Alix Wall keeps educating me
Every time I read Alix Wall’s food column I discover something new. In her Jan. 28 column, “For her, foraging for mushrooms is a way of life,” I learned that “to hunt for common mushrooms, like chanterelle, porcini or morels, one must know what their tree partner is,” according to Carrie Staller. The column was so good that I went right home to enjoy a bowl of “krupnik,” the name of mushroom barley soup for Polish Jews of Eastern Europe. For me, hot, fragrant, delicious mushroom barley soup is a true cold-weather classic.
George Z. Banks
San Leandro
Defining antisemitism
I wish to assure letter writer Todd Silverstein that I have read the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA). The main differences between the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and the JDA definition are found in the examples related to Israel.
The JDA claims the IHRA definition puts “undue emphasis” on Israel-related antisemitism (despite the reality that antisemitism today is, in fact, related to Israel). The JDA also asserts that criticism that may reflect a “double standard” is not necessarily antisemitic.
For example, the United Nations General Assembly has passed dozens of anti-Israel resolutions and barely any condemning other nations. From 2015 through 2023, the General Assembly has adopted 154 resolutions against Israel and 71 against all other countries combined. Would the JDA definition find this antisemitic? Unclear.
The JDA also claims that boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel are not necessarily antisemitic even though Omar Barghouti, the founder of the BDS movement has said that the aim of BDS is to turn Israel into a pariah.
Some of the original signatories of the JDA include anti-Israel activists and antisemites, like Richard Falk, a former U.N. rapporteur on Palestinian rights who has compared Israel to Nazi Germany and spread conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. No government entity has endorsed the JDA definition while many have endorsed the IHRA definition.
The IHRA definition states clearly that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” That should be enough to placate critics.
Sheree Roth
Palo Alto
Alameda County’s narrow focus on Israel
On Nov. 12 and Dec. 10, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors discussed an ethical investment proposal. (“Alameda County policy will advance BDS, opponents say,” Dec. 12) The proposal covered a wide range of issues that should direct ethical investment, such as climate change, income inequality and human rights abuses in the world. A large and well-organized group rallied in support of the proposal. Treasurer Henry Levy joined in support.
However, any objective observer would notice the supporters’ narrow focus and would question the true intent behind the proposal. They found a single villain behind all the misfortunes that befall our planet — one country that has been desperately trying to rescue kidnapped hostages, including American, Thai and Nepalese citizens and two little toddlers.
Nobody disputes the profound suffering of Gazan civilians. Yet not a single supporter of the proposal, including Mr. Levy, put even a shred of responsibility on the government elected by Gazans, the one that led the killing and kidnapping of hundreds of civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, prompting a military response by Israel.
Before the board even voted on the proposal, Mr. Levy announced that he had proactively divested from the American company that trades with Israel.
Private citizens can exercise their free speech rights and continue accusing a country of 10 million Jews and Arabs of all the world’s ills. As an elected official, Mr. Levy must exercise some restraint and avoid joining an openly biased chorus or taking openly biased actions.
Tamara Gurin
Berkeley
Caterpillar divestment was necessary
I am an American Jew and I support Alameda County Treasurer Henry Levy in divesting from Caterpillar. The Jan. 22 op-ed by Ken Bravmann and Itamar Landau, “Alameda County’s divestment undermines trust and fairness,” raises valid points about the importance of consistency and transparency in applying county policies. Yet I ask, do we need to wait for laws and policies to stop monetary support for a company that for decades has knowingly supplied an occupying army with bulldozers to unlawfully demolish homes and endanger and kill civilians?
According to an American Friends Service Committee’s investigation, Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have been used to demolish homes, schools, roads and infrastructure in Palestinian communities and as “crowd control” during protests including the notorious killing of Rachel Corrie in 2003.
I am reminded of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” I applaud Levy for divesting the county from Caterpillar — even before the existence of a formal policy — and I support the development of an ethical investment policy in Alameda County that would prohibit investing our tax dollars in additional companies that are complicit in human rights violations.
Alison Hamburg
Oakland
Divestment exposes hypocrisy
Alameda County Treasurer Henry Levy cites universal values in divesting from Caterpillar, which he holds complicit in the demolition of Palestinian homes. (“I’m a Jewish elected official. Here’s why I divested our county from Caterpillar,” Jan. 10)
I doubt this action will satisfy any proponent of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement because, no matter one’s views of the extremely fraught situation in Gaza, the bulldozings are a separate and incomparably less consequential activity.
