‘Height of arrogance’
I would be extremely embarrassed as a Jew to have a non-Jew or, even worse, a Christian read Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s March 16 j. view, “A more human Jesus scares some Christians.” I believe it is the height of arrogance and disrespect to assume you know not only what someone else’s religious beliefs are but how one arrived at those beliefs and that they are inferior to yours.
Who is the rabbi to judge what sustains and doesn’t sustain others even though some of his best friends are Christians?
I commend the rabbi for his individual faith, but he need not insinuate that others are an “affront to God” and just don’t get it like he does.
Naomi Karlin | Oakland
Émigrés’ show
We all so enjoyed the recent performance of “Jeans” that I urge all to come to the next production at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, April 1 at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.
What a thrill it was to see this marvelous musical enthusiastically acted and sung by young émigré children from the Former Soviet Union who are students of Masha Farber’s “Theater Games” classes. They sang their hearts out.
The writers, Caryn Huberman, Diane Claerbout and Enid Davis, expressed their joy with the fine quality of the play, which was accompanied by four émigré musicians.
Peggy and Ron Shapera | Palo Alto
Get the facts
In reference to Dan Pine’s March 2 article on the musical “Jeans!” I think it is misleading and inaccurate to report that “it’s based mostly on historical fact.”
As an employee of Levi Strauss & Co., and a fan of the history of Levi Strauss, the man, I think j. might have had a different take on the historical accurateness of this show had you first checked with the Levi Strauss & Company’s historian, Lynn Downey. Also, please see http://www.levistrauss.com/heritage for more background.
In my opinion, the company is very proud of the history of its founder and the historical accuracy of his philanthropy to the Jewish community and the values that it still embodies today.
Avi Goldberg | San Francisco
Lame comparison?
While I agree with the sentiments expressed in Dan Pine’s March 9 j. column and Steve Lipman’s March 16 letter bemoaning the absence of Jewish neighborhoods in the Bay Area, the comparison to Encino seems lame.
I grew up in Manhattan Beach, the one in Brooklyn. The older generations spoke a heavily inflected Yiddish, and a family Passover seder sounded like Jackie Mason on steroids having conversations with himself.
Every manifestation of Jewish life could be easily found within walking distance, be they Yiddish newspapers, kosher butchers, shvitzes, delicatessens, shuls, yeshivas, bakeries, knish emporiums and luncheonettes where you could order a toasted bialy with a schmear. Appetizing stores abounded where lox was sliced by hand.
Out here we grow frantic when bob and bob closes and relocates. Back there, it would be replaced in a week by a bagel bakery. And yes, I too feel a sense of anxiety when the Dodgers show up at AT&T Park. But that emotion is caused by my desire to rip the offending “L.A.” labels off their blue caps and replace them with the more appropriate “B.”
Ron Oremland | Brisbane
Hidden Passover
Janet Silver Ghent is a good writer. She made some interesting points in her March 2 j. column. So, let’s talk about her 5-year-old granddaughter, Shelby, a smart girl. She is learning Hebrew. That is very good. It reminds me of my childhood in the former Soviet Union, a country where nobody, including Christians, could be religious.
Can you imagine religious Jews or Christians during the Soviet time? The words “Adonai Eloheinu” and “Shabbat Shalom” were prohibited by the Soviet government. We didn’t know anything about the Jewish holidays in the former Soviet Union.
I remember when I brought cookies to the Passover seder, my grandmother told me: “What are you doing? It’s Pesach. We can’t eat that during Pesach.” We were celebrating the holidays but only in the house. You couldn’t celebrate holidays, including Christmas.
Paul Shkuratov | San Francisco
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