The Jewish Week | Letters

Food And Identity
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Jay J. Rand

Your recent article, “The Gentrification Of The Gefilte” (April 13), would have been more appropriately titled “The Gentilification.” For Jews, “you are what you eat,” is at the core of their identity.

Pick up a Ukrainian cookbook, and you will find many of our own Jewish holiday staples such as pirogi, holobtzi, etc. A rabbi once asked why we have kosher Mexican, Italian and Chinese restaurants, yet don’t find those people looking to experience kosher cuisine? Well, why would they want to eat what they're accustomed to? 

Letters
Fulfilling Our Mission
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Richard A. Lopchinsky

Jayson Littman (“Confessions Of A Gay Zionist,” Back of the Book, April 20) states he has been able to rid his “heart of turmoil, self-hate, and questioning” while simultaneously asking God, while standing at the Kotel, “What do you expect of me?” 

His seemingly simple story made me very sad.

Most boys in yeshiva consider their rabbi to be as good at guidance as a formally trained therapist, and this is usually not the case. And sadly in this case Littman did not get the help he could have used and could not feel God’s love.

Letters
Crimes Against Children
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Gerald Jacobs

All Jews, and especially the Orthodox, should appreciate The Jewish Week’s continuing investigation and reporting on the abuse of children in our schools and communities. Sadly, that will not be the case. There will be the usual cries of Orthodox-bashing by the usual suspects.

Letters
Narrative On Palestinians
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Irwin Wall

It is not true that “the Palestinians” do not accept the right of Israel to exist (“The Real Catastrophe Of The Nakba,” Editorial, May 18). Undoubtedly some do not, but some do, in particular those in the Palestinian Authority who have declared that to be so for a long time.

Letters
Palestinian Intentions
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Morton A. Klein

Your Editorial, “The Real Catastrophe Of The Nakba” (May 18), is right to state that “the catastrophe of the Palestinian people is that their leaders are grounded in victimhood.” As you argue, they would certainly have a state today had reason and compromise featured in their deliberations.

Letters
Culture As Sewage
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Rena Wilen

I am writing regarding Rabbi Avi Shafran’s Opinion piece, “Measured Insularity Does Not A Monk Make” (May 11), which refuted the Opinion piece of Rabbi Eugene Korn on an element of haredi Judaism (“In The Name Of Judaism, Haredim Have Turned Inward,” April 13).

Rabbi Shafran explained that haredi Judaism tries to avoid “the effluence of a coarse popular culture...”

Comparing American culture to sewage?

Letters
Defends Yeshivat Noam
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Yosef Rubinstein

As a parent with children at Yeshivat Noam, I found Hella Winston’s coverage of the arrest of a Yeshivat Noam teacher very upsetting (“After Arrest Of Teacher, Questions About Vetting,” May 11).

Letters
Not Hall Of Famers Yet
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Rabbi Paul Kushner

As one who grew up in the shadow of Ebbets Field, I must correct a statement that Gary Rosenblatt made in his excellent column, “Closer To Home: Of Baseball, Family And Faith,” May 18.

He included Carl Erskine and Gil Hodges [as Brooklyn Dodger players later named to] the Hall of Fame. Although Erskine is in the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame and Hodges is in the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame, neither has yet been elected to Cooperstown. I can only hope that Rosenblatt’s gift for prophecy equals his talent for nostalgia.

Bellmore, L.I.

Letters
On Attacking Iran
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 | Dr. Ronen Bergman

I would like to clarify some of the quotations attributed to me in “Reversing Course, Journalist Says Israel Attack Unlikely This Year,” (May 11) as they do not fully represent my opinion and have the potential to create a very wrong impression of the reality.

My view has not changed from that which was expressed in the article I wrote for the New York Times Magazine. What has changed is the situation and thus the likelihood of a strike has somewhat diminished.

Letters
Protect The Children
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 | Yossi Prager

Hella Winston’s article about the arrest of a New Jersey day school teacher (“After Arrest Of Teacher, Questions About Vetting,” May 11) argued that schools should conduct criminal background checks on all prospective employees. I agree. 

Letters