More than a ‘Levi Strauss heir’
As San Francisco welcomes its newly elected mayor (“Daniel Lurie will be S.F.’s next mayor — and 4th Jewish mayor in city’s history,” Nov. 7), headlines too often linger on one detail: Daniel Lurie’s status as a “Levi Strauss heir.” This label does not define the person or the leader that he is or ever has been.
Daniel has proven his ability to bring people together to make change happen. His work with Tipping Point Community and other civic organizations embodies the spirit and deeds of better-known community organizers who preceded him and who believed that progress starts with uniting people and diverse interests to work collectively to achieve a common good. He has never relied on status and privilege. In fact, he has taken his privilege and used it for what it should be used.
One of the lessons we should learn from the current state of national politics is the urgent need to move beyond the rhetoric of political labels. Labeling dismisses and ignores the clear will of thousands of San Francisco voters.
Daniel is a part of two outstanding San Francisco families. His stepfather, Peter Haas, was the great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss. His father, Rabbi Brian Lurie, continues to spearhead national and global initiatives to promote equality. And let’s not ever forget the wonderful women who play important roles in his life — his mother, stepmother and, of course, his wife.
He and I attend the same synagogue, went to school together and played on the same soccer teams, which gave me the opportunity to watch him develop into the person that he is. Daniel has been a leader as long as I have known him. He outgrew the labels and epithets a long time ago through his concrete contributions to the life of our city and beyond, and today I’m proud to call him mayor-elect.
Alex Rosenblatt
San Francisco
Take your hat off
In regards to the article about Jonathan Hirsch going to a Palestinian coffee shop in Oakland wearing a baseball cap with a Jewish star (“Man in ‘violent’ Star of David baseball cap asked ‘Are you a Zionist?’ and told to leave Oakland cafe,” Nov. 1), I feel that Hirsch, once he realized how upset the owners were, should have taken off his hat. While he may have the legal right to wear it, this doesn’t mean it was right.
Most Palestinians I have encountered have lost numerous family members to Israeli bombs. Seeing a Jewish star in their coffee shop is like dumping salt into fresh wounds. If you want to be a model for your son, show some respect and compassion. Imagine if you had a guy with a swastika on his cap come into your Jewish deli and refuse to take off the cap? Not respectful or caring! You could have taken off the cap, apologized for offending them and perhaps started a conversation and listen to why it upset them so much.
You just must learn something and grow your heart a little bit, not to mention forge some much needed healing between Jews and Palestinians. I say that as a daughter of Holocaust survivors whose father lost countless family members.
Rhonda Findling
Sebastopol
IDF needs your advice, rabbi
Rabbi Amy Eilberg is to be admired for her idealism in her lamentation over the suffering of Palestinian civilians caught up in the collateral consequences of Israel’s retaliation for the barbaric attack of Oct. 7, 2023 (“Why I couldn’t pray this Yom Kippur,” Oct. 18 online).
It would be nice if she took the time to now compose a “part 2” companion editorial outlining her ideas on practical means by which the Israel Defense Forces should respond to the terrible dilemma they have been presented with in dealing with this choice between survival of their country and decisively eradicating those dedicated to its destruction who are hiding amidst those innocents.
It seems to me that this indeed is “a time for war,” and that a rabbi should be able to realize that choosing to focus on only part of Ecclesiastes 3:8 purposely blurs the Biblical intent.
Charles Brummer
Mountain View
Blessed to have a pro-Israel rabbi
I am so deeply grateful that you published Rabbi Paul Steinberg’s piece (“I am an unapologetically pro-Israel rabbi, no matter what some of my other Bay Area colleagues say,” Oct. 24 online).
I’m a member of his congregation, Kol Shofar, and we feel so blessed and fortunate to have an unapologetically pro-Israel rabbi who is not afraid to advocate for Israel, especially here in the Bay Area. The rabbi’s clarity, dedication and warmth are a healing balm to my soul. Thank you, J., for including his vital voice in your pages!
Deborah Boyar
Novato
Another thank you to Rabbi Steinberg
I want to say a simple but loud “thank you” to Rabbi Paul Steinberg for his bold and brave voice in support of Israel’s right to defend its very existence. On Oct. 24 he stated in part, in his op-ed, “I am a rabbi and an unapologetic Zionist and supporter of Israel.” He explains that he can be critical of Israel, while unabashedly supporting the Jewish homeland. I implore other clergy to stand by his side.
Jeannette Longtin
San Rafael
Rabbi Steinberg is a welcome counterpoint
Rabbi Paul Steinberg’s op-ed strongly and proudly supporting Israel and Zionism is a welcome counterpoint to the sea of virtue signaling that often clouds honest discussion of Israel’s response to the barbarism of Iran and its proxies.
Someone breaks into your house, murders members of your family and perpetrates unspeakable atrocities, and the first thing you’re asked — as if to pass a moral litmus test — is whether you believe that the perpetrators, though through no fault of your own but of the perpetrators’ sponsors and corrupt leaders, have suffered too.
Yes, it’s perfectly fine to criticize Israel’s policies and engage in honest discussion, but there is no cause that justifies the barbarism that occurred on Oct. 7 and 8, 2023, and which continues to occur through the holding of hostages, the indiscriminate firing of missiles on civilian Israeli populations and the use of human shields. If a member of the clergy or the media cannot flatly condemn such conduct without “buts” or equivocation, then it is they who are morally failing.
Those who claim that they couldn’t pray on Yom Kippur because of their perception that Israel has somehow conducted its defense in an immoral manner have a duty to state with particularity what specific actions were immoral and how they would have conducted such a defense themselves.
The rabbi summed it up best when he said, “In fact, I find it cruel to force Jews and Israelis to constantly pass a moral hygiene test by needing to qualify their feelings and thoughts with, ‘But I also recognize the Palestinian suffering.’”
Louis Gurman
San Anselmo