‘Sorry for climbing in the wrong shoes’
During the last tashlich, when members of our Peninsula Sinai Congregation in Foster City were “casting off” their sins, my 10-year grandson overheard a girl half his age who was pleading her case: “Sorry for climbing the tree in the wrong shoes.”
What could be more innocent in a world full of suspicions, tensions and outright murders? The specks of this innocence are what separate those who celebrate life for the sake of freedom from those who glorify death for the sake of submission.
Vladimir Kaplan | San Mateo
Port protesters have it backward
Jim Haber’s letter to the editor (“Port protest fights injustice,” Sept. 12) perfectly exemplifies the phenomenon of Jewish guilt and self-blame. Jim talks about justice for Gazans as his rationale for picketing a ship partly owned by Israeli Jews.
Besides the injustice for the hundreds of workers who were not paid on those days, and those people who benefit from the goods being off-loaded, Jim and Jews like him are blind to the root cause of injustice in Gaza: Hamas.
It is only because of Hamas and its “death to all Jews” charter resulting in thousands of rockets launched at Israeli communities, itself a profound injustice and crime against innocent people, that Israel is put in the necessary position to defend itself by blockade and by a military campaign to stop those rockets and eradicate the tunnels.
Jim Haber and his ilk have it reversed. There is no injustice in these actions. There is only injustice in not recognizing and acting upon reality, truth and root causes.
Dr. Barry Gustin | Berkeley
U.S. must fully support its allies
Marie Harf of the State Department on Sept. 11 criticized Israel for strikes against UNRWA facilities in Gaza “in spite of militants operating nearby.”
First of all, those militants should be called terrorists. It would be more appropriate for her to condemn Hamas for firing rockets into Israel, as well as using civilian buildings and humans as shields. The U.S. should applaud Israel’s use of the IDF in Gaza to fight terrorism, knowing how difficult it is to get “boots on the ground” to fight ISIS from other countries, except the Kurds. The U.S. should give military equipment directly to the Kurds, not through the Iraqi government. The U.S. must fully support its committed allies, Israel and the Kurds, and oppose Hamas and ISIS because they are terrorists.
Norman G. Licht | San Carlos
Too bad about that play’s title
I am concerned about a play with the title “Bad Jews.” In this era when anti-Semitism seems to be on the rise, who needs this?
I suspect the play itself is not so bad. Too bad I won’t be seeing it. I would never support any work of art as cluelessly titled as this.
Dorothea Z. Lack | San Francisco