Forum
FORUM Reactions to Hadassah Story—Which Article Did You Read? Balanced and Positive Estelle Gilson's nine-page profile of Hadassah ("Will Today's Woman Join Hadassah?" February 1990) was a...
...Too late, too late," as Dovid Einhorn's poem says...
...With the dramatic decline of communism in Eastern Europe, many new business opportunities will be created for Israeli companies to market their agricultural products and technology, their medical instruments, electronics, etc., in East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc...
...The True Meaning of Dialogue and Boycott Jacob Neusner's column (February 1990) is extremely naive...
...My daughters were made life members within days of their births...
...That may not make a great deal of sense on the surface of the argument, but the rabbis were very careful to draw a distinction between what is evil and what is bad...
...I wish I had imparted my love of Yiddish to my children and grandchildren...
...The Dying Jewish Community of Poland Your description, "strangely enriching," is probably the most appropriate response to visiting Auschwitz (Perspective, February 1990...
...the Poles were not slated for 100 percent extermination...
...Motorola (USA) operates five factories in Israel, producing a wide range of communication products, semiconductors, government electronics and cellular products...
...Rabbi Arthur F. Starr Temple Adath Yeshurun Manchester, New Hampshire Gypsy Genocide Your article The Strange Enrichment of Seeing Auschwitz" (February 1990) made much of the Jewish and the Polish victims who met their death there, but failed to bring attention to the Romani (Gypsy) souls who perished as a result of Hitler's madness...
...Rostow FORUM refutes her arguments much more articulately than I could have done...
...In a certain sense the issue is a semantic game...
...Bert J. Goldberg, Executive Director Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies Kendall Park, New Jersey Breaking Down the Walls of Silence Sharon Lowenstein should be congratulated and admired for her very personal account and her professional understanding of incest and sexual abuse of children ("Confronting FORI...
...I couldn't sleep that night...
...Why would she want to belittle a group that is in the forefront of women's issues in the United States and publicly declares its support for women everywhere...
...Michael Ruben Peck Hartford, Connecticut A New Translation Inspired by Cynthia Ozick Thank .you, Cynthia Ozick, for your interesting article and translation of Dovid Einhorn's poem "The Last to Sing," (February 1990...
...More, I fear that he will now fall back on the argument that since Dershowitz debated me there is no need for him, Neusner, to do the same...
...Letry Cottin Pogrebin (columnist, February 1990) is right, of course, in denouncing the tactic of "couching a political attack in a challenge to one's gender...
...By way of background it should be made clear that Neusner was challenged to debate Kahane and refused...
...That would seem extraordinary...
...Now I do not know who "all reports" are for Neusner but my Kach Movement was so excited about my being "creamed" that it not only made a videotape for distribution of the entire debate (which incidentally was in Riverdale, New York, not Cambridge) but also agreed to a Dershowitz request for a second one in Boston...
...I do not, however, need to be responsible for furnishing names of Jewish lay leaders for a magazine so insensitive to the survival needs of the Jewish people...
...He asserts that the topic was to be "whether or not the goyim were going to murder us all...
...The evil inclination is, in fact, the seat of all our creative urges...
...The tragedy is that there are not more places such as this throughout the country...
...Some of us, familiar with the duplicity of abusive men in the familial lives of women, are acutely aware of the duplicitous strategy of the PLO and are not willing to trust its public proclamations in contrast to its private behavior...
...Approximately 150 American companies are at work in Israel...
...Watch a blinded veteran of an Israeli war master the keyboard of a computer...
...The actual guarantee of peace by all Arab states is the only solution to the Mid-East crisis...
...I hope you will inform your readers about another resource that exists, within a professional Jewish context...
...Here is the result...
...Denial is the key word in this devastating disorder—much the same way as we know that denial is the hallmark among all alcohol, drug and gambling addicts...
...Rabbi Maslin would do well to remove the chip from his shoulder and try to become acquainted with some of the people he rejects so strongly—not in debate but heart-to-heart...
...On the other hand, hope springs eternal and every Jew must be granted the benefit of the doubt...
...But isn't this what she herself does when she describes napalm as "mother's milk to macho men," and "the guardians of patriotic patriarchy rolled out their big guns" as "symbolic emasculation...
...A refusal to mingle with certain groups is not an avoidance of reality but rather a positive statement FORUM of rejecting that group's claim to validity...
