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Friday November 17, 2006

Letters

Who can believe?

Dan Pine rejects Humanistic Judaism (Nov. 10) because it doesn’t allow him to wrestle with God.

Earlier in the article, he gives a more objective background for avoiding Humanistic Judaism. He points to their belief that reason, human intelligence and rational thinking are sufficient to solving the world’s problems. But by looking back at the 20th-century carnage of the Holocaust, Nazism, and communism, how can any Jew believe in the sufficiency of human reason, intelligence, and rationality?

Edward Tamler | San Mateo

Humanist reality

Dan Pine, in his Nov. 10 Humanistic Judaism column, says he doesn’t “see the point of doing Shabbat, High Holy Days, bar/bat mitzvahs or any other Jewish rituals if you utterly reject their source of origin.”

To the contrary, humanists know that people are the sole source of origin of all religious books and traditions, and, as such, have the power and responsibility to reshape what is valuable and life-affirming about such traditions while dispensing with supernaturalism.

The reality is that Jews are a multicultural people with a long history spanning many countries, a people whose traditions have always changed through time and place, and the present is no exception.

Why should humanists who happen to be Jewish apply their best rational thinking to every facet of their lives except their own ethnic tradition?

Many Jews don’t hold supernatural beliefs but belong to traditional synagogues for social and nostalgic reasons, and, as such, are “in the closet.” Not so with those of us who are Humanistic Jews. The beauty and wonder we find in understanding the universe — and each other — using science, art, commitment to justice, reason and empathy, is what we’re made of, and how we honor, Jewish tradition.

Alana Shindler | Berkeley

A skeptical writer

The OneVoice Movement was described in the Nov. 3 j. as “a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization devoted to finding a peaceful resolution to the seemingly intractable conflict.” I am skeptical of its success after reading of the Palestinian delegate proudly describing a heated argument with an Israeli soldier, the subject of which was her heated insistence that Haifa was in Palestine, not Israel.

The article gave no hint about what kind of peace was envisioned, but if the Palestinian representative is unwilling to concede the very existence of Israel, it would be enlightening to find out what “understanding” the organization is in fact seeking.

Michael Roman | Piedmont

Hooray for revue

Plaudits to professor Joel Schechter, the Jewish studies program and the Department of Theater Arts at San Francisco State University, and the cast, musicians, writers and production crew of the recent “Stars, A Yiddish Theater Revue in English.”

The klezmer musicians set the proper mood for the show, and enhanced the performances of the talented student actors who gave enthusiastic portrayals of the stars in the Yiddish theater in 1930.

Diane Callman | San Francisco

‘Obvious’ trend

Sam Lauter (Oct. 27 letters) says he can list many Republicans who aren’t friends of Israel. However, he failed to list any.

Does he mean Pat Buchanan, who is not a Republican? 

Jewish Republicans have proof that Democrats as a whole are moving away from supporting Israel — ex-President Jimmy Carter being just one example. But there are many more.

Having attended conferences and spoken to many of our “representatives” (Democrats) who seem generally uninformed and confused about the situation in the Middle East, it has become very clear that we cannot rely on them to support us in the long run.

This trend has been very obvious to me for the past five years, having attended meetings at both the San Jose Democratic Party, as well as the Palo Alto/Stanford one.

At several San Jose meetings, Israel was generally blamed for all the problems in the Middle East; and at the latter, the newsletter — at the time edited by a “nice Jewish boy” — continued to espouse the views of an avowed anti-Israel activist who will not rest peacefully until Israel ceases to exist.

Barbara Mortkowitz | Los Gatos

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