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Friday November 3, 2006

Letters

Disturbing reaction

I have not seen the Borat movie, but the description in your Oct. 20 article is very disturbing. Even more disturbing is the reaction of two of your panel of reviewers, one a rabbi.

There is no doubt in my mind that the tiny Jewish minority in America (2 percent of the population?) is not much safer than the Jewish community in Germany was in 1932. I am not suggesting we flee to Canada, but we have recently seen anti-Semitism creeping into the light as a result of Israel’s strong defense effort versus Hezbollah, most noticeably among liberal left.

The last thing we need right now is a movie that might be funny to Jews, but to others only serves to reinforce negative stereotypes. Cohen should be urged to find a more appropriate outlet for his creativity.

Allan Altman | Kentfield

Me, me, me

In the Oct. 20 “Two Views” featuring Alan Dershowitz and Michael Lerner, all I could see was only a single point of view: “Me, me, me, look at me!”

That two leaders of the Jewish community (albeit self-appointed) would spend so much energy on personal attacks, you’d hardly think that there were important issues at hand.

Dershowitz cries “Foul!” then threatens legal action and invokes the “anti-Semitism” label so rapidly and frequently that he’s turned himself into a joke.

Lerner makes it clear in his response that he lets his personal distaste of Dershowitz steer his moral and political judgment to the point that he is willing to get into bed with anti-Israeli propagandists simply because they are the enemy of his enemy.

Let’s get some new leaders.

Lee Jaffe | Santa Cruz

Plenty of land

Michael Lerner tells us that Israelis will become stronger by giving up part of the tiny homeland to their enemies the Palestinians. The Muslim Arabs have plenty of land and available homelands for their Palestinian brothers and sisters. Jewish Israelis have one tiny homeland of 20,770 square kilometers. The Muslim Arabs have 16 homelands with 11,793,714 square kilometers. (Source: Time Almanac)

The Arabs have about 568 times as much land as the Jews. Together with just three other Muslim countries, they have 723 times as much land.

Alan Wofsy | San Francisco

Please speak up

I know we’re supposed to appreciate the diversity within the Jewish community, but when I read last week’s diatribe by Alan Dershowitz against Michael Lerner, and your letter writer who proudly identifies as a Jewish Zionist Republican, it makes my stomach turn. The brutal effects of this Republican administration on the most vulnerable in our society, and the tragic impacts of the Israeli occupation on both Israelis and Palestinians, seem lost on these individuals. 

As someone who is active in my shul, who lived in Israel and speaks Hebrew fluently, and most significantly, as a child of a Holocaust survivor, I feel challenged to remain open to these individuals as members of my community. Even though I don’t know Jews who trample on the ethic of tikkun olam in this way, I know they are out there — a handful of them consistently fill j’s letters to the editor with unapologetic rationalizations for all of Israel’s actions.

I fear that many progressive Jews have already given up on reading j. because of the sentiments expressed in these letters. For those who haven’t, please speak up. 

Richard Weiner | Oakland

Like a schoolyard bully

Thank you for printing the “point-counter point” square-off between Professor Dershowitz and Rabbi Lerner). It made for interesting and entertaining reading.

Rabbi Lerner’s comments reminded me of an 8-year-old at a schoolyard. After spending the morning attacking and insulting other kids, when finally confronted, he apologizes only after trying to get in a few more insults. Even with his ”First Amendment defense” (i.e. Tikkun has the right to publish anything), I believe that it showed bad judgment for Rabbi Lerner to republish the Finkelstein article. Did Tikkun ever republish the Ayatollah’s Fatwah against Salman Rushdie? Finkelstein’s article is in the same category.

I was particularly bothered, however, that Rabbi Lerner, a self-proclaimed civil libertarian, would attack Dershowitz, not once, but twice in the same article for Dershowitz’s involvement in the O.J. Simpson case. As a civil libertarian, Rabbi Lerner would be well advised to read the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right of counsel. Rabbi Lerner’s attacks on Dershowitz for his involvement in that case shows a lack of understanding or respect of civil rights.

Rabbi Lerner owes an apology to everyone involved in the administration of justice, and everyone in the civil liberties community. 

Joel Siegal | San Francisco

Follow Lieberman’s exodus

Sam Lauter says (Oct. 27 letters), “For those that want to make standing with Israel a partisan issue, you harm our cause.” I agree; however, Jewish Republicans didn’t make Israel a partisan issue.

Democratic leadership, by indiscriminately vilifying administration strategy in the Middle East, made support of Israel unfortunate collateral damage in the war of hyperbole against the president’s Middle East policy.

There are two possible conclusions that a politically astute Jew can make:

1. Democrats inadvertently created an insufficiently nuanced distinction between supporting Israel and supporting administration Middle East policy.

2. Democratic unwillingness to create a nuanced distinction to score political points because: A) Jews vote Democrat anyway. B) “It’s not our place to take sides” (Howard Dean). C) To energize the base, especially moveon.org faithful who hate “Jew Lieberman,” “sneaky Jewish sympathizers,” and “media-owning Jewish pigs.” D) The “vast majority of Democrats” cannot draw a distinction, so why let truth obstruct a powerful message?

