‘Biased’ articles dismiss conservative viewpoints
I sincerely don’t appreciate your assumption that all Jews are against Donald Trump. Your articles support one side: the liberal one. Time to acknowledge that many of us Jews are conservatives. Our numbers over the years have grown significantly, and many of us are strong supporters of Donald Trump! Your paper chooses to assume otherwise and we find it offensive and biased. Do not pretend to speak on behalf of the Jewish community when you speak only on behalf of a portion of it.
This is not only about the topic of Donald Trump but all other topics that relate to liberals vs. conservatives. You should try to be more objective and face the fact that Jews have different individual views and support different candidates.
Ricki Alon | Los Altos Hills
‘Imperfect’ bathroom laws don’t qualify as suffering
Thank you for your lighthearted view of the BDS seder night (“I went to a BDS seder. Someone brought ‘settlement wine,’” April 22). I’ve been running seders for my family and friends for many years and have managed to avoid including such folk. How you keep such humor with you is a mystery and a gift.
In preparing for this year’s seder celebration, I was once again confronted with the mysterious “add an orange” question. I grew up in an era where we added a fourth matzah to commemorate the struggle of the refuseniks being persecuted and imprisoned by the last gasp of the Soviet boot. Real people suffering real pain.
I have always hated the “add your favorite microaggression” seder plate, so I made purposeful note of excluding the damned orange. After all, I eschew all pork products, but I don’t see the merit in protesting outside a restaurant where they managed to slop a little bacon into my soup while I wasn’t looking. Calling that tiny insult to my personal choices an “injury” seems petty and an insult to real suffering, now and in the past.
Hence my presentation of this year’s seder plate: “While I am certain that individual gender bathroom laws are somehow imperfect for those with gender identification challenges, we live in a world where true suffering still exists. Slavery, torture, chemical warfare, child soldiers and deadly terrorist bombings are happening even as we sit to table. We will therefore place a fourth matzah on our matzah plate in honor of those who are experiencing true suffering this night. I pray for a day when perfect bathroom choice is the most meaningful quest remaining as we strive to heal the world.”
Needless to say, I don’t blend in very well here in the Pacific Northwest.
Jerome Tillinger | Mercer Island, Washington
Listen to the Palestinians — is there a voice for peace?
In her op-ed, Risa Dunbar urges “our community to listen” (“Al-Quds students at Brandeis U. needed for Jewish ethical vision,” April 22). Well, perhaps she and others should do some serious listening, too.
Listen to Palestinian students around the country shouting, “From the river (Jordan) to the sea, Palestine will be free!” Listen to Palestinian students on college campuses throughout the country shouting down any pro-Israel speaker, such as what happened right here at SFSU to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
Listen to the sound of a bus explosion in Jerusalem.
Listen to UNRWA textbooks indoctrinating hatred of Jews daily to Arab children.
Listen to the Fatah charter still calling for the destruction of Israel despite the Oslo accords.
Listen to a poll of West Bank Palestinians, 60 percent or more of whom support terrorism.
Listen to President Mahmoud Abbas claiming that any Palestinian state would be “Judenrein” (free of all Jews).
Listen to the Arab claim that the Holocaust never happened, that the Jews never had a presence in Jerusalem and, despite citations in the Koran, that there was never a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount.
Listen to the names of terrorists who are called martyrs and are honored with places named after them.
Maybe we should stop listening to accusations that the Jews and Israel are not doing enough for peace.
There is a Jewish Voice for Peace. Is there an Arab Voice for Peace? If so, the silence of that voice is deafening!
Marvin L. Engel, M.D. | Piedmont
‘Offensive’ Brandeis rally was a 3-hour hate-fest
Brandeis University junior Risa Dunbar criticizes Brandeis for “lack of nuance” in suspending its partnership with Jerusalem’s Al-Quds University over a rally. Urging American Jews to hear “Palestinian narratives,” she declares “Palestinian voices are needed for an ethical vision for the future of American Jewish leadership.”
As the Boston Globe reported, the terror group Islamic Jihad sponsored the three-hour, 3,000-person rally, where men in paramilitary gear gave Nazi salutes and trampled Israeli flags. In speeches laced with anti-Jew slurs and calls for genocide, students hailed as “martyrs” Arabs who had killed Jewish civilians, while other students marched past tableaux of murdered Israelis. Yet Ms. Dunbar trivializes these acts merely as “offensive” and “problematic.”
