that two other Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack which resulted in the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and Israel's subsequent military response.

One point that should not be missed is in the damage that Israel has inflicted on the terrorist infrastructure that permeates Gaza — such as the munitions factory left in a smoldering ruin.

Unbelievable rhetoric directed at Israel by supposed moderates like Mahmoud Abbas calling Israel's incursion a "crime against humanity" strain credulity to say the least. Perhaps he is playing to a public calling into question the wisdom of Hamas' continuing provocation of Israel.

The Hamas government leadership should bear the full responsibility for the consequences that peace-loving Palestinians will be forced to bear. Perhaps one day this will dawn on the Palestinian public that voted Hamas into office in the first place.

Steve Lipman | Foster City




Gender inclusivity

Regarding "Modern Orthodox women enhancing traditions" in your June 9 supplement "The Synagogue Today," I would like to add what we do at Congregation Emek Beracha in Palo Alto:

We call ourselves "An Orthodox community for everyone," and we take care to apply that principle to gender inclusiveness — within a halachic framework.

Women learn and teach together from a Sefer Torah on Simchat Torah, and on Purim women read the Megillah with great fanfare and fun for an all-female audience.

Women are also among our community's scholars who frequently teach for mixed audiences of men and women together. (This is in addition to women being well represented in the audiences of routine classes and lectures such as the rabbi's "Beit Midrash.")

To ensure that women feel fully connected during our services, the physical arrangement of our sanctuary has been purposefully designed to provide the same audibility and visibility for women as for men.

Vivian Deutsch | Palo Alto




Contempt and fear

How sad for our community that diversity of opinion is held in contempt such as that expressed by Jean Sered's June 16 letter about Bay Area Woman in Black at Israel in the Garden.

I continue to believe that contempt for open conversation comes from fear. I continue to hope that our community leaders will model respect for differences, and make it common practice to "let all sides be heard."

Such modeling could go far to enable Sered and those who condone her conduct to adopt behaviors that, while retaining their initial positions, just might lead them to learn from those for whom they right now express so much contempt. Intolerance for diverse opinions weakens rather than strengthens the moral fabric and cohesiveness of our community.

Molly Freeman | Berkeley
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, S.F. Bay Area chapter

A rebuttal

Jean Sered's accusations against Bay Area Women in Black in her June 16 letter are false.

BAWIB believes in the existence of Israel, and we have not "declared solidarity with terrorists, Holocaust-deniers and Yassar Arafat."

We are opposed to all violence, including terrorism, war, invasion and occupation. We believe Israel's security and future depend on ending occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

BAWIB stands in solidarity with Israeli Women in Black to protest the occupation, and to mourn the Israeli and Palestinian lives that have been lost.

This is who we are and what motivated us to hold a two-hour silent vigil outside Israel in the Gardens on June 4.

As a participant in BAWIB's vigil and witness to the demonstrators Sered identifies as San Francisco Voice for Israel (SFVFI), I know Sered's characterization of the event is incorrect. VFI demonstrated the most invasive and intense hostility toward BAWIB we have ever encountered. Due to this conduct, the SFPD had to protect us.

SFVFI was so vocal in its harassment that some celebrants left the festivities to demand SFVFI "stop the screaming," or "knock it off" or "shut up."

Dianna Stern | Stockton
Bay Area Women in Black

Betrayals?

Reading about the son of the Rosenbergs (June 16 j.), executed for passing to the Soviets atomic secrets, I wondered what makes Robert Meeropol, a Jew, welcome at the Middle East Children Alliance, an anti-Israel propaganda organization that has a banner that says "Support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel" on its home page.

Meeropol's daughter Rachel is suing the American government with the Council on American-Islamic Relations on behalf of Muslim terrorists.

After his talk I told Meeropol, "Your parents betrayed America; you are betraying the Jewish people."

Meeropol observed in his interview that no major magazine has ever done a feature

story on him or the Rosenberg Fund for Children. Every society has an instinct for self-preservation; this is why traitors are ostracized and become pariahs, lepers. No one wants to touch them or their offspring.

Meeropol didn't use the opportunity of not following his parents' blind hatred of this country. He didn't study how Stalin, idol for his executed parents, had been destroying children and grandchildren of his enemies.

Tatiana Menaker | San Francisco




Two years of work

The recent Presbyterian Church USA decision to right a wrong and end its 2004 call to divest from companies operating in Israel is a significant shift, especially because the resolution passed by a lopsided 483-28.

Why did this hoped-for turnaround happen? Did the Presbyterians decide they had to court the Jews? Absolutely not.

Soon after the 2004 decision, the split between the small, vocal and ideologically driven minority behind the resolution and the larger Presbyterian community became apparent. AJCommittee understood that the majority of Presbyterians in the pews were not the enemy camp but did need to be educated.

