Don’t leave out the South Bay
I read with interest your editorial and subsequent letters about merging the S.F.-based and East Bay federations. However, the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley is unmentioned, despite significant southward movement of the Bay Area Jewish population in the last decade.
The San Francisco and Silicon Valley federations have significant geographic overlap — both solicit heavily in Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Santa Clara. The South Peninsula office of the San Francisco federation is located in Los Altos. Combination of these federations could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in administrative overhead.
It is frustrating for South Bay j. subscribers to read about grants for wonderful “new” initiatives among San Francisco federation organizations, when we have been doing many of these activities for many years — on a shoestring budget and without any recognition or publicity by j.!
Joanne Cornbleet | Saratoga
Shut them dow
In response to the j.’s endorsement of the suggestion to merge the East and West Bay federations (“It’s time to merge S.F. and East Bay federations,” Feb. 6), I have an alternate, “modest proposal”: Shut them both down.
Proponents of the merge have argued that a combined federation would promote more efficient use of scarce resources and maximize the impact of communal giving.
But if efficiency is the goal, then why not eliminate the middleman entirely? Why should donors support an umbrella fundraising group when they can give directly to the organizations that group supports?
Federations, like United Ways, are dinosaurs in the era of modern philanthropy, where donors are increasingly — and rightfully — demanding a more direct connection to the impact of their gifts. Federations aren’t running the amazing programs that benefit our community; they are simply collecting the dollars and doling them out — and taking an enormous “cut” along the way. Isn’t it time we challenged this premise?
David George | San Francisco
Wonderful memories
I read with sheer joy that Stacey Palevsky found camaraderie with her youth group “groupies” (“Close bonds with youth group friends stand test of time,” Feb. 6).
Living in Bakersfield in the 1970s, and active in the Reform temple, I found camaraderie in youth group. How well I remember going to Los Angeles. We would convene with the many other youth groups that met there. Sometimes our meeting place was a temple and all activities were there. Other times, we were at Camp Hess Kramer. These gatherings were filled with music. We sang up up a storm, along with doses of learning on the theme for that particular weekend.
Then there was the time we piled into a Greyhound bus to make the journey to Los Angeles. Seats were scarce. This did not deter us. A few of us sat on the floor. We were not quiet passengers. Someone brought out a guitar. We filled that bus with our enthusiastic singing. Yes, youth group is the best.
I almost left out an important detail; I have cerebral palsy. My disability affects all parts of me. The fundamentals of what our great heritage stands for were demonstrated to me by the compassion and acceptance I found in youth group.
Susan Cohn | San Jose
Read all about it
“Is there a Jewish agency for literacy?” asks Michael at the end of the movie “The Reader.”
In the Bay Area the answer is yes. The Jewish Coalition for Literacy recruits, trains and places members of our community in public schools and after-school programs to tutor K-3 children. We welcome tutors of all ages.
Our tradition of tikkun olam encourages us to try to “heal the world.” What better way to help then to teach a child to read?
Roberta Rothman | San Francisco
Director, Bay Area JCL
Criticism of Israel shouldn’t be censored
I’m writing in response to Carrie Zeidman of Cupertino (Letters, Feb. 20). She believes that j. shouldn’t print letters that criticize Israel. I respectfully disagree. While I agree that anti-Zionist propaganda already has more press than anyone should be comfortable with, it seems that blindly supporting Israel would hurt more than help.
I believe that the keys to peace are honesty and education. Printing a biased representation of our community’s views may give people the idea that we aren’t willing to consider the many factors of the conflict and therefore uninterested in peace and understanding.
The beauty of California’s Jewish community is the diversity of its ideas and thoughts. I feel it would be insulting to that diversity to censor any criticism of Israel that we might have. We can have an intelligent debate without resorting to hate speech but for that to happen, we need to be honest with ourselves and our community.
I am not implying that you should print anti-Zionist or hateful propaganda, simply that you should try to represent the entire community’s views even if people don’t like or agree with what they have to say.
Rena Simon-Igra | San Francisco
Shun Durban II
Tom Lantos led a courageous U.S. walkout of the notorious U.N. Conference on Racism in 2001. He spoke the following Sunday and detailed some of the horrors he witnessed, perpetrated against Israel, under international auspices, under the guise of combating racism. Two days later was 9/11 and everyone forgot about Durban.
Now, the preparations for Durban II summit are branding Israel as an occupying state that carries out racist policies, confirming concerns that the second World Conference Against Racism will be used by Arab nations and others to bash Israel while the U.N. dithers over whether to include a line that the Holocaust “resulted in the murder of one-third of the Jewish people.” Has the world learned anything? Darfur, Rwanda, Tibet, Burma and the Congo are hardly mentioned.
The Clinton-led State Department said the U.S. delegation would review current direction of conference preparations and whether U.S. participation is warranted.
Where are leaders with the Tom Lantos’ moral courage to call Durban II a hypocritical, senseless and amoral act and the U.S. should have nothing to do with it. Our association tarnishes our already badly damaged moral authority. The shameful stench of baseless hatred emanating from this is overwhelming!
Steve Lipman | Foster City
‘Not so moderate’
Sheree Roth was right in observing that “moderate” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is not so moderate (Letters, Jan. 30).
Abbas was a co-conspirator in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israelis. His 1978 Ph.D. thesis was a Holocaust-denial screed that mocked the genocide of 6 million Jews as “the Zionist fantasy” and blamed the Jews themselves for whatever massacres did occur. And in 2000, Abbas opposed every compromise peace proposal at Camp David.
Nor has he moderated his views. In 2008, the Jordanian daily al-Distur published an interview in which Abbas said he was “honored” to have fired the first bullet for the terrorist organization Fatah in 1965; boasted that “we taught everyone what resistance is, including the Hezbollah, who were trained in our camps”; explained that he rejected armed conflict with Israel for now because the Palestinians can’t win, but “in the future stages things may be different”; and rejected recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
Indeed, Abbas demands that any peace treaty must guarantee unlimited Palestinian immigration to Israel (which would turn Israel itself into a majority-Arab state), and that Israel forfeit Jerusalem’s holiest Jewish site to exclusive Palestinian sovereignty.
Is this a moderate?
Stephen A. Silver | San Francisco
PJA moving forward
As members of the Mid-Peninsula Chapter of Progressive Jewish Alliance and co-chairs of the chapter’s Economic Justice Task Force, we were delighted to read the article on Elissa Barrett, incoming Executive Director of PJA (“Progressive group’s new leader grounded in social justice, Feb. 20).
We eagerly await her arrival onboard and know that with her very strong educational and professional background, and longstanding commitment to social justice from a Jewish perspective, she will expand PJA’s role and visibility in the Jewish community and also reach out to other groups that are working on issues of peace, equality, diversity and justice in the United States.
Our local chapter was founded in 2006 and has already participated in many activities that advocate for workers rights, marriage equality, and other issues. Our newest event, “A Call for Justice and Dignity for Workers” takes place on March 8, 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Am in Los Altos, featuring testimonies from hotel workers and a keynote address from Dr. Clayborne Carson, Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.
Again, we happily welcome Elissa Barrett to her new leadership position in PJA.
Rabbi Sheldon Lewis, Heidi G. Lerner
Palo Alto
Co-chairs, Economic Justice
Task-Force, Mid-Peninsula Chapter, Progressive Jewish Alliance
Can we really trust Hamas?
The Jan. 30 issue quoted former President Jimmy Carter as saying that Hamas “can be trusted.” I assume the president’s trust of Hamas includes its often-repeated statements that its intention is the destruction of Israel. Or did the president conveniently overlook those statements?
Alan Edelstein | Sacramento