Brandeis University’s president pleaded with Al-Quds’ president Sari Nusseibeh, “a moderate Palestinian,” to condemn the hate-fest. Instead, Nusseibeh condemned “Jewish extremists” for a “campaign of vilification” aimed at “discrediting” Al-Quds’ reputation.
Sorry, Ms. Dunbar, Nusseibeh and his students are not fit to teach ethics to American Jewish leaders. When Palestinians demand equality for Palestinian gays, Palestinian Jews, Palestinian women, Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Samaritans, I’ll race to hear their voices. Until then, color me skeptical.
Seth Watkins | Menlo Park
Slay the dragons that create bigots
I write in response to Allan Yannow’s April 15 letter about Rabbi Mike Rothbaum’s op-ed urging the rabbinate to speak out against bigotry spoken by political leaders and those who seek public office (“Trump protest gives rabbis their political voice again, April 1). I remind the entire nonmonolithic Jewish citizenry (which includes the rabbinate) of the dictate of Deuteronomy 16:20: “Justice, justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land…”
Synagogue is not a place to hide. Jews are obligated to live and make their neighborhood and world a better place — not to live with their heads in the ground like an onion. Every rabbi’s obligation is to challenge Jewish citizens to be good human beings, the necessary foundation on which we build being “good Jews.” Mr. Yannow, come hold hands with us at Bend the Arc. Join us as we work to slay the dragons that create bigots.
C.J. Kingsley | Alameda
SFSU president responsible for talk’s disruption
The top administration at SFSU, headed by Les Wong, must have known Mayor Nir Birkat of Jerusalem was coming to speak and that there would be serious protests that would disturb the event (“SFSU president promises ‘full investigation’ after protesters disrupt Jerusalem mayor’s talk,” April 15). Campus police witnessed but did not stop these hecklers. Who gave them that order?
Your article reports a joint statement from the federations and JCRC praising “Wong’s clear statement of support” and his promise of an investigation. ADL chimes in “hailing” Wong. It is easy for Wong after the fact to assuage these big Jewish leaders with his nice words, but Wong was responsible for campus police not clearing the disrupters. This is who leads SFSU, taxpayers.
Thyme S. Siegel | Berkeley
It doesn’t sit right
In the April 22 issue, a letter writer noted that at SFSU “hooligans, using a sound system and megaphones, some wearing kaffiyehs and carrying Palestinians flags, disrupted a planned talk given by … the mayor of Jerusalem” and that “the university police stood by and did nothing.”
In another letter, we are told that a woman who identified herself as a child of Holocaust survivors and wanted Alison Weir to acknowledge the Holocaust was harassed, ejected from Weir’s public talk and threatened with arrest.
Yes, these events actually happened. A public university permits disruption of a speech by an invited Israeli (Jewish) dignitary and police do nothing, but at a public lecture, a Jewish attendee who only asks a question, and in no way disrupts the event, is ejected and threatened with arrest.
What conclusion might we draw, and what are we going to do to prevent other (1938) experiences in our community?
Julia Lutch | Davis
Get a life, Mama
The Advice Mensch’s response to the husband concerned that his wife was “conditioning” their daughters to marry Jewish men horrified me and my husband (April 22). It let stand the woman’s rigid expectations for her daughters: to go to MIT, graduate from medical school, marry that Jewish man and have lots of grandchildren for her.
The husband’s only concern was about the Jewishness of the husbands; our concerns are for the wife’s definition of acceptable lives for her daughters. If one of them wants to go to U.C. Santa Cruz and study marine biology, guess she would be a flop and ruin Mama’s life. Maybe it’s time for Mama to get her own life rather than to find fulfillment in controlling her daughters’ futures.
Kay and Mark Barchas | Los Altos Hills
Apples and oranges
As I was preparing our Passover seder ceremony, I began to think of our Jewish sojourn through history and how important acknowledgment of differences is to our well-being. We have included an orange as well as an artichoke on our seder plate for many years. This year, I decided to add an apple.
Apples come in many colors — red, green, yellow and combinations of them all. Each has its own flavor — some are sweet, some are tangy, some are sour. Apples come in all sizes from very small to very large. Each type has its appeal. In fact, the best apple pie is made when the cook uses different types of apples. There is a subtle and more interesting flavor.
Americans, too, come in various colors, personalities, tastes and sizes, and we are enriched by having them all. Let the apple remind us of the importance of welcoming and respecting everyone.
Arlene Saidman | Alameda