A thank you to Dr. Saliman
For years I’ve read Dr. Jerry Saliman’s health columns in J., and recently I find myself reading them multiple times. His clarity and honesty come through all his columns. But, more importantly, his patience and understanding — not necessarily as a medical professional, but as a caring human being — are what impact me the most. I was especially moved by his story of how playing his viola stirred a buried 30-year emotion of forgiveness that only came to light after a funeral. (“I played viola for my hospice patients as a way of saying goodbye,” Dec. 30)
His simple conclusion to remember to apologize, forgive, appreciate and love is profound. Although we are all reminded of this every single day and follow through with lip service, it is sometimes so hard to follow through with action.
Nachman Goodman | San Rafael
I’m 84 and frightened for future
In the final Sunday newsletter of 2025, editor-in-chief Chanan Tigay wrote about how he would remember the year as one in which “antisemitism accelerated its unwelcome comeback, both around the world and here at home in the Bay Area.”
I’m 84 and grew up in the Jewish neighborhood of Albany Park in Chicago. There were Holocaust survivors in my neighborhood, but I was too young to understand the magnitude of horror they must have endured. This is a frightening time to be Jewish. Today I feel afraid not so much for myself, but for the younger Jews and what the future holds for them.
That said, I am a member of the Berkeley Moshav community, and when the building is ready for move-in sometime at the beginning of 2027, I’ll be moving into my new home. Most of the members are younger, and many are parents with young children. So I worry. Will we be safe? Or will we be a target for deranged people who want to attack us in our homes? I have no answers … just hope and prayers.
Nancy Kron | El Cerrito
Offense is defense, Mr. Wiener
State Sen. Scott Wiener describes the war in Gaza as a genocide, yet in 2023 stated that he was opposed to Israel moving 1 million Palestinians from northern Gaza to the south. Israel took that extraordinary step to protect civilians in Gaza. If Israel was intent on committing genocide, it would have not have moved civilians away from a war zone. In contrast, Hamas refused to allow Gazans to take shelter in over 500 kilometers of underground tunnels. Israel went to greater lengths to protect civilians than did Hamas.
The use of the term genocide for the war in Gaza is propaganda, deliberately used to compare Israel to the Nazis, and diminishes the horrors of the millions of people who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Mr. Wiener stated that he supports funding Israel for defensive weapons, but not offensive weapons (“Wiener, in J. interview, elaborates on why he now calls Israel’s war a ‘genocide,’” Jan. 13). On Oct. 7 alone, 5,000 missiles were launched into Israel from Gaza. Hezbollah began to launch missiles into northern Israel, and for well over a year Israelis there could not live in their homes. Yemen and Iran have launched drones and missiles at Israel, resulting in severe damage to apartments and medical centers.
That Israel has not suffered tens of thousands of casualties is a tribute to its government developing defensive systems and bomb shelters. Yet Mr. Wiener apparently thinks that Israel should have to sustain attacks without fighting back. In denying Israel’s right to defend itself with offensive weapons, Wiener is really saying that he does not think Israel has the right to exist.
Robert Edelman | Oakland
Pogroms in the West Bank
The story “Israeli rabbi sounds alarm about settler violence in the West Bank during S.F. talk” (Jan. 30) should alert all of us to the pogroms against West Bank Palestinians. These outrageous acts are done in the name of Zionism, which leads to anti-Israel feelings and, unfortunately, antisemitism. Our leadership needs to strongly condemn these acts.
Barry Chauser | San Francisco
March with others, but defend Israel
Jews were at the forefront of demonstrations against ICE in Minneapolis last month (“In Minnesota, Bay Area rabbis say ICE crisis demands unity, action,” Jan. 28). Many rabbis and others who march for justice correctly cite our Jewish values, our responsibility to protect the oppressed. In doing so, we turn a blind eye to overtly anti-Zionist marchers, some holding Palestinian flags and signs attacking Israel, as just happened in New York City. We are in common cause with our detractors because of a presumably higher value.
While Jews march in opposition to countless injustices, it seems we are hesitant to march or speak in defense of Israel. And when we do, many feel the need to add “imperfect as Israel is…” or “though I disagree with much going on in Israel…”
Outspoken politicians, pundits and rabbis, often citing Torah, repeat the inflammatory and false claim of “genocide” on the part of Israel. What we rarely see from such leaders are condemnations of explicit, unrelenting calls for actual genocide — the elimination of the Jewish state and the murder of Jews — by Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, Students for Justice in Palestine and so many others. It is as if Oct. 7, and Hamas saying it would return to attack civilians in Israel, did not happen.
I would not abandon support for countless causes that demand our attention. I do, however, suggest that we devote much more of our time and resources to confronting antisemites, who daily attack us, and to enemies who vilify Israel for defending itself.
Michael Gilfix | Palo Alto
Stop trying to make friends
Regarding the Feb. 3 JTA story “In 92NY talk, Bret Stephens urges ‘dismantling’ ADL and investing more in Jewish identity,” Stephens suggests taking resources used to fight antisemitism and redirecting them to Jewish education.
There are three baskets in our current system: enabling Jewish education, fighting antisemitism and reaching out to other communities. The first two are beneficial. It’s the last one that perpetually fails — Oct. 7 demonstrated that they will never be our friends.
Especially here in the Bay Area, much money and time and effort is spent on interfaith this and public benefit that. Decades and decades prove that it doesn’t help, and in fact it sadly reinforces the unfair belief that Jews have a lot of money.
Jews should turn inward and spend their money and time and effort on their own community. As Stephens says, invest in Jewish identity. Make sure Jewish kids get a Jewish education, provide ongoing Jewish education for adults, and lift up other Jews professionally.
Jason Jungreis | San Francisco