I applaud Sam’s desire to make Israel a nonpartisan issue. However, the party of Jimmy Carter, John Conyers, John Dingell, Al Sharpton, and Cindy Sheehan is no longer the party of Joseph Lieberman. And, with Senator Lieberman’s exodus, it seems Jewish Democrats should do the same.

Eric Svetcov | Mountain View

Anti-Israel zealots

With all due respect, Sam Lauter’s comment that we are best served avoiding partisanship is a fiction. Jews have been overwhelmingly voting Democratic for decades, and in the last election cycle 75 percent of Jews voted for Democrats. Yet in the past year we have seen several disturbing trends that call into question whether we should continue to do so.

Specifically, Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic nomination for the Senate, Nancy Pelosi failed to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorist legislation, and former President Jimmy Carter condemned Israel for attacking Lebanon and wrote a book entitled, “Palestine — Peace Not Apartheid.”

These events reflect monumental changes within the Democratic Party that simply could not have occurred a decade ago. Yet, they have occurred and as Jews we now have an obligation to respond. Do we want to continue supporting a party with increasing numbers of anti-Israel zealots who refuse to call Hezbollah and Hamas “terrorists” and blame Israel for all of the world’s troubles? Or do we want to support Republicans who understand that negotiating with terrorists is folly and standing by Israel is the right thing to do?

Michael Schwab | Menlo Park

Beyond obscene

We are witnessing the Democratic Party’s shift toward anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment. President Carter’s recent unreasoned critique of Israel exemplifies this shift. His assertion that his bigoted rebuke represents Democratic Party sentiment went largely unchallenged by party leaders.

That Carter and Al Sharpton were keynote speakers at the last Democratic National Convention indicates the party’s new direction.

Recent polls have shown a sharp disparity between Republican and Democrat support for Israel. An NBC/WSJ poll (July 2006) showed 84 percent of Republicans supporting Israel against only 43 percent of Democrats.

Congressman John Dingell shocked the Jewish world when he told WDIV TV, “I don’t take sides for or against Hezbollah or for or against Israel.” It is beyond obscene that Democratic Party leaders will not acknowledge the difference between the arsonist and the firefighter; and that party icons support the forces of that seek to destroy both Israel and America.

The leading intellectual lights of the Democratic Party seem to be Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, Al Sharpton, and Jimmy Carter.

American Jews have the obligation to ask themselves: Does the Democratic Party today truly reflect their political and personal priorities?

David Meir-Levi | Menlo Park

Texas leads the way

Richard Weiner’s Oct. 27 letter regarding “the brutal effects of this Republican administration on the most vulnerable in our society” should not be left unanswered. In fact, here in liberal blue-state California and especially in liberal Democrat San Francisco and Marin we have a massive homeless problem.

Hundreds of people die on the street every year because of the selfish liberal Sierra Club backed extreme zoning laws that restrict the construction of low-cost housing and even the expansion of a modest little temple in Marin County. In the red Republican state of Texas, housing is affordable and temples can expand. That is what is meant by “compassionate conservatism.”

Mark Manber | South San Francisco

Closing our ears

The recent canceling of prominent scholar Tony Judt’s speech after phone calls from the Anti-Defamation League was just one of many such incidents where Jewish speakers critical of Israeli policies have been silenced due to pressure by organizations who want to control what ideas we should be able to hear. These groups have undermined even programs that would have featured a spectrum of viewpoints, if one of the speakers held views deemed unacceptable.

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, supposedly a place for the entire Jewish community, has officially barred Jewish Voice for Peace from using the space solely due to its political views.

Suppressing ideas — ideas held by respected, intelligent Jewish thinkers — does not serve our community. The Jewish tradition of open and vigorous debate is not just about freedom of speech; it’s also the way we put our minds and hearts together to find our way to the truth.

We cannot bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict closer by closing our ears to all but a narrow range of ideas. At this time when civil liberties are being weakened and undermined in the United States, our community should be steadfast in its support for freedom of expression.

Dana Bergen | Board of Directors, Jewish Voice for Peace

No immigrant names were changed

Reading Elan Lubliner’s first-person piece (A Local Voice, Oct. 27 j.), once again I winced when he repeated the bubbe meise that people’s names were changed at Ellis Island! I’m sorry, it just isn’t true. No names were ever changed, because there was no government mechanism which allowed for it. There were many translators on hand to check a person’s name and papers against the passenger manifest. These manifests were filled out, usually on board the ship at the port of departure, then handed over to the U.S. immigration authorities on Ellis Island.

Yes, some immigrants did use forged papers or papers belonging to someone else. But no one ever entered Ellis Island as Moishe, was processed then walked out as Michael. It was only once they entered mainstream life on the Lower East Side, that they realized that as well as cutting off their peyes, they would shed their East European names for something easier to pronounce. Elan should be lucky that his name was never changed.

If anyone is interested in learning more about their ancestry, contact the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society at www.jewishgen.org/sfbajgs.

Jeremy G. Frankel | President, San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society

Lennon had it right

Being a little behind in my reading, this past week I finished Dan Pine’s Oct. 13 column on John Lennon as a Jewish sage for the modern world. Really, a terrific observation.

Normally I ponder and move on, but just now I heard John Lennon’s “Imagine” coming over the airwaves ... and, well, Dan Pine’s column came straight to mind.

The future I envision when hearing these lyrics is the realization of all our (as Jews) prayers, aspirations and deeds. 

Peter Bigelow | Concord