What Levy’s divestment does is expose the hypocrisy of the BDS movement, of which it forms a part. I look forward to news of Alameda County or any other entity divesting from entities in the United Arab Emirates that support the Sudan Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, which launched a civil war that has killed tens of thousands.
I would welcome a probe into which companies in China, India, and elsewhere are paying blood money for U.S.-sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil.
These are just two examples. The list could go on.
Ilya Gurin
Mountain View
Thank you, Treasurer Levy
I just wanted to send a note of appreciation for publishing Alameda County Treasurer Henry Levy’s thoughtful editorial.
As a Jewish resident of Alameda County who has felt deep anguish over the loss of life in Israel and Gaza, I feel inspired by actions like Levy’s which are nonviolent, principled and push for human-centered solutions over militaristic ones. Californians want and need a way to respond to the heartbreaking loss of life and suffering we have witnessed over the last 16 months. Divestment is a way for citizens of a democracy to advocate for another way forward and eventually a world safe for all.
Ammi Keller
Oakland
Divestment is a betrayal
I am writing in response to Henry Levy, the treasurer of Alameda County, who announced his decision to divest from Caterpillar due to use of its products by the Israel Defense Forces. While he criticizes Israel for its treatment of Palestinians and claims this justifies divestment, he fails to acknowledge the essential role these vehicles play in protecting innocent Israeli lives.
Divesting from Caterpillar is not just about making a statement but actively weakening Israel through financial management. This action is a betrayal of his own people, as it punitively targets Israel without considering the security requirements of a democracy under existential threat.
I urge readers to reflect on the impact of these decisions and to recognize the importance of a strong Israel to the well-being of Jews worldwide.
Ben Bakhshi
Foster City
Levy makes me proud
I wanted to thank J. and Alameda County Treasurer Henry Levy for publishing the op-ed on the decision to sell Caterpillar bonds.
It made me feel proud to be a Jew.
I’ve been feeling this chasm growing in my relationship to Judaism since college. I had joined the school’s Hillel and one Shabbat had invited a Holocaust survivor to come speak. I don’t remember exactly what I said or asked him, but I do remember clearly that he looked at me and told me I wasn’t a real Jew because I wasn’t a Zionist. I was deeply hurt and confused.
Levy’s words and his actions remind me that my support for a free and liberated Palestine come from my values as a Jew.
Gina Schumacher
Oakland
Fight for your values locally too
Elaine Schneerson Leeder’s op-ed (“We can resist tyranny by following in the footsteps of the Jewish Labor Bund,” Jan. 8 online) lays out a roadmap for pushing back against the threats to democracy and society from the Trump administration. But this doesn’t need to stop us from advocating for our own community as well.
In the California Democratic Party, there are candidates running to be delegates to our state convention who will stand up for Democratic and Jewish community values, including support of Israel.
To paraphrase David Ben-Gurion’s famous quote, we must fight the far right’s authoritarian agenda as if there was no antisemitism on the left, and we must fight antisemitism on the left as if there was no far-right authoritarian agenda.
Michael Harris
Bodega Bay
In memory of a Tawonga staffer
Congratulations to Camp Tawonga on its 100th birthday. Please remember my niece Annais Rittenberg, who was killed there by a falling tree on July 3, 2013. She was the art specialist and would have been a senior at UC Santa Cruz that fall. She would be 33 now. May her memory be a blessing forever.
Maureen Rittenberg
San Francisco
My family paid the price of grudges
I appreciated Rabbi Dov Greenberg’s beautiful and salient rendering of “The hidden cost of holding grudges isn’t worth paying” in the Jan. 19 Torah column.
I remember from my childhood, hearing that my father’s family were the “champions of grudge holding.” Indeed, a perceived slight by my maternal grandmother led my father to hold a grudge against her and my grandfather for the next 10 years.
During these years, there was much turmoil between my parents, as my mom navigated between the love for her parents against my dad’s cruel grudge. The “heightened stress” that the rabbi warns of spilled over in our family, particularly to my younger sister who experienced some residual stress in the years that followed.
