Image of my dad from 1920s
Your July 16 “From the J. Archives” column about Jewish sleepaway camps included a photo of campers in swim gear in the mid-1920s at Camp Tawonga. The fifth boy from the left is my dad, Barney Freeman. Thank you.
Gordon Freeman | Walnut Creek
I ask: What exactly is Israel to do?
As an Israeli and former Oaklander and Jewish Community Relations Council board member, I write with the grief of loss far too close to home, including funerals for young soldiers. I honor the words of Rabbi Doug Kahn, a treasured friend and respected leader, and understand the call for Israeli restraint. (“As a Zionist and lifelong advocate, I believe Israel has gone too far,” July 21)
But here in Israel, the realities are agonizing. In Gaza, Hamas embeds itself among civilians, uses hospitals for war and hijacks aid, all forcing impossible decisions daily.
I mourn every innocent life lost in Gaza. Yet, after nearly two years of war, I have not seen a single Gazan leader or global partner demand unconditional hostage release, allow Red Cross visits or take steps toward deradicalizing education. There has been no gesture acknowledging our pain and no move to end it.
So I ask: What exactly is Israel to do?
How can we protect our people when Hamas, Iran and others promise more massacres and use their own citizens as shields, all while the world is mostly silent about Israeli suffering? No democracy would accept this reality. We long for a partner in peace.
Until then, we cannot be alone in seeking an end to this tragedy.
Dan Cohen | Raanana, Israel, and Oakland
A new path for peace
Negotiations continue for a cease-fire in Gaza, but not yet about the end of Hamas governance there, an important goal for Israel. That is the only way to a long-lasting end to the war.
People ask what comes after Hamas. Recently, Sheikh Wadee al-Jaabari of Hebron offered a peace plan that included recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, allowing workers from Hebron into Israel and zero tolerance for terrorism. Other sheikhs in the region agree, representing hundreds of thousands of people.
Many Palestinians in Gaza now oppose Hamas. New leaders for Palestinians and Israelis are needed for a new path to peace.
Norman G. Licht | Palo Alto
Trust teachers: Oppose AB 715
In the July 11 story “Opposition swells against landmark bill to curb antisemitism in California schools,” Gabe Stutman details the groups standing against AB 715 and their reasons for doing so. As a card-carrying member of the California Teachers Association and a proud and practicing Jew, I am deeply concerned. Who are we willing to antagonize in order to pass this legislation?
First of all, we should trust teachers. I, alongside my CTA colleagues, am a trained professional who acts in the best interest of all of my students. I take offense at the suggestion that the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC) is more knowledgeable about how to ensure the safety, belonging and growth of my students than I am.
If the CTA opposes AB 715, let’s listen carefully to the reasons why it knows this bill will harm our students through censorship and the stifling of open and critical conversation. Are we willing to make enemies of all California public school teachers?
Second, David Bocarsly, executive director of JPAC, states that morphing this bill into a “universal anti-hate bill” is a “non-starter.” What could possibly be a valid reason why we are unwilling to align with other marginalized groups in order to pursue security and justice for all of us together?
History is rife with examples of strength through solidarity. Jews were partners and champions of the Civil Rights Movement, and we knew our own welfare was intertwined with all people facing structural oppression. Why aren’t we willing to weave our safety into standing alongside our LGBTQ+, Black, Latino, Asian, Muslim and Native American neighbors? What do we have to lose?
Laura Einhorn | San Leandro
All Jews don’t back Israel or AB 715
As one who cares about my Jewish children’s education, I thank the California Teachers Association (CTA) for defending Jews from attempts by pro-Israel groups like JPAC and the Anti-Defamation League to reduce our community to a single perspective or identity. Claiming all Jews support Israel’s actions encourages misunderstanding and fuels anti-Jewish stereotyping.
The bill in the California Senate, AB 715, would make us all less safe. As CTA points out, it would restrict what teachers could teach and students could learn about Israel, Palestine and antisemitism. It would set up a special “antisemitism coordinator” for the schools. No other group has such a representative.
AB 715’s demand that schools not allow expression of anti-Zionist ideas in classrooms would advance the Trump administration’s agenda of censoring American education at all levels. Under AB 715’s confusion of the Israeli state with the Jewish people, a Palestinian student sharing their family’s experience would be condemned as an antisemite.
I and thousands of other Jews who do not support Zionist ideology would be defined out of Judaism and labeled antisemitic. Teachers would be prevented from sharing historic facts about Zionism. I applaud CTA for standing up against censorship and against AB 715 and for teaching the whole truth about Israel and Palestine.
David Spero | San Francisco
Offended by ethnic-studies opposition
I am a Jewish parent of a San Francisco schools graduate and another teen who just completed an ethnic studies course in his freshman year at Lincoln High School. I am deeply offended by Viviane Safrin’s attempt to import the Moms for Liberty playbook into San Francisco and by J.’s complicity in its platforming. (“How San Francisco’s ethnic studies program is failing Jewish students,” July 15)
The fact of the matter is, having to learn about crimes and genocides done in your name is a critical aspect of growing up and learning about the world. The harm doesn’t come from learning about it, but from being subjected to the dissonance from people who want to complicate what is truly not complicated and excuse what we should consider to be inexcusable.
Our children are witnessing the first livestreamed genocide in real time on their phones. Jews should be more interested in truth than in shielding children from having to reckon with it.
Alex Lantsberg | San Francisco