...I give you the delightful opportunity to "cream" me and the only question is where and when...
...When we choose to follow our inclination to do good, the evil inclination simply confirms our ability for free choice and bestows upon us the true merit of righteousness...
...the Poles were and are a nationally defined people that includes Roma and Jews...
...And so, Professor Neusner, once again, I extend my hand in invitation to an intellectual debate over issues that are fundamental to Jewish existence...
...The question is now: Has Neusner really become a ba'al t'shuvafe Honesty compels me to say I doubt it...
...Indeed, a number of Riverview's graduates go on to Jespy...
...Her article will go far to help alleviate this undeserved guilt...
...I even gave moment B'nai Mitzvah gift subscriptions...
...I read your translation and became wide awake...
...Surely I've earned it as much as Prime Minister Shamir, General Sharon and all the rest of us left wing radicals that Rabbi Kahane hates...
...Our evil inclination can only make us bad if we listen to it...
...of all the horrors that Israel has done to me to the obscene silence of Jewish liberals...
...He would certainly disagree with them on many religious and philosophical points...
...How on earth can she possibly carp about 6 percent...
...Gilson quotes "feminists" at length...
...It is high time that such a reconciliation be recognized as a significant priority by mainstream Judaism, not just the feminist "fringe...
...Prager says he learned this tradition as a child in yeshivah and I don't doubt that he did, though I would guess that he was napping during the later part of the discussion...
...We are those hospice workers and our visits are important to the caretakers of what remains...
...He puts forth the theory that the avoidance of dialogue, or boycotting, is a sign of weakness...
...Get a hug from an Ethiopian child living in a Youth Aliyah center...
...American and Canadian investors reportedly are discussing buying a portion of Koor Industries, Israel's largest industrial concern...
...I didn't even realize I had passed the convent when we visited Block 11 until someone pointed out that I better get it on my video...
...Robert Maxwell of Great Britain has invested $70 million in three Israeli companies and is now bidding to acquire a major stake in CLAL, Israel's largest non-government conglomerate...
...Many Jews, thoughtfully' concerned with human rights in a way unknown in the Arab world, have taken up the cause of the Palestinians (who have, indeed, been oppressed by their Arab brothers for far too long...
...According to Goman, Ford had a stroke within days thereafter...
...Is she a member...
...I read it, reread it and reread it...
...He is, again, correct that, as in so many of the things he does and says, it was indeed "highfalutin, self-serving nonsense...
...However, the FORUM formal school years do end—and a limbo begins...
...Jespy House (65 Academy Street, South Orange, New Jersey) provides an ongoing support system in a professional, caring way and has been our dream come true...
...The challenge is not to extinguish it as if it were something we despise, but rather to channel its energy into positive directions that can produce something good...
...Conferences sponsored by the Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies have provided workshops to combat this serious problem...
...In a word, every possible effort to escape the challenge...
...It is a private boarding school in Sandwich, Massachusetts called Riverview School...
...Maybe then she won't feel so "cynical and condescended to...
...It should have read: "Finally, my account of the Israel-Palestinian confrontation is unrecognizable in Mr...
...Gilson erred in describing the history of Hadassah's stand on freedom of reproductive choice, which was first adopted in 1981 and broadened in 1985 by acclamation on a motion from the convention floor...
...Although Hadassah's executive director in 1981 disapproved personally of the position, grass-roots democracy prevailed then and always will prevail in this organization...
...He might well find, however, that the self-righteousness and blind fanaticism he criticizes in Orthodoxy are merely the self-confidence and single (not narrow) mindedness of people who have a clear, positive sense of direction: people whose definition of success differs from his, who just want to live the best lives they can and who hope to leave the world a little better than they found it...
...because of Ford's connections, he was included...
...Two days later, I left for Poland on a rabbinic familiarization tour and shared your article with most of the 35 rabbis in our group...
...Who knows, she might even be inspired to "hit on" her editor for a donation...
...He then praises Alan Dershowitz for agreeing to debate me since, to quote Neusner, "according to all reports, [he] creamed Kahane...
...Who appointed She-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless to constitute herself judge and jury of the largest Zionist organization in the world...
...Come now—more rhetorical nonsense, and Neusner knows it...
...She was a dear lady...
...Does she volunteer to work for Hadassah...
...Interesting...
...The Jewish Family and Children's Service agencies throughout North America have been providing treatment services to victims of incest and child sexual abuse for almost all of our 150-year history...
