Letters

The Rabbinical Council of America’s discussions and debate about “deepening women’s roles” can be considered a step in the right direction (“One Step Forward,” Editorial, April 30).

With regard to Stewart Ain’s article (“MK, Non-Orthodox Clash On Conversion,” May 7) and MK David Rotem’s assertion that “he denied promising to withdraw the [conversion] bill if he failed to win the support of ... leaders ... here,” I can tell you I was present at four of his meetings and he often made just such a statement. It was then generally followed by the comment he would tell the olim from the former Soviet Union to blame the Americans for the lack of progress.

While we in Nashville deeply appreciate the outpouring of support from friends around the country, your characterization of the Jewish community being “unscathed” may relate to our communal buildings, but definitely not our community (“Nashville Jews Respond To Flood,” May 7).

 The question that frames Gary Rosenblatt’s April 9 column is  “what will Yom Hashoah be like in a decade or two, when there are no more survivors to give witness?” It is one that we at the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust have been actively addressing. The World Federation is an international umbrella organization of more than 50 independent groups of survivors who lived through the Holocaust as children.

Why, oh why, did Gary Rosenblatt feel it necessary to mar an otherwise comprehensive column on the British chief rabbi’s appearances in the United States and the status of halachic leadership of Modern Orthodoxy with the unnecessary and erroneous parenthetical comment that “many prominent rabbis have been brought down by scandal?”  (“Hail to the Chief,” April 23).

Manhattan
 

The unwritten “special relationship” with the U.S. is without a doubt Israel’s greatest and most potent outside asset. Consequently, avoiding an escalation in the current political conflict between the two countries should be Israel’s top priority.

 In “Rally Here Slams Obama and Jewish Democrats (April 30), a reference was made, saying that Manhigut Yehudit, “an Israeli organization that favors a theocracy for the Jewish State,” was represented at the April 25 “Break The Silence Rally” we organized to express our displeasure with President Barack Obama’s anti-Israel policies.

Thank you, Doug Chandler, for doing a nice reporting job on the April 25 rally [opposing the Obama administration’s position on Israel] (“Rally Here Slams Obama, Jewish Democrats,” April 30). I may want to subscribe to The Jewish Week again.

 It was with dismay and disappointment, and some frustration, that I read the JInsider column entitled “March Meshuga 2010.” 

Yes, I know it was tongue in cheek, and meant to be a humor column, and a take-off on the college basketball tournament. Mark Pearlman attempted to “parse all of Judaism 2010 into one Elite 8 bracket.” However, one of the “brackets” was “E. Jerusalem Settlements,” and it was described as follows: “Israel has taken yet more land in the face of international opposition.” 

 Regarding “Can We Afford To Make Others A Priority?” (March 12), I have conducted religious services at senior residences for close to a decade. In order to qualify for government funds, beds had to be full, forcing historically Jewish institutions to admit non-Jews. At first these admissions were limited in order to maintain their Jewish character, but gradually many institutions became Jewish in name only, catering basically to non-Jews, but still receiving Jewish communal funds. Fewer homes schedule services for remaining Jewish residents.