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Monday April 10, 2006

Letters

The real losses of low pay

Thank you for your cover story about Jewish early childhood education (March 24). After sending both of my children to a synagogue preschool, I agree strongly that children’s early Jewish educational experiences can build lifelong connections to Judaism.

However, as a Jewish preschool teacher, I feel the article did not accurately portray how ridiculously inadequate our compensation is when compared to the demands placed upon us. I earned the same amount working as a temporary administrative assistant 15 years ago that I now make as a Jewish preschool teacher. It’s obvious that my current job requires far more skill and responsibility, so why isn’t it compensated accordingly?

Jewish organizations and parents need to give some serious thought to how we see Jewish preschool teachers. If we expect teachers to be professional educators, we need to acknowledge that the current reality of low pay, poor working conditions and lack of respect does not support this expectation.

We need to provide livable salaries, more paid preparation time and support for teachers’ educational development. Otherwise, talented people will continue to cycle out of the profession, or never even enter it, and the loss will be ours and our children’s.

Cindy Sloan | Oakland

No moral backbone

“Enjoying a cardinal moment” (March 31 j.) displays a rather prominent photograph of Rabbi Stephen Pearce, and other Jewish dignitaries attending the elevation of William J. Levada to cardinal in Rome.

It was disappointing to see that Pearce lacked the moral fortitude exhibited by Mayor Gavin Newsom, by boycotting Archbishop Levada’s elevation. Perhaps, Pearce has papal envy.

Newsom courageously announced that he would not attend the elevation of Levada, after the Vatican, and Levada’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated its opposition to gay adoptions. While it’s nice that Pearce’s Reform movement, and synagogue, supports the elevation of gay clergy, it is troubling that Pearce lacks the moral backbone to condemn Levada for this blatant rebuke of human rights.

Joel H. Siegal | San Francisco

‘Jewish traitors’

I do not understand why in the March 31 cover story about Internet haggadahs (“Click, print, seder”) that Dan Pine found it necessary to waste any print on the availability of haggadahs for self-hating, so-called “messianic Jews,” aka “Jews” for Jesus.

Why did Pine provide a platform for these Jewish defectors to Christianity? By referencing haggadahs for these Jewish traitors along with his discussion of other haggadahs, Pine equated the religious practices of real Jews with the artifice of these Christian converts masquerading as Jews.

According to their Web site, the goal of “Jews” for Jesus is “to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide.”

That is not a cause Pine should be promoting in this magazine.

Steve Stark | Walnut Creek

Editor’s note: In researching this article we found a large number of online haggadahs were Christian. We felt it was important to point this out, so that those doing a Web search would use some caution. We never meant to equate haggadahs from so-called Messianic Jews with authentic Jewish haggadahs.

Haggadahs galore

I don’t know where Rabbi Bill Blank shops for his haggadahs, but bob and bob typically still has a few hundred to choose from on the day of the seder.

While searching the Internet for supplementary material for your seder can be quite fruitful, there’s nothing like physically comparing four or five haggadahs side-by-side and being able to discuss them with a knowledgeable guide when making such an important decision which will make or break your seder.

Ellen Bob | Palo Alto
president, Bob and Bob Fine Jewish Gifts, Crafts and Books

Riding with dignity

As the new executive director of

the Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni/DPT), I was deeply troubled by the incident described in Sima Grabovsky’s March 10 letter.

We take all reports of driver misconduct very seriously, and I believe that all passengers deserve to be treated professionally and with courtesy by our employees. Although I cannot disclose the details of personnel matters, please be assured that we have investigated this incident and taken appropriate action.

I thank Grabovsky and j. for bringing this matter to my attention, and I look forward to working with all of San Francisco’s diverse communities in my new role at the MTA.

Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. | San Francisco
executive director/ceo of MTA

The answer is no

As for John Meirsheimer and Stephen Walt’s contention that Israel and American Jews exerted undue influence to push the United States into war with Iraq, let’s not get fancy, let’s stick to some stupid questions. Has Israel materially benefited from the American invasion of Iraq? Specifically, is Israel more secure? No. Is Israel richer? No. Is Israel more powerful? No.

As for the allegation of influence of a Jewish lobby on the decision to invade Iraq: 1) Jews compose less than 3 percent of the American population. 2) There are as many, if not more, Jews opposed to the war and Bush as there are for the war and Bush. 3) U.S. foreign policy has always been and will always be dictated by U.S. interests, which in the Middle East are oil. The United States supports Israel not out of altruism, but from pragmatic self-interest. Israel is the United States’ strongest and most durable ally in a hostile region.

As for the allegation that Israel is not a true democracy, remember that the American two-party system, in which big money buys a big voice, is hardly a model of representational government, especially in comparison to Israel’s highly pluralistic parliamentary circus.

Dr. Doron Schwarz | El Cerrito

Not far enough

While I was gratified to read Yitzhak Santis and Earl Raab’s views (March 31 j.), they do not go far enough to expose John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s attempt to manipulate public opinion by blaming the Jews, AIPAC and Israel in their one-sided paper.

Unfortunately, Mearsheimer and Walt are employed by respected academic institutions. However, their extensively footnoted paper, full of assumptions and quotes taken out of context, is not scholarly research.

Scholarly research presents research that is balanced and not intentionally distorted and biased. When Harvard ordered the two authors to remove the university’s logo they were clearly showing that this is not an “official” publication but merely the opinion of two individuals. Anti-Semitism knows no boundaries, and we certainly know it exists in universities across the country.

The authors attempt to manipulate public opinion for political gain. Prior to the Iraqi war, Mearsheimer signed an anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian petition. Both authors are on record as being against the war. Just like Hitler before them, Mearsheimer and Walt attempt to “blame the Jews” for their own political gain in their Hitler-esque diatribe.

Andrea Rouah | San Francisco

Hatchet job

I look forward to reading high quality and thoughtful reviews in j. and, therefore, was dismayed to read Adina Kletter’s March 31 pretense of a review of Norman Finkelstein’s “Beyond Chutzpah.”

Kletter simply dismisses his work outright, stating that he “crams his book with dubious sources that most often would not stand up to careful scrutiny.”

Alan Dershowitz’s writings constitute a sizeable portion of Finkelstein’s sources. Other major sources were from B’Tselem: the Israeli Human Rights Organization, and Amnesty International, two extremely reputable international organizations both of which double-checked the information.

Indeed, University of California Press engaged five outside reviewers instead of the usual two, to be sure the book is academically sound in addition to a fact checker. Much of the review is a personal attack on Finkelstein rather than a serious analysis of his work.

Kletter quotes Peter Novick’s criticisms of Finkelstein’s previous book, unethically passing them off as though they were criticism of the current book. Instead, she might have quoted praise from professor Baruch Kimmerling of the Hebrew University on the back of the book.

Surely, one may disagree with Finkelstein’s argument or his style, but Kletter’s hatchet job is an affront to the j. readership.

Diane L. Wolf | Berkeley

Singled out

Thank you for the feature article on the Jewish Singles Over Forty (March 31 j.).

We are delighted to have this umbrella group promoting the activities that have been happening in the Bay Area for Jewish singles over 40 for the past several years.

A wonderful follow-up story would be one (or more) highlighting the various groups for singles over 40 in different geographical locations.

Our Yachad group, sponsored by Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, meets monthly on the first Sunday of the month. We list all our events in the j. calendar and on our Web site: www.temple-isaiah.org, as well as other sites. Interested singles should call me at the synagogue office (925) 283-8575 or email me (adultprogramming@temple-isaiah.org) for further details.

Mary Anne Winig | Lafayette
adult program coordinator, Temple Isaiah

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