...Based on my four business visits to Israel in 1989, it is clear to me that Israel is moving towards a free economy with a reduction of government interference in private business affairs...
...Silent about Syrian Jewish women, silent about Saudi Arabian sexual apartheid, silent about Sudanese female genital mutilation, silent about the Israeli women who die in buses pushed over cliffs by Arab terrorists who kill Jews for God—silent about all this, feminists (Jews and nonjews alike) nevertheless have taken up the cry of the so-called Israeli-oppressed Palestinian women and children...
...The midrash tells us: "Can then the evil inclination be very good...
...Harriet L. Philips, Publisher T7>e Jewish Messenger Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford North Dartmouth, Massachusetts The Shoddiest Trick of All It seems to me the title of Estelle Gilson's article "Will Today's Woman Join Hadassah...
...I think it is fair to say that, at this point in time, Israel is very much a part of the global economic boom...
...The professor could have called Kahane's bluff...
...Intel (USA) has invested $100 million in a high-tech facility in Jerusalem...
...Were it not for the evil inclination, however, no one would build a house, take a spouse, have children or go into business" (Genesis Rabbah 9.7...
...Does she subscribe to its policies and beliefs...
...Her head bowed low in deep sorrow And black as the night is her dress...
...What is important for all Jews to understand is that Neusner's refusal to debate me was part of exactly the same kind of ostracism and boycott that, today, he so rails against...
...Marblehead, Massachusetts The Left's Attempt to Co-opt Feminism It is wonderful that moment is adding a columnist who seeks to "reconcile feminism and Judaism...
...I wanted my children to read and feel that poem...
...Hopefully, this information might make others' paths less rocky...
...Regarding Leonard Dinnerstein's article, "When Henry Ford Apologized to the Jews" (February, 1990): Josephine Goman, Henry Ford's executive secretary, once told me that Ford was privy to the first stateside showing of documentary footage pertaining to Hitler's death camps...
...Journalism carries an enormous responsibility to have in-depth knowledge to be objective...
...The mistaken belief by the PLO that the West Bank will be a stepping-stone to the conquering of the rest of Israel must be dispelled by all parties concerned...
...Goman died before we left Detroit in 1975...
...i The literary ladies, the Ms's of the (Jewish world, like Letty Cottin iPogrebin, should either limit their (output to feminist issues or else [familiarize themselves with other issues ithey wish to write about...
...Thank you, Cynthia...
...Ronald Gaudia, Deputy Executive Director Westchester Jewish Community Services Hartsdale, New York Did Seeing the Shoah Kill Henry Ford...
...For some of us, defending Jewish nationalism in the face of 22 Arab countries desiring its extinction is still the "radical" position to take...
...Harvey D. Wolinetz Monsey, New York Jacob Neusner Replies: Mr...
...Rather than memorize this carefully structured response which centers on the rejection of Christian dogma rather than our own belief, we do oversimplify a bit when we say that Judaism believes "People are basically good...
...In my 20 years as a feminist, I have seen many attempts by the Left, such as Pogrebin's column, to co-opt feminism...
...This is where Jespy enters the picture with a completely developed program to assist these young adults in making the transition from home to independent living...
...He proves I did not flog a dead horse, for which thanks...
...Charles Bronfman has acquired Israeli companies...
...It was an enriching experience and I have yet to digest all that I saw...
...The arrival of February's moment was most timely...
...of liberal Jewish magazines to allow me to present my views...
...I find a Jewish magazine that undermines the survival of the Jewish people in such a fashion detrimental...
...Certainly the need is there...
...This showing was under the auspices of the War Department...
...And it seems that her lips move in murmur A whispered last pleading request, And there's heard a voice from Ark-tapestry-cover Too late, my devoted, too late...
...I only know I must return and share the experience with others...
...We know all too well that incest does exist in our community and that those with the power to confront perpetrators all too often turn their heads...
...But if this writer, who heads American Kach, is so influential, then why have I not yet received Rack's Swine of the Month award, which every Jew in public life must hope to merit some day...
...Easier to throw stones from a safe distance...
...Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport The Temple Congregation Adath Israel Brith Sholom Louisville, Kentucky Where to Get Help I commend Sharon R. Lowenstein for her courage in speaking out openly about her life and the lives of others in her moving article "Confronting Sexual Abuse in Jewish Families" (April 1990), and I commend you for publishing it...
