Say yes to Israel
As members of the Jewish Studies Program at U.C. Davis, we applaud Carole Migden’s resolution to restore the U.C. Education Abroad Program in Israel.
While it made sense to suspend the program during the worst years of the intifada, it is no longer reasonable to prevent students from learning about Israel first-hand and not just from the superficial headlines of the evening news. In addition, the option of studying in Israel will strengthen the teaching of Hebrew at our universities since students will be motivated to take the language in preparation for a year or semester abroad.
As scholars in the field of Jewish Studies, we benefit from interchange with our colleagues in Israel. Our students should have the same opportunity.
David Biale | Berkeley
Zeev Maoz
Diane Wolf
Defending execution
Rachel Biale in her Jan. 18 op-ed considers that the use of lethal injection in capital punishment might be comparable to torture. If so, then Judaism’s tradition, she says, might argue for compassion for the murderer.
She starts out noting that three local rabbis, opponents of capital punishment, had attended protest vigils at San Quentin executions. I have not heard any report of these rabbis visiting the grieving family of the murdered victim to offer sympathy. These rabbis, she says, cite the Jewish teaching of sanctity of life. But the Torah also teaches that if you deliberately take the life of an innocent, you deserve to lose your life.
To get now to lethal injection, Ms. Biale notes that opponents believe the injected murderer may experience great pain. As a medical and surgical doctor I have seen many patients put to sleep (not death) comfortably by injection. I believe, though I am not certain, that by continuing the injection these patients would die without significant pain.
I think her discussion of the compassion shown by ancient Israelites to a pregnant woman awaiting execution is irrelevant, and as Ms. Biale says, theoretical. Especially if the murderer in those days was to be stoned to death.
Edward Tamler | San Mateo
‘Champion for liberty’
Although I don’t necessarily approve or condone Michael Savage’s remarks on Tom Lantos (“Michael Savage: Have you no sense of decency?”, Feb. 15), I find Michael Savage to be a staunch unwavering supporter of Israel and a great champion for liberty, freedom and human rights, he gives a voice to all of us who don’t prescribe to the appeasement and leftist mentality that is so prevalent amongst our Jewish brethren across the political spectrum and in media in particular as if it was a genetic disorder! Especially in the editorial department, and the general staff writers of j.
J. is so blinded in its editorial against Savage it doesn’t see it became a pawn for C.A.I.R. that is nothing more than another tentacle for Muslim terrorists worldwide, in particular Hamas trying to silence all its critics under the ruse called “Islamophobes.”
Make no mistake about it, C.A.I.R.’s ability to blackmail sponsors from advertising on the “Savage Nation” is a great defeat to liberty, freedom of speech in general and to the Jewish people in particular in this case! C.A.I.R. by their action of intimidation trying to silences all who oppose them are no different than the Gestapo of Nazi Germany that drew Stars of David on Jewish business.
Zevika (Zee) Salles | San Francisco
Savage ‘admirable’
Michael Savage is worthy of more space in this publication. On his weekday radio broadcasts “The Savage Nation” and on his Web site he strongly defends Israel and the U.S. against our common enemy — radical Islam. If his language is a bit rough from time to time, well, our enemy is rougher with their suicide bombers murdering children in Israel and airplane attacks against citizens here at home.
J.’s editorial described Michael Savage as “self-serving.” He is not. To date over 58 million people have gone onto his Web site and voted he should run for the U.S. presidency. (A person can vote only once.) Over $4 billion could quickly be raised for his cause. Unfortunately, he has chosen not to run. His political views are patriotic, intelligent and correct. He speaks not political-correctly but plainly and with passion defending our borders, language, culture. He has no sympathy for politically suicidal Jews. His stand against the abuse of prescription drugs, especially with children, is admirable.
Michael Savage is an asset to our community!
David Browda | Lodi
On Reconstructionists
I was thrilled to read Dan Pine’s recent article (“Reconstructionist rabbis give it the old college try,” Feb. 8) about the movement’s new happenings in the Bay Area. However, Pine’s assertion that “there is no Reconstructionist synagogue in the Bay Area” surprised me.
In the spring of 1982, my parents, Sherry Knazan and Rabbi David Kopstein, convened a small group of people in our Petaluma backyard. Out of those efforts came the Sonoma County Synagogue Center, or SCSC. My father (ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1978) served as SCSC’s first rabbi, and my stepmother, Rabbi Patti Philo Kopstein, its second. Later renamed Ner Shalom, the congregation is in Cotati and is still affiliated with the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation.
Judaism was always joyous at SCSC; if only all kids could be raised with the same level of enthusiasm for our religion and pride in our heritage! The Bay Area’s openness and intellectual tradition make it a fantastic place for the growth of Reconstructionism, and I applaud Rabbi Schreibman’s efforts.
Dani Kopstein Fisher | Minneapolis
Remembering Lantos
The Climate of Trust Council joins all Americans in mourning the passing of Congressman Tom Lantos. Lantos was a champion of human rights and an ardent defender of Soviet Jews. He helped save countless Jews from persecution, and was instrumental in supporting the Bay Area Council’s efforts to bring them to safety.
He was a champion of all victims of hate and intolerance. In his statement to Congress, he urged his colleagues to extend the utmost support to help the targets of xenophobia and ethnic and religious intolerance in Russia. As the Climate of Trust Council, we are deeply grateful for the support that he provided in promoting the rights of all persecuted minorities in Russia. Lantos strongly believed that dialogue between Russian and American counterparts contributes to safety and security of peoples in both countries. His voice will be greatly missed.
Tom and his wife, Annette, were both at the forefront of the Soviet Jewry movement. Annette was his partner in life and in the struggle for human rights. We express our deepest sympathy to her and to the Lantos family for their loss.
Pnina Levermore | San Francisco, Climate of Trust Council
Who’s to blame?
The recent forum on the widening differences between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews in the U.S. (“Is the Jewish vote splitting the Jews?”, Feb. 15) seemed to blame the split on the Orthodox for moving more to the right, but not on the non-Orthodox for moving more to the left.
One leading participant said the split was exacerbated because Orthodox Jews typically send their children to Israel to study in yeshivas which are ideologically incompatible with mainstream American Jewish thought. But the real question is whether mainstream American Jewish thought is incompatible with Judaism itself, which rests on the solid and time-tested foundation of belief in God and belief in God’s covenant with Israel.
Unity is good, but not at the expense of principle. If 10 percent of Jews worship God and 90 percent worship idols, should the 10 percent emulate the 90 for the sake of unity? Judaism’s core principles are absolute and eternal whether Jews adhere to them or not. They cannot be changed by majority vote, and have outlasted every man-made belief system they’ve encountered for the past 4,000 years. The future of the Jewish nation, if indeed it has a future, rests with those who maintain these core principles.
Martin Wasserman | Sunnyvale
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California