Catholic-Jewish success story
I was pleased to read about the positive impact the Catholic Jewish Educational Enrichment Program (C/JEEP) of the American Jewish Committee is having in the Bay Area (“Rabbi shares Jewish perspective with Catholic high school students,” May 7).
A decade ago I was involved in one of the first iterations of this program in New York. As director of Jewish Studies at the Solomon Schechter High School of New York in Manhattan, I served as liaison to the Catholic priest (a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary!) who became part of our faculty, the AJC and the Catholic girls school with which we were paired for several joint educational activities.
C/JEEP was undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of our school’s curriculum. It constituted a critical learning experience for not only the students, but also those teachers involved. I hope that C/JEEP continues in our schools, and serves as an example and catalyst for other much-needed interfaith programs.
Renee Ghert-Zand | Palo Alto
Too much yelling on campus
The article “U.C. Berkeley students protest ‘hidden hate’ on their campus” (May 7) reminded us that we need more effective ways to help our youth conquer fear and separation.
One Jewish professor chanted through a powered bullhorn, while a second descended into “verbal sparring” requiring police intervention.
Where are adults who can model for our youth more than bellowing?
Cal freshman Hannah Efron offered us the most hope, reporting “progress was made” by those who stayed together after the heckling and “were able to have a conversation.”
We’ve seen that strong Cal leadership in effective communication is usually student-driven.
Examples are their youth-organized 2003 Day of Mutual Recognition and 2010 Crossing Cultural Lines, both well documented on the Web.
Jewish and all students need leadership who teach more than defensiveness and self-assertion.
We urge adult mentors to offer students needed skills and opportunities to listen and truly hear the ”other” on campus.
Listening to learn — and a lot less noise — is the students’ power to transform their relationships at Cal and beyond.
Len and Libby Traubman | San Mateo
Pro-divestment bloc is absurd
After reading your article about “hidden hate” at U.C. Berkeley (May 7), I would like to be clear: the roots of anti-Semitism and divestment from Israel are exactly the same. They feed each other. Both of them are riding on false charges, distorted information and baseless rumors.
Berkeley students are fighting a futile war against anti-Semitism, when they try to be objective, neutral, positive — or whatever the “right” adjective — toward the divestment. Anti-Semitism is directed toward the Jewish people, while divestment is directed toward the Jewish state. This is the only difference. Behind each of them are intentional or non-intentional lies.
Are there issues that may elicit criticism of Israel? Of course. It is not a saint state. There are problems with minorities, as is the case in every multicultural state. Palestinians could have had their state at the time of the Partition and many times later. But they always have chosen the “high road” of eradicating Israel.
It is not Israel’s choice to live and fight for survival in a sea of hate and warmongering.
Vladimir Kaplan | San Mateo
Taking a stand against BDS
Last week, the board of directors at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland adopted the following resolution:
Temple Beth Abraham, as an institution, opposes attempts by organizations to boycott, divest from and apply sanctions to (known collectively as the BDS movement) the State of Israel.
I am proud of our synagogue for taking a strong, formal position against practices which unfairly, and out of all proportion, target Israel and seek to undermine its legitimacy. Given the worldwide onslaught against Israel, particularly by the media and academia, I’m certain that many Bay Area temple-goers would be gratified to see their synagogues take a similar stand.
Curt Schacker | Piedmont
BDS backers’ true agenda
Many of the proponents of the anti-immigration law in Arizona claim they are not racist or anti-Mexican. Many in the pro-divestment crowd on college campuses maintain that they are not anti-Semitic or even anti-Israel.
I find a parallel.
The Arizona law does not specifically focus on Hispanics but the practical implications are obvious. The divestment and boycott crowd are targeting only one country: the only Jewish country. They are not asking U.C. to divest from Saudi Arabia or Yemen, whose record on women’s rights is notorious, or any other of the dozens of countries that discriminate against women and minorities.
They target a country where homosexuals openly serve in the military, women serve in every level of government and the nation actually welcomes immigrants.
Why is the focus on Israel for divestment and not these other countries? If you don’t think it is anti-Semitism, then explain why these BDS groups single out only Israel. It is one more attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state, and that is anti-Jewish just as the Arizona law is anti-Hispanic, no matter how you spin it.
Gil Stein | Aptos
Lies about Israel can’t go on
I applaud Rabbi Marvin Hier’s op-ed (“Raging like a fire, lies about Israel need to be extinguished,” May 7) for exposing the insidious lies at the center of the Israel hatefest that is raging lately on college campuses, and in academia and liberal media in Israel and the U.S.
Stoking this firestorm is the drive by the progressive-left around the world (in collaboration with Israeli NGOs) to paint Israel as a rogue state for alleged human-right violations and to delegitimize its standing in the world. In addition, the pandering of groups like J Street plays directly into the Obama administration’s appeasement of the Muslim world, while pressuring Israel to take risky gambles.
Israel’s dilemma can be best defined by paraphrasing a speech by former Yad Vashem chairman Yosef (Tommy) Lapid. Good-intentioned world leaders tell us “Trust us and risk it to give peace a chance,” while the ashes of 6 million Jews scream from their graves “and what if something goes wrong?” Their “Oh sorry” might be too late.
It is time for the U.S. and world Jewry to bury its differences and step in unison at this critical period.
Sam Liron | Foster City
Much ado about Lerner
On a scale of one to 10 of seriousness, Alan Dershowitz said Rabbi Michael Lerner’s fence having been vandalized with pro-Israel/anti-terror and political humor aimed at Lerner and Richard Goldstone comes in at about one (“Lerner blames right-wingers for attack on Berkeley home,” May 7).
Keep in mind that Dershowitz made this statement only in response to Lerner having accused him of incitement, despite the cartoon being specific to the invitation Lerner extended to Goldstone (prior to the vandalism).
Then you had all these Jewish organizations, along with the Israeli Consulate office, clamoring to get a piece of the action and in doing so added their voices to the media frenzy. And why did the ADL feel like they needed to chime in on this?
The police classified this as an act of vandalism. I thought hate crimes (racial, religious, sexual discrimination, etc. ) was the ADL’s jurisdiction?
This is quite a sensational story to almost everyone. About the only person who hasn’t come out of the woodwork to add their 10 cents is Goldstone himself, who surely must have heard something about this. Could it be that he just doesn’t give a hoot? Wouldn’t that be ironic?
Sol Rosenberg | Oakland