...Solomon L. Margolis, President Kach International P.O...
...We regret the error.—Ed...
...Ruth B. Hurwitz National Public Affairs Chairman Hadassah New York, New York Demeaning Trash As a member of Hadassah and, more important, a member of the Jewish community, I must tell you that trash like "Will Today's Woman Join Hadassah...
...Kach Replies to Neusner I am disappointed to see that moment has given a regular column to Jacob Neusner, the impossible-to-understand candidate for open-ended psychotherapy...
...That's good enough for us...
...Kahane is called "a notorious crackpot," a "crank"— hardly the type of language expected from a seeker of truth looking for good old liberal, honest discourse...
...I couldn't sleep...
...In addition, sexual abuse is covered with secrecy and shame, both of which lead to tragic consequences in the victim...
...The primary years are, of course, extremely crucial as are the intermediate and teen years...
...Sylvia Katz, President Shalom Fannie Zornberg Group, Hadassah New York, New York Unnecessarily Glib Estelle Gilson's article "Will Today's Woman Join Hadassah...
...For an Orthodox group to participate with a Reconstructionist group in an umbrella organization implies a recognition and imparts a validity to that Reconstructionist group that is, in fact, denied by the Orthodox group...
...Gilson was also incorrect in reporting that "Hadassah has no current plans to deal with child care...
...As Lowenstein noted, all too often the victim feels responsible for the abuse...
...The part that Prager seems to have missed in all this is that while we believe in a yetzer harah, it does not necessarily follow that this "evil inclination" is essentially bad nor that the belief in an evil inclination implies that people are not basically good...
...The value of products manufactured and exported from Israel, with the help of the BIRD Foundation grants, exceeds $770 million...
...In fact, Hadassah supports both national child care legislation and a liberal parental leave policy...
...The sale of these companies over a four-year period should produce $5 billion in revenues to the government of Israel...
...He writes that he now realizes he was wrong not to accept my offer of debate in 1987...
...They are praying—for what...
...Without going into the years of frustration, deprivation and desperation that I experienced with our now 30-year-old, learning-disabled son, I would like to share with parents information about a facility in New Jersey that caters to the developmen-tally disabled adult...
...I suggest Neusner take his head out of the sand...
...Foreign investors are buying a part or all of the Israeli companies...
...In my agency, we a have designated child sexual abuse treatment center...
...One can now add that it is also the first resort of cowards who know that their positions cannot withstand the light of truth as developed in a public debate...
...He Died, the Last Leader-in-Prayer By Dovid Einhorn [Translated by Rahel Gil) He died, the last leader-in-prayer, Locked-up stands lonely the Synagogue Hall, The windows all boarded, and shadows Embarrassed, are making them full...
...Does she give to Hadassah...
...What urges a Jewish woman to write such a putdown of an organization of her sisters who are only trying in these very difficult times to keep up their end and help Israel have the best medical facilities, educate its youth and absorb its newcomers...
...Being a ¦writer does not entitle one to write regardless of knowledge of the facts involved on issues of life and death...
...I hope her courage will allow others who have been victims to come forward...
...Suddenly, the Yiddish original jumped out of the page...
...But on this count I'm not pleading guilty by reason of association...
...February 1990) is negative and demeaning to an organization that stands for Israel 100 percent...
...Agreed...
...Has Dr.' Neusner never heard of the proposition that dialogue implies recognition or that a boycott is a positive statement of disdain...
...Gilson should stop "scanning" Hadassah Magazine and visit Israel...
...Wolinetz sees goblins in the night...
...Did Neusner attend the debate...
...The choice is yours...
...One of my colleagues suggested that bringing groups to see the camps and the remnants of Polish Jewry was like being hospice workers who allow a loved one to die with dignity in the comfort of close family at home...
...That is why Israel is still administering them...
...I cannot in good conscience recommend the magazine to anyone, nor would I think of giving gift subscriptions to youngsters...
...However, shortly after the editorship of moment changed, you published the names of "rabbis" who would perform intermarriage weddings ("Rabbis Who Perform Intermarriages—Who They Are and Why They Do It," January 1988...
...Only Roma, besides the Jews, were targeted for total annihilation on racial grounds...
...Their response is quite fascinating and it stands in direct opposition to the position Prager argues as the Jewish viewpoint...
...I would like to thank particularly Eugene Rostow (columnist, 'February 1990) for finally explaining in clear and concise English why Israel cannot and should not make peace with the PLO...
