A perverse lot?
How does a Jew, such as myself, explain to non-Jews the absence of most Jewish organizations at the anti-terrorism rally in Berkeley on Sunday, Jan. 16, which featured the burned out relic of Jerusalem bus No. 19, in which Israelis were murdered by Arab terrorists?
There was a time when anti-Jewish Christians said that the failure of Jews to embrace Jesus as the Messiah was due to Jewish “perversity.”
At the Berkeley rally there were Christians, Hindi speakers and singers of Indian origin, and even a fearless Muslim Arab woman, all speaking out, and singing out, against terrorism. But where were the Jewish federations, the JCRC, the AJCs, Hillel, the synagogues and all the other Jewish organizations who ask us for contributions because they support Judaism?
When they could have spoken out against the murder of Jews, they were not there.
The anti-Semites were correct: We Jews have proven that we are a perverse lot.
Yehuda Sherman | Lafayette
Where is God?
By making God responsible for the disastrous tsunami, Joseph Aaron (Jan. 7 opinion) turns God into an immoral villain.
We can no longer hold a supernatural God responsible for evil, whether of a natural or moral variety. God did not cause the tsunami any more than He caused the Holocaust, and He could have prevented neither.
Nature is neutral; we ascribe good and evil to it in the measure and manner in which it affects people. So where does God come in?
I find God in what is life-sustaining and life-affirming, in the wonder that we actually experience rather than in the calamities we wonder about.
God or what is “godly” (why must we assume that God is a being or an entity to be defined — a “once and for all” as Buber might put it — rather than a power or process to be discovered?) emerges in the human response to the tsunami: reaching out in helpfulness, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, clothing the naked, comforting the bereaved.
I believe with Menachem Mendel of Kotzk that God dwells where human beings let Him in.
Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum | Redwood City
Brazilian anti-Semitism
My mom recently went for an echocardiogram in Rio de Janeiro, bringing previous exams from Israel, where she lived before moving back to Brazil.
“Is your Jewish name, Miller, with a U or an I?” asked the technician.
“My Jewish Miller is with an I.”
“You’ve smoked a lot in the past?”
“No.”
“But Jews are such heavy smokers. What is your weight?”
“52 kgs.”
“To keep it so low is not easy,” he said. “I’m sure when you do something wrong you feel extremely guilty. Jews are like that. Did you know that who invented psychology was a Jew?”
That was it for mom. She said, “Did you know most medications in the world were developed by Jews? And that most medical research is done by Jews? And that most medical technology is developed by Jewish researchers? More than 2 billion people in the world are in therapy or need it — thank God a Jew invented psychology so people can be treated.”
“I’m sorry madam, in order to do this exam, you need to be quiet,” was his reply.
And with her heart beating very fast, my mother was pushed into that machine to have her heart examined.
Diana Nhuch | Tiburon
More money needed?
Just by looking at the Dec. 17 j. cover can make a committed Jew sick. You couldn’t put it inside? Are you trying to promote education of our Jewish children in Catholic schools when we have Jewish schools like Brandeis and the Jewish Community High School and others in the Bay Area?
As to being cheaper, we have the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, which raises so much money for Jews all over the world. They should be giving more to BHDS and the JCHS so that every Jewish child should be able to go without there being financial hardships for their parents.
Jeannette and Abraham Zeif | San Francisco
‘Distorted version’
In the raging debate about Israel and the Palestinians, a severe distortion consistently emerges. Arabs insist Israel has underhandedly assumed control over more than 75 percent of the disputed lands. That is yet another gimmick, another distorted version of history.
Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza had once been ancient Israel. Roman conquerors renamed Israel, calling it Palestine, 2,000 years ago.
Following World War I, Britain was granted a mandate to govern Palestine. Britain, as sovereign power, declared, stateless Jews would be restored their ancient homeland. In that process, Arabs were given sovereignty of Jordan, 78 percent of Palestine.
Attempts have been made to reach an agreement on dividing the remaining 22 percent of the land. But 22 Arab nations and other Islamic states have consistently refused any arrangement that would allow Israel to exist within secure and defensible borders.
Ira Berkowitz | Emeryville
Distortions?
Mitchell Plitnick’s recent j. opinion piece is pathetic. The machinations he displays in trying to be evenhanded in the interest of peace makes me feel for his agonizing.
It is well to try to work for peace, but distorting factual situations does not help the process. For instance, there’s no indication Yasser Arafat said to Ehud Barak or Bill Clinton, “You have made a good start, now let’s talk.”
No, Arafat broke off discussions, and laid plans for vicious terrorism.
Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount was merely an excuse for the intifada.
Further, Plitnick adopts the Arab description of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as “illegal.” The occupation is absolutely legal under international law. Israel took those territories from Egypt and Jordan in a war they started. Until the combatants negotiate a settlement, the victorious defender rightfully controls the territory lost by the aggressors.
It’s interesting that during their sovereignty over Gaza and the West Bank, neither Jordan or Egypt promoted a separate nation for the Arabs that were there, nor did they treat them well. Up to the second intifada, the Arab population prospered much better under Israeli control.
Harve Eliot Citrin | Palo Alto
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