Also, my father distanced himself from attending events with my mom’s extended family, causing her to make excuses for his continued absences.
This was all against a backdrop of my father having placed locks on our two backyard gates that led out to our grandparent’s house next door, so that I and my sisters wouldn’t be able to visit them. Looking back, this act must have been more symbolic of his anger rather than anything workable, since my sisters and I simply walked out our front door to their home, a few steps away.
After a decade-long grudge and when our grandfather was dying from cancer, my father went next door to ask my grandparent’s forgiveness.
Yes, he finally apologized but as Rabbi Greenberg cautioned, “relationships fracture and families fall apart.” We were all left picking up the pieces wrought by my father’s actions.
Sharon Brown
Walnut Creek
A different take on Oakland teachers union
The Jan. 14 article “Investigation finds Oakland teacher created ‘unwelcoming’ environment for Jews” implies that not just one single teacher, but the entire teachers union known as the Oakland Education Association (OEA) has created an unwelcoming or unsafe environment for Jewish students across the district, citing a December 2023 “teach in” as one piece of evidence.
Toward the end of the article, a flyer for a union-led information session called “Teaching Palestine in 2025” was cited as further evidence of the union’s continued bias against Jewish students.
As a Jewish member of OEA, I attended that very information session the day after reading the article. Upon arrival I encountered two veteran Jewish teachers leading the session and facilitating a diverse group of participants (including several other Jewish members) in nuanced discussion around teaching strategies to support inclusion and respect for all people. I even heard one teacher speak happily about the marked reduction in antisemitic behavior that she observed in her class after they participated in the 2023 teach in. Not so scary after all.
Katie Kelly-Hankin
Berkeley
We love Israel too
Thank you for your Jan. 18 article “Israel-Hamas deal is set, but Lafayette overpass vigil for hostages continues.” It’s encouraging to read about the local community taking action and keeping these tragic issues alive in the public mind. (And what a ray of hope we have seen, now that some hostages are being released!)
I noticed that the article didn’t mention the tremendous support the local Messianic community has been to this “overpass” effort. A faithful group from our congregation, Brit Hadasha Messianic Fellowship, has been up there on the bridge since day one. We cherish Israel so much and are heart-broken about the continued state of the remaining Israeli hostages. Our congregation strongly stands with Israel and our local Jewish community.
While on the bridge, we’ve had so many wonderful conversations with those from the local Jewish community, who have expressed such gratitude that we are there alongside them for this long struggle. For us, it has been a joy to meet them and to support them.
David Abramsky
Concord
Trump’s order hurts us all
I am trying hard to find compassion for the Jews who are asking other Jews to turn people over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (“Rabbis denounce Jewish security CEO’s call to deport non-citizens who ‘support terror,’” Jan. 28)
President Donald Trump’s executive order, which purports to protect Jews, targets foreign students and other noncitizens, who are primarily people of color. But virtually all of the violence directed at Jewish institutions, including the 2018 murder of 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been perpetrated by U.S.-born white men.
The same administration that is claiming to address antisemitism turns a blind eye to the mostly white domestic terrorist groups that proudly chant Nazi slogans and spread misinformation about the threat of “replacement” by Jews. Trump went so far as to release roughly 1,500 such individuals from prison, wiping their records clean, after they had been convicted of felonies for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Many of these individuals are members of groups known to be profoundly antisemitic.
We already have laws for the deportation of people who pose a risk to our nation. The president’s executive order is a stunt designed to divide Jews and feed raw meat to his rabid followers. I am gratified to see so many Jewish organizations voicing opposition to Trump’s attack on free speech and flagrant pandering to anti-Islamic racists.
I do not know what it will take to stop this weaponization of antisemitism. I do know it is not consistent with Jewish values to turn in our neighbors for having a different opinion.
Laurie Leiber
Oakland
With friends like these…
Your glowing article “Local members of Socialist Workers Party defy the far left on Israel” (Jan. 21, online) gives the impression that you did not look too deeply “under the hood.”
Having just spent some time I can’t get back perusing its website, themilitant.com, I can tell you that among other things, it seems oddly supportive of North Korea’s government, has an article called “‘Enshrining’ abortion weakens fight for women’s rights” and has a lot of complaints about “woke” and transgender people.
This is not a group whose support about which I would boast. “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” is more like it.
Katherine Falk
Oakland