...The 137 member agencies of the Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies, located in virtually every Jewish community in North America, have on staff professional counselors, trained in working with people—both male and female— who are victims of sexual abuse...
...In other words, we are not wholly good because each of us carries within us an evil inclination...
...Hallaj's article...
...Rabbi Bernard Spielman Wakefield, Massachusetts Correction In David Pryce-Jones's response to Muhammed Hallaj's critique of his book, The Closed Circle (December 1989), there is an error in the third column, fourth line down...
...Neusner was stupid in not understanding that debates are held so that the public can hear views and decide for itself...
...It has long been said that defamation is the last resort of those who refuse to think...
...In the midrashic commentary to the story of creation, the rabbis discuss how God can say, This is very good" (Genesis 1:31), having just created humankind, which carries within it this yetzer harah...
...In order to create a sensation and encourage an audience" is how he denigrates the challenge...
...While Gilson cautions that "only time will tell" whether Hadassah will succeed in meeting the challenges it faces, she concludes that, "As a woman and a Zionist, I'll put my money on it...
...There are no children...
...To promote the two-state solution and to believe it will bring peace, one must take the PLO at its word...
...Judith S. Antonelli Brookline, Massachusetts One Columnist Answers the Other After reading Letty Cottin Pogrebin's column (Februaryl990), I was ready to respond with a heated disagreement until I came upon the guest column by Eugene Rostow...
...I was dozing off when I started to read your reflections about the soul of the poem...
...He definitely got my attention...
...While admitting that Hadassah spends a remarkable 94 percent of its proceeds on its projects while 6 percent is allocated to administrative costs, she places a sinister interpretation on the "secrecy" of how Hadassah spends the 6 percent...
...And Neusner's language—is this how a mensch talks...
...But look at the language to which he sinks...
...What is it about our Jews that they have to find an itch in an unfortunate place and feel that they have to scratch it in public...
...In New York, the UJA-Federation family service agencies have provided training for their staffs to identify, report and treat sexual abuse in families...
...I am a member of a four-generation life-membership family...
...And hushed on the steps to the Ark-Scrolls The Shechina, the desolate, stands...
...We have made strides and we will need to continue to confront all the "hidden illnesses" in our community...
...National Semiconductor (USA) will be adding $50 million to their investment...
...I challenge moment to advise its readers that both are available at nominal cost from the Kach office and your readers can then judge for themselves as to the result...
...His sudden admission to "stupidity" is only because of a need to give an explanation why he refused to debate me, knowing that it was not "stupidity" but fear of being "creamed...
...And, we will need the resources to support our efforts...
...I have visited this school on several occasions in the role of substitute teacher and found it very impressive...
...Indeed, a case could well be made to identify Hadassah as the precursor for today's committed feminists...
...Breaking down the walls of silence and denial is an ongoing process, as it is in substance abuse, gambling abuse, physical abuse and so many other disorders...
...The title cut read: The belief that people are basically good is un-Jewish...
...Gabriella Grossberger Brooklyn, New York All Arab States, Not Just the PLO, Must Make Peace I have enjoyed and learned from every tissue of moment...
...I would also like to recommend another place for teenagers with learning disabilities...
...I am diametrically opposed to censorship...
...Jewish agencies are confronting the issue of child sexual abuse...
...All of our agencies provide services on a sliding scale, so that no one is turned away because of income...
...I had prepared myself somewhat for what I would see and feel, but I was not prepared for the realization that the rich culture of Polish Jewry is gone forever...
...No matter how poetic a writer, as Cynthia Ozick is, it is impossible to translate the soul of Yiddish into American...
...without your effort I would not have translated the poem...
...I hope that there is still room in the feminist Jewish world for this point of view...
...He never fully recovered...
...Box 425 Midwood Station Brooklyn, New York Jacob Neusner Replies: It is always fjin to hear from coreligionists at Kach...
...Thirty-five American companies have recently received grants from the BIRD Foundation equivalent to 50 percent of their R&D projects in Israel...
...Knowing full well that he will never agree to debate Kahane, Neusner goes on to say that Alan Dershowitz of Harvard "took up the challenge and...creamed Kahane...
...This is not to deny that feminism and the Left may share concerns that make them all allies against the Right at times, but (to quote feminist Andrea Dworkin) we must remember that "Feminism is not the women's auxiliary of the Left...
