Truckin’ and shucklin’
I noticed, long ago, that the “shuckling” motion that many of us Jews instinctually engage in when davening is eerily similar to the Deadhead dance that many of us instinctively break into whenever the music starts (“For Jewish Deadheads, the music — and love — continues,” Dec. 21).
Truckin’ or davenin’, the long, strange trip goes on and stops in many places along the way. It should not surprise anyone familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead that shuls are one of the stopping points!
Kenny Altman | San Francisco
NIF stands with Israel
Im Tirtzu’s advertisement (Dec. 21, ad, page 9) baits the New Israel Fund’s president, Rabbi Brian Lurie, with inaccuracies and misleading statements, challenging him to “reform” NIF. Im Tirtzu is an extreme right organization, eager to attack NIF for supporting the Jewish state’s promise of social and political equality and freedom of conscience and worship for all citizens, regardless of race, creed or sex, enshrined in the Proclamation of the State of Israel.
This is not a question of standing in solidarity with Israel. New Israel Fund stands with Israel and supports its right of self-defense.
Israel’s democracy is an example to its neighbors. Still, Im Tirtzu uses the recent Gaza military operation as justification for opposing Israel’s human rights sector, free speech and dissent.
Im Tirtzu would have you believe that attention to human rights harms Israel’s international reputation. The opposite is true. The vitality of Israel’s civil society, and Israel’s willingness to examine its own conduct so that it is better able to remedy injustice, enables Israel to stand with democracies and promote the values that we Americans share.
Don’t accept Im Tirtzu’s ad at face value. Go to www.nif.org to see NIF’s work. Im Tirztu hopes you won’t look.
Leslie Kane | San Francisco
Regional board member, New Israel Fund
Protect children with armed guards
When two of my sons were at war, one a corpsman in Afghanistan, one in IDF infantry, I prayed many times a day for their safe return. It did not occur to me to pray for them as boys going to school.
I’m born and raised in Oakland. In our neighborhood, one-quarter of the 50 or so households were Jewish. It was a baby boomer paradise, with games of “man in the middle,” hide and seek, baseball and football. In every other house there were firearms. We went to NRA safe hunter courses. Kids would bring a firearm to school for show and tell. There were no drugs, and behavior modification was a quick whack or restriction. Some parents were tougher than others, and some were rarely seen, working hard to capture the dream.
I say to my fellow Jews, before you rant for ineffectual and unenforceable restrictions, there are over 20,000 gun laws now on our God-given rights. The Constitution protects, not grants. We have armed guards at banks — is money more valuable than children? Politicians have armed guards, also celebrities, rich people and myriads of institutions.
Who will join me for professional armed-guard training and donate standing shifts to protect our most precious beings? Who will donate to pay for an armed-guard service? Let’s do something known to work now!
Maury Polse | Lafayette