AJCommittee has spent two years engaging Presbyterians and other mainline Protestant denominations. A member of our local board wrote a persuasive article for the newsletter of Grace Cathedral detailing the reasons for Episcopalians to oppose divestment. We also brought Presbyterian leaders to Israel in a joint interfaith trip.

Our message was simple and straightforward: Divestment is an obstacle to Middle East peace efforts, and an unfair singling out of Israel for special censure and sanction. It's a setback to Christian-Jewish understanding. It validates Palestinian intransigence, and only hardens the conflict. Fortunately, this logic registered with a majority of those who voted.

Ernest H. Weiner | San Francisco
executive director, AJCommittee, Northern California Region

Non-competing

I would like to endorse the sentiments expressed by Melanie Sandberg's June 23 letter regarding the inclusion of our Jewish educational institutions in j.'s Readers' Choice poll.

Instead of promoting competition and letter-writing campaigns, which reflect not a standard of excellence but an ability to generate the most letters, we should be providing facts about the strengths of these educational institutions. Each is unique, and what is a match for one family is not necessarily a match for another.

As Contra Costa Jewish Day School board president, I can unequivocally state that we strive to promote collegiality and cooperation among the day schools, synagogues, preschools and Midrashot. J. would serve the community well by encouraging this type of relationship.

The National Association of Independent Schools has told member schools that they will not welcome members who participate in any rankings or "best of" programs. Please make it j.'s choice to take the high road and consider not putting our educational institutions in edition listing the Readers' Choice winners. The energy and resources of our community are too precious to squander on a superficially competitive poll.

Karla S Smith | Lafayette
president, CCJDS

The name game

Thank you for the June 23 article on name-changing. I found it curious and disconcerting, however, that your headline writers did not know the Hebrew meaning of the name Michael. How much more Jewish can you get? Mee-ka-el? Who is like God!? One of the archangels.

On the other hand, it is quite curious that Moshe may in fact not be a Hebrew name but rather the Egyptian ancient word for ("is") born. It is probably folk etymology that saw the connection with "masha," drew out of the water.

Ariel Lenchner | Oakland




Jewish pride

I am very proud of the Bay Area Jewish community.

I want to thank Lindsay Greensweig and Ephraim Lindenbaum for creating the Silicon Valley Young Adult Division three years ago from practically nothing, filling a huge need in Silicon Valley for a social organization for post-college Jews.

They created an organization which has attracted hundreds of young Jews from around the South Bay to their events.

Before SVYAD, the only Jewish social groups had sparse attendance. Lindsay and Ephraim created a group with events that are cool and fun to go to.

I am also proud of the Jewish community for organizing the demonstrations for Darfur. I don't see many other ethnic groups holding rallies on behalf of people besides themselves.

But Jews don't neglect their own people either. Bay Area Jews hold events celebrating Israel's Independence Day, fund-raisers for improving our JCCs and helping Jews in New Orleans. But they also care about genocide going on in the world that most of the media is ignoring.

I would like to mention Rabbi Roberto Graetz and Rabbi Judy Shanks, who are rabbis at my parents' temple in Lafayette, were organizers of the demonstrations for Darfur.

Tamar Sherman | San Jose




Where's the bakery?

Thank you for the June 16 cover story, "Have nosh, will travel." It would have been helpful, though, to have a source list at the end. For example, where is Dr. Dick Cohen's Schmulka Bernstein's Bakery? Schmulka Bernstein's Bernstein on Essex, a kosher Chinese restaurant on the Lower East Side where the waiters wore silk Chinese caps resembling yarmulkes, closed several years ago, and his establishment on Rivington is a further distant memory.

Am I mistaken? Has the family opened a bakery and where?

Kevin Levine | San Francisco




Bitter words?

I'm writing to express my distress at your printing the June 23 letter from Y. Schneider of Brooklyn which you titled "Suicide support." It's an enraged, over-the-line screed.

I suppose j. wants to be certain it represents all points of view, but I don't see the necessity of including something like this. J. prints more than enough articles supporting the status quo and giving the perspective of folks from right of center. You don't need to extend yourself to giving space to something this bitter.

Rose Levinson | Albany




Shanghai connections

Thank you for publishing the June 23 review of our Shanghai reunion. It was correct except for a significant omission.

An important contributor to our successful meeting was the Center for Jewish Studies Shanghai, which is headed by well-known professor Pan Guang.

The center is located on the campus of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. The CJSS studies Jewish history and culture throughout China's past, sponsors the teaching of Hebrew in schools, and houses a permanent exhibit in a former synagogue. They publish numerous papers and books annually in various languages.

I want to acquaint your readers with the Web site — http://www.rickshaw.org — I started seven years ago to keep our Shanghailanders in touch with each other.

Rene Willdorff | Palo Alto

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