No tickets required on Shabbat
As happens every year, Jewish newspapers at this time of year carry stories and letters concerning the custom in most synagogues of charging for seats during the High Holy Days.
Here’s my serious suggestion for your consideration: Once-a-week services on Shabbat are conducted in these synagogues. The doors are open and no tickets are required. The Sabbath is more important than Rosh Hashanah. The davening is even shorter. Usually there are fewer people in the pews.
Take my advice and attend a Shabbat service once (or more) and stay home when “tickets are required.”
Rabbi Simcha A. Green | Berkeley
What’s ‘civil’ about this dialogue?
On Sept. 14, the New Israel Fund honored a champion of “civil dialogue on tough issues” (Sept. 12 issue of J.). In plain language, it meant that the honoree has fulfilled NIF’s mission of criticizing Israel for its deficiencies in “areas of social and economic justice, civil and human rights, religious pluralism, shared society and environment.” These are the issues that concern J Street, Jewish Voice for Peace, and similar groups.
My question is: Who benefits from this “civil,” or as J Street calls it, “open,” dialogue? One can easily detect that as these organizations have lately become more active on the American scene, the U.S. administration’s support for Israel has weakened. Moreover, their criticism serves as a source of anti-Israeli propaganda.
Both NIF and J Street claim these “issues are crucial to the long-term survival of the Jewish state.” Maybe. But for now Israel, surrounded by mortal enemies on all sides, needs to survive in the short-term.
Of course, Israel should not be beyond criticism, but at this historic time, it is much more important to support the Jewish state, rather than endlessly criticizing it. Priorities matter.
Vladimir Kaplan | San Francisco
Israel stands on front lines
It was an emotional rollercoaster since Israel launched its defensive “Protective Edge” operation against Hamas’ rockets barrages. Scores of letters maligned Israel’s actions in Gaza as immoral, while others lauded the medical treatment extended to injured Syrians and Palestinians.
Unfortunately most letter-writers and reporters, as well intended as they were about Israel and its neighbors, forgot one basic element: Israel stands in the frontline of the civilized world versus the onslaught of Muslim extremism, as evidenced by Hamas’ and the Palestinian Authority’s drive to annihilate Israel, Iran’s nuclear ambition, and ISIS’ aim to take over the Mideast and more.
Sam Liron | Foster City
El Tecolote didn’t get both sides
El Tecolote, the Spanish-English biligual newspaper published in the Mission District, carried a full-page article in its September 11-24 issue, “Latin American Leaders Condemn Israel’s Actions,” written by one of its regular contributors, Noura Khoury.
The article reiterates the absurd charges made by the heads of many Central and South American countries that Israel is a “terrorist state” and states that many of them have recalled their ambassadors from Israel. The newspaper also reported on the protests in Oakland to prevent an Israeli ship from off-loading its cargo. Published both in English and Spanish, there was no input from those who disagreed with any of the aforementioned accusations and actions.
Bay Area Jews should keep this in mind when they go to the voting booth, when Jewish philanthropies give money to community groups or when we plan vacations abroad.
Stephen Karetzky | San Francisco
Option for seniors’ classes
A friend tells me she read in J. about an educational organization serving retirees here in San Francisco: OLLI (“Students at SFSU’s institute for older adults thrive on learning for its own sake,” Aug. 28). It’s a great organization but not the only one. I have been retired for 11 years and have belonged to the Center for Learning in Retirement (CLIR) all that time.
CLIR was created by UC Berkeley Extension in 1973 and offers educational, social and cultural programs for Bay Area residents 50 and older. We are located in the Mechanics Institute building, 57 Post St., Suite 614, S.F., and have members from five Bay Area counties. I hope people will check us out at www.clirsf.org or (415) 543-3965, because we’re an active, interesting, inspired community of retirees.
Pat Tibbs | San Francisco
Really? By any means?
The J. editorial said “Destroy ISIS now, by any means necessary” (Sept. 5). What does that statement mean? Does that really mean everything, or are there some tactics, like those that may include large-scale civilian deaths that the J. can never support in order to prevent more 9/11s?
Should Hamas be destroyed by any means necessary? Life in Israel next to Gaza is impossible. Seventy percent of Gaza’s Israeli neighbors have left for now; the Iron Dome can only do so much. Furthermore, Hamas is obtaining rockets and mortars that will be more accurate, powerful and longer range than ever before, which could kill thousands. What should Israel do? Protect its citizens “by any means necessary,” or accept the losses? The answer should be obvious.
Neal Wohlmuth | San Francisco
Look elsewhere for real courage
From Miriam-Webster online: “Courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”
Isn’t it ridiculous to say that J. had “shown the courage” to publish Amy Neustein’s critique of Elie Wiesel’s ad (letters, Aug. 29)? Amy Neustein’s critique itself uses a trick of substituting the actual content of the ad with something Amy Neustein imagined to be there and then writing an article against this imagined content.
The next letter, “Stop blaming victims of child abuse,” performs a miracle of connecting the ad (and, I guess, Elie Wiesel himself) with “rationalization of violence against children,” “trivializing abuse of all children,” “condoning violence against Palestinians,” “blaming child victims for their abuse” and “whitewashing a society in which children are expendable.”
Many thanks to Rabbi Ari Cartun for his wonderful response to Amy Newstein’s op-ed.
Anastasia Glikshtern | San Francisco