‘Sexist and unfair’
I was puzzled and disappointed by the March 3 cover story on female mohels in the Bay Area. First and foremost, I found the emphasis on the stereotype that women are more compassionate than men sexist and unfair.
Though the article acknowledged that it was a stereotype, did it really have to be mentioned in seven separate paragraphs? Statements such as “women are generally more sensitive to the family dynamic,” “let’s just assume it to be true because it usually is,” and “we’re just more naturally empathetic” only serve to perpetuate these stereotypes.
I was also disappointed not to see Dr. Jing Piser mentioned in the article, a female mohel serving the Bay Area for over a decade. Perhaps she was left off because she was not, as the article mistakenly said about all female mohels, a “specialist in the field of natal and neonatal health care.”
Piser is, in fact, a plastic surgeon, and she is married to a very sensitive urologist, Dr. Joel Piser, who is also a mohel. Our congregation is blessed to have both of them, along with another “naturally empathetic” male pediatrician, Dr. Stuart Zangwill, serving as mohels.
Rabbi Mark Bloom | Oakland
Who’s a Jew?
The important question about the Ethiopian Falash Mura is not whether they are really Jewish but rather what sort of citizens of Israel do they become if they are fortunate enough to be admitted to Israel (March 3 j., “Aliyah postponed”)?
After they learn Hebrew, and learn about Judaism and the many problems that Israel and we Jews face in this world, do they become good Jewish citizens?
Here in the United States we know that our Jews-by-choice are among the best Jews that we have. Their Judaism means much more to them than it does to many of us who were born as Jews.
In Israel, many of the secular Jews do not like the Ethiopian Jews because they see them as having become too Jewish, whereas many of the Israeli secular Jews want to be Israelis and do not want to be Jews.
Yehuda Sherman | Lafayette
Hope of redemption
There are so few Yemenite Jews who are triumphed in the American Jewish press for their contribution to Israeli society, and such little recognition of the disproportionate Yemenite presence and sacrifice in pre-statehood Israel. So it is a shame you did not mention Shoshana Damari’s Yemenite heritage in her Feb. 24 obituary.
During the ’50s and ’60s of my childhood, her albums were played again and again, and her voice kindled a hope of redemption that is still not realized.
Daniel Najjar | San Francisco
Esther and veggies
According to the Talmud, Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, was a vegetarian while she lived in the palace of King Ahasuerus, in order to avoid violating the kosher dietary laws while keeping her Jewish identity secret.
Therefore, Purim is an ideal time for Jews to consider a shift toward vegetarian diets.
This dietary change would be consistent with important Jewish mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and pursue a more peaceful, less violent world.
While Purim commemorates the triumph of the Jews in ancient Persia over their oppressors, a shift to plant-based diets would enable contemporary Jews to reverse current threats from an epidemic of disease related to animal-based diets and the many environmental problems related to modern intensive animal-based agriculture.
Richard Schwartz | Staten Island, N.Y.
A better chance?
The March 3 issue of j. reports that the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council passed a resolution supporting same-sex civil marriage but not requiring clergy to perform or recognize the religious status of the union. This is seconded by the editorial in the same issue.
Fine — but why not, at the same time, recommend to same-sex Jewish couples that they have a Jewish civil marriage religious ritual with a rabbi so that they officially enter the Jewish community?
This would give their union, among other things, a better chance to last a long time, and their children a better opportunity to be imbued with the values of Judaism.
Dr. Edward Tamler | San Mateo
Amended dream
As a member of the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center and a supporter of the day-school idea, I’d like to make a correction to the Feb. 24 article on the JCC’s plan for a “dream home.”
I do not believe that the JCC is planning a day school on their campus, since their pre-school is losing children while two other preschools in Contra Costa are growing and have waiting lists.
There is already an excellent day school in the county, which is growing, and will complete its plan for an eighth grade next year. This is the Contra Costa Jewish Day School, which is currently on the campus of Temple Isaiah.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that we will soon need a Jewish high school in Contra Costa County. Let many educational flowers bloom. Good luck to the JCC expansion and to the CCJDS.
Howard D. Maccabee | Walnut Creek
Bus bias?
In 1945, I was 14. We came to the USA. Now my granddaughter is 14.
One day last month, I was in pain as I got onto a bus. A lady gave me a seat.
I asked the driver why two buses stopped at almost the same time with the first full and the second almost empty. The driver started laughing and picked up the phone. He talked loud into it: “KGB, we have a complaint.”
He repeated that three, four times. He thought that was funny.
On Irving and 21st Avenue, he stopped the bus in the middle of the street and went into the Bank of America. He didn’t care that he was making people late.
Before I got off the bus, he said, “Next time, I won’t let you in my bus. I won’t open the door.” He also said he’d call the KGB again — and the Gestapo.
I’ve lived in San Francisco many years. I do not drive so I must use public transportation. I’ve complained to Muni. I look Jewish, and wonder if that’s why the driver won’t let me on the bus next time?
Sima Grabovsky | San Francisco
Rescuing Jews
During the year that my husband and I lived in Bulgaria, we learned the extraordinary but little-known story of this Balkan Jewish community and how during World War II not one of the Jews within Bulgaria’s borders was taken to death camps.
In Sofia, we attended ceremonies to commemorate the March 9-10, 1943 saving of Jews, which was the result of many protests by many groups. Special gratitude is directed, though, toward courageous leaders of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, whose behavior should shame every Christian church throughout Europe.
Patriarchs Stefan and Kyril steadfastly protested the anti-Semitic acts of the fascist, pro-Nazi government, offered to convert Jews, and threatened to excommunicate King Boris unless the deportation attempts ceased. The heroic efforts of Dimiter Peshev, a non-Jewish member of parliament, also helped save Jews.
We joined Jewish Bulgarians in saying Kaddish for Stefan and Kyril and also for the more than 11,000 ethnic Bulgarian Jews living in Macedonia and Thrace who were sent to death camps.
June Brott | Oakland
No ‘them vs. us’
As the organizer of the 14 Friends of Palestine event, I would like to point out that Cindy Ross’ Feb. 17 opinion piece is full of inaccuracies.
First, we were in a meditation center, not a mosque. That was next door.
Second, my group does not “wage war.” We are pacifists, working to bring peace to the Middle East. Many of us are Jewish, so describing us as anti-Semitic is ridiculous. We support organizations which work for peace with Palestinians, not against them. We must all work together, avoiding the “them and us” mentality.
Ross received more attention during the two-hour question time after the lecture than anyone else, with both Alison Weir and a Jewish member of the audience responding to her questions.
There were no “shouts” and “catcalls and boos” whatsoever.
Ross said she felt she was “in the midst of a neo-Nazi rally”; she may like to know that I lost many family members to Hitler.
Finally, there were no “lies or hate” in Weir’s lecture. She researches the facts that she presents very thoroughly, and delivers them in a gentle and sensitive way.
Ross’ kind of hateful writing does not help bring peace in the world.
Jane Chesterman | San Rafael
‘Honest differences’
I attended the event described by Cindy Ross in her Feb. 17 opinion piece, and I am wondering if we were at the same event.
It saddens me to see such distortions in print. This article attempts to depict honest differences of opinion into an attempt at indoctrination. This is an insult to lecturer Alison Weir and all of us trying to deal with this very difficult issue in as honest and fair a way as possible.
President Carter stated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a threat to world peace. It is in everyone’s interest to find a fair and just solution. It is up to all people of good will to work together to achieve peace.
Gerald Merrill | Oakland