A ‘gentle soul’
Joby Shinoff was a true believer.
The longtime j. sales rep who died Monday believed that softness in human beings is a virtue and that individuals can change for the better. He believed in turning the other cheek, and in bringing sensitivity into the workplace and the world at large.
He believed in the healing power of love and of music. He believed in melding spirit, mind and body.
Even while losing his own fight against cancer, he believed it crucial to support those who were ill, to cheer those who needed uplifting. Joby Shinoff, with whom I worked for two decades, was truly a rarity — a gentle soul, a nice man, a mensch.
Like so many others he befriended, I will miss him.
Woody Weingarten | San Anselmo
Unbalanced view
Your article “On Familial Ground” (Nov. 16) was unbalanced. It presents an idyllic, shallow, Hansel and Gretel-type approach without delving into important facts. The house visited by Louis Fried in Transylvania was clearly stolen from his family. You ignored this. Eastern Europe, such as Poland, is more like the movie “Borat.”
My paternal grandfather is from Konskie, Poland, which is still anti-Semitic. Poles, in general, are terrified the few surviving Jews want their stolen property returned. What a concept. The KKK — no exaggeration — would be more at home in Konskie than in the American South. The town records office in Konskie refuses to give me copies of my great-grandparents’ death certificates, claiming they did not die there. After the war, Konskie paved over the Jewish cemetery. At least Sandi Harte was able to visit one. My grandfather, Leon Pelta, escaped being murdered two times in Poland for being Jewish after the war. The squatters in his home still refuse to return personal items that they call “junk.”
Mordechai David Pelta | San Francisco
Worst terrorists
In “Worst Terrorist Is Nature Itself” (Nov. 2) Dr. Lobel portrays nature, and, in particular, animals as the “worst terrorists” saying “the biggest reservoir for viruses is animals.” When describing research presumably to help solve the problems associated with the spread of viruses, Dr. Lobel described a test in which the Ebola virus was sprayed in a “highly contained lab full of monkeys.” The finding was that all the monkeys were dead within a few days.
Why did Dr. Lobel need to test the Ebola virus? Isn’t it obvious that the Ebola virus would kill the monkeys? What did he learn that required this cruel form of animal research? The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (www.pcrm.org) and other organizations provide valuable information on the excesses of animal research and alternatives to animal research.
Contrary to Dr. Lobel, human beings have been the worst terrorists, not animals. Aharon Appelfeld wrote about how he survived the Holocaust in the Ukrainian forest. “ I became familiar with cows and horses,” he wrote. “Sometimes it seemed to me that what saved me were the animals I encountered along the way, not the human beings.”
Rabbi Leah Sudran | Petaluma
Inappropriate word choice
Your use of the term “Islamo-fascism” in your Nov. 16 newsletter item about Hamas building a Hollywood-style media center is vulgar, provocative and inappropriate.
Although Hamas has gone too far in advocating the destruction of Israel, its concern that its people be free of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (let’s face it, Israel has controlled Gaza like a prison camp even after withdrawing the settlers) is a legitimate one.
Hamas has dealt in terror, but so has the state of Israel, with the complicity of U.S. foreign and military aid.
I wonder if “ethnic cleansing” might be a term that could be applied to what Israel has done to Palestinians on their land.
David Rocha | Castro Valley
Military salute
Thanks for being a part of the great write-up j. provided for BIJ “Soldiering On” (Nov. 9). As a subscriber it made me feel good to see support for the Jews who served in the military, and by extension honoring all veterans, Jews and non-Jews alike.
Col. Charles Drucker | Pacifica
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