S.F. Jewish lifestyles of the not rich and famous
I always find the stories of the rich and famous Jews of San Francisco fascinating (“Time-tripping through San Francisco’s Jewish history,” Sept. 2). It is intriguing that the Haas and Lilienthal families celebrated Christmas yet hung no mezuzahs on their doors.
My great-great-grandfather, Lazar Solomon, married Pauline Mansfield in San Francisco in 1852. After a bit of research in the Magnes archives, I discovered that Lazar helped start Sherith Israel because his family kept kosher and they needed a shochet. I also discovered that in the 1870s, they lived on Taylor Street, just a few houses from Market — very close to Sherith Israel on Post and Taylor. Their daughter, Belle, married Charles Munter. I have their two sets of sterling. I assume one is for milk and one for meat!
These were not the wealthy or the famous of San Francisco, but they did have their place in its history. I have yet to see any history that reaches deeply beyond the Levi Strauss, Dinkelspiel, Lilienthal, Haas grouping. Yet the Solomons and Munters are buried in a large family plot very close to the front of Hills of Eternity.
Having grown up in Buffalo, and not paying much attention to my S.F.-born grandmother until it was too late to ask questions, I would love to learn more about the “simpler” families who helped establish San Francisco.
Amina Harris | Davis
House sweet it is
On behalf of San Francisco Heritage, the nonprofit steward of the Haas-Lilienthal House since 1973, thank you for tracing the city’s rich yet little-known Jewish heritage through its historic places.
As stated in your excellent article, the house is the city’s only Victorian house-museum and a monument to the special role Jewish immigrants played in the early development of San Francisco and the American West.
Led by co-chairs Alice Russell-Shapiro and David Wessel — and abetted by the article’s irrepressible tour guide, John Rothmann — the $4.3 million campaign for San Francisco Heritage/Haas-Lilienthal House honors the legacy of the city’s pioneering Jewish community by safeguarding one of its few remaining physical landmarks. (Although not part of the campaign leadership, Fred Rosenbaum’s expertise has been invaluable as lead scholar for the proposed Jewish Heritage Education Program at the house.)
Announced in 2015, the campaign has now raised 89 percent of its goal. Appropriately, our success is largely attributable to the generosity and sense of civic responsibility shared by San Francisco’s contemporary Jewish community, honoring the spirit of its forebears. We hope others will join us by making a gift at www.sfheritage.org/campaign to enable the house to remain open to the public in perpetuity.
Mike Buhler | San Francisco
President & CEO, San Francisco Heritage
Report on SFSU protest shows ‘gross incompetence’
I was outraged at the conduct of students and the administration at San Francisco State when a talk by Jerusalem’s mayor was intentionally disrupted. The investigative report paints a picture of gross incompetence as well as indifference to the concerns of Jewish students (“Hillel rips SFSU report on protest of Israeli mayor’s visit,” Sept. 9).
Among the findings are that the protesters disrupted the event and that “Student Affairs’ inaction implicitly sanctioned the protest.” Equally damning was the finding that “Student Affairs, including the Student Conduct Office, failed to acknowledge or respond to three student complaints that were filed shortly after the event” (www.tinyurl.com/sfstate-report-protest).
The problem is a fundamental lack of respect for the rights of others. A faculty member was quoted in the report as questioning why SFSU would host the mayor. The disrupting students told the investigator that they do not wish to engage in dialogue with those who have opposing views on the subject.
Unless the attitude of students, faculty and staff changes regarding the value of listening to other points of view, nothing will change. Unless there are real consequences for students and others who violate the rules of conduct and of civil discourse, nothing will change. Students who disrupt speakers are lawbreakers and should be prosecuted and expelled. Otherwise these assaults on free speech will continue.
Gil Stein | Aptos
Roseanne Barr’s vulgarity doesn’t deserve attention
I did not enjoy seeing a large headline about Roseanne Barr calling Hillary Clinton a “Jew hater” (“Roseanne Barr says calling Clinton ‘Jew hater’ came from ‘a deep desire for justice and peace,’” Sept. 2). She is and has always been a loud, vulgar person — why do Jews see her as some authority? Why put her hate words in a headline when the article does not address why Roseanne Barr made that statement? Does she really have a quiet place in her mind?
Sherrie Epstein | Palo Alto
Israel’s credibility at stake
The State Department’s unprincipled criticism last week of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s video accusing the Arab side of ethnic cleansing by promoting the two-state solution, which seeks a “Judenrein” Palestinian state, was shocking. But Israel’s own defense minister may have sabotaged Netanyahu’s effort.
Avigdor Lieberman just repeated his long-held position that Arab Israelis should be transferred to any future Palestinian state. What a stupid statement, and one whose timing was even more stupid, following Netanyahu’s video.
Israel’s credibility hinges on its ability to be right. When it is right, it can convince its friends it is justified in using overwhelming force against its enemies, day in and day out. Those loyal Arab citizens of the State of Israel and others who realize their loyalty is in their own best interests, even if they don’t like it, are part of the fabric of Israeli society.
I wonder if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing in the current Israeli government.
Desmond Tuck | San Mateo
‘Israel travel warning insulting’
On Aug. 23, the State Department updated its “Israel, The West Bank and Gaza Travel Warning” on its official web site (tinyurl.com/travel-state-gov-israel).
The warning begins by advising against travel to the Gaza Strip, which it laudably notes is controlled by Hamas, a “foreign terrorist organization.” However the next paragraph, concerning the Palestinian Authority-ruled West Bank, refers to “a spike in violence,” while obscuring the fact that Palestinians are behind the terror and Jews are being targeted. And the travel warning’s next sentence expressly condemns Israel for casualties resulting from its efforts to defend its citizens.
The reference to the rise in tensions from October 2015 also ignores Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ role in inciting the terror wave with his speech on Sept. 16, 2015, in which he declared “we welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem” and denounced Jews visiting Jerusalem’s Temple Mount because “they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet.”
The State Department warning misleads U.S. citizens and is unfair to Israel. It also insults the memory of murdered American citizens Eitam Henkin, Ezra Schwartz and Taylor Force, as well as Israeli victims like Aharon Banita-Bennet, Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, Dafna Meir and 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel. It should be changed immediately.
Stephen A. Silver | San Francisco