Jewish ‘sticker shock’
The issue of the high cost of living a Jewish life is a troubling one for many Jewish communities, ours included. Higher still is the cost of not having our families connect to the larger community. The value of Jewish education for our children and families, whether through day schools, camping, synagogue life, pre-schools or Israel experiences cannot be overstated.
At Brandeis Hillel, over one third of our families receive financial aid through our flexible tuition program. We work closely with families to mitigate the “sticker shock” of a Jewish day school education through a variety of plans and options.
We have been fortunate to benefit from the support of the Jewish Community Federation, several Jewish Community Endowment Funds, as well as many individual donors.
Yet, the need for financial support increases each and every year. Until affordability becomes a top priority for our community, individual agencies will struggle on their own to achieve their goals of no Jewish child left behind.
Thanks for bringing this issue to our community’s attention. May we all have the collective strength to solve it.
Chaim Heller
Head of School
Brandeis Hillel Day School
San Francisco and San Rafael
Negative schoolbooks
An approved textbook for public school systems including California is “Across the Centuries,” published by Houghton-Mifflin.
This book presents Islam in a very positive manner while Judaism and Christianity are presented in a negative manner.
The book also attempts to equate Allah as being the same god as the God of Judaism and Christianity.
A quote from Dawanet.com says:
“Schools are therefore fertile grounds where the seeds of Islam can be sowed inside the hearts of non-Muslim students. Muslim students should take ample advantage of this opportunity and present to their schoolmates the beautiful beliefs of Islam.”
Separation of church and state is a fundamental principle on which the United States was founded.
Judaism and Christianity are not allowed to be taught in public schools, yet our tax dollars are paying for the referenced textbook and our children are being exposed to Islam.
Parents should check with your local school district and find out what your children are being taught.
We have to stand up for our fundamental rights, and protect our most treasured asset, our children from being unduly influenced by those who would seek to undermine our way of life.
Dan Calic | San Ramon
‘Vile, smarmy vitriol’
Given his past track record of Holocaust denial, his stated aim of wiping Israel off the map and his current headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons, the vile, smarmy vitriol that continues to spew from the mouth of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not surprise me at all. The U.N. is one thing, but I wonder what Columbia University hoped to accomplish by giving him a bully pulpit this week at such an august institution of higher learning?
With that said kudos to Columbia President Lee Bollinger for calling Ahmadinejad out in public in his introduction. It’s a bit like trying to paint a smiley face on a pig but I admire the courage it took to call this evil hatemonger out in public. I agree with Bollinger that Ahmadinejad continues to show himself a petty and cruel dictator, either illiterate or ignorant, whose remarks seem calculated to provoke rather than to contribute to the marketplace of ideas.
Ahmadinejad has a louder microphone than the average paranoid lunatic standing on a street corner. But the average lunatic doesn’t have the means to produce nuclear weapons.
Hopefully the story now will be more about President Bollinger’s remarks and less about the drivel spouted by Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Steve Lipman | Foster City
Happy on Yom Kippur
Dan Pine’s column last week (“Sweet memories: the Day of Atonement makes me happy”) was delightful. I enjoyed having my own Yom Kippur memories jarred with the notion of lox and bagels. In my family there was a hearty heavy cholesterol laden milchig kugel right along side the lox, bagels and double-whipped cream cheese.
More importantly for me it was nice to hear someone else is happy on Yom Kippur.
Sherri Morr | San Francisco
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