...Many American companies are exploring the possibilities of using Israel as a bridge to penetrate "Fortress Europe 1992," since Israel is in the unique position of having two free-trade agreements—one with the U.S...
...If this was a "teaser," it worked...
...The shoddiest trick of all is her criticism of the Hadassah funds...
...Neusner has long been the chameleon of pseudo-intellectual circles, and in his moment column he has not disappointed...
...Some 24 government-owned companies are on the auction block...
...For the rest, his letter expresses merely the usual Orthodox self-important fatuity when it comes to other Judaisms besides theirs...
...M Sexual Abuse in Jewish Families," April 1990...
...o Yanko le Redzosko, Secretary International Romani Union Buda, Texas Hoist on Her Own Petard...
...Unfortunately, it is the Women's Movement or "Women's Liberation Movement" that elevated the terms "matriarchy" and "patriarchy" to a Manichean system of good and evil, making gender almost an absolute category of morality—couching most political, social, historical and moral attacks in terms of gender...
...Arab propaganda has convinced many in the West (including the feminist movement) that the Arab underdog is the victim of the Jewish oppressor...
...However, Letty Cottin Pogrebin's first column (February 1990) is disappointing...
...Hadassah isn't a tail appended to a men's organization as in 95 percent of all other [Jewish] organizations...
...I addressed the Jewish community, not Israeli foreign policy...
...One of the four local women who joined us Shabbat morning in the Nozyk synagogue told me: "They are all hypocrites," pointing to the 25 old men below, wrapped in their talletot...
...Without such a choice we would be but puppets on a string, neither good nor bad, simply servants of a greater power that rules us in every detail...
...The tactic is, as she says, "pernicious...
...It was helpful to all of us...
...Rabbi Meir Kahane Jerusalem, Israel Jacob Neusner Replies: / can object only to Rabbi Kahane's calling me a "Jewish liberal...
...At the same time, Gilson tells us almost all other organizations spend as much as 35 percent for expenses...
...He died, the last leader-in-prayer, There's no one to walk to the Lectern...
...I still think he's a complete kook...
...We visited four camps and the remnants of the Jewish communities in Warsaw, Cracow and Lublin...
...I hope she read it...
...February 1990) serves simply as subterfuge: It quickly becomes apparent that her real intent is not to ask whether women would join Hadassah but to suggest why they should not join Hadassah...
...Take a firsthand look at the young people studying at the community college or the newborn babies—no bigger than chickens—struggling to survive in the neonatal unit at Hadassah Hospital...
...Having voted straight Republican for years, believing that all the good that has happened in the collapse of communism is the result of the policies of President Reagan, what have I done to deserve such obloquy...
...All of them are intermarried and their children and grandchildren don't even know they are Jews...
...February 1990) was a balanced and basically positive portrait of a contemporary Jewish women's movement successfully adapting to today's volunteer world...
...It is not a matter of disallowing dissent when Israel refuses to engage in a dialogue with the PLO but a positive statement that tells the world that in the eyes of Israel the PLO has no merit in any sort of dialogue...
...Languishing flickers the flame, the eternal Himself in his corner alone...
...Roberta Kalechofsky, Ph.D...
...Rahel Gil Mountainside, New Jersey Offensive to Orthodoxy I'm saddened that Rabbi Simeon Maslin feels so defensive in relation to Orthodoxy that he needs to be offensive ("As the Rabbi Said...," February 1990...
...His refusal to debate me is part of the refusal of liberal temples and synagogues to allow me to appear...
...I shortly thereafter canceled my subscription...
...Consider his recent column (February 1990) in which he rambles on about free speech, the value of public debate and the sin of stifling points of view—until he finally reaches a crescendo on the subject of Rabbi Meir Kahane...
...I worked for two days...
...Like you, most of us did not find the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz offensive, but we can also respect the opinions on the other side...
...Ellen B. Barber Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts Moment Insensitive to Survival Needs of the Jewish People I have been, in the past, a committed reader of moment...
...Mona Reiger American Affairs and Zionist Affairs Chair Noar Chapter, Hadassah Newburgh, New York Kahane on Neusner I was fascinated by Jacob Neusner's column (February 1990...
...It should be noted that in researching her article, Gilson was so taken by discoveries of extraordinary commitment to a Hadassah way of life by so many career volunteers that she became a life member and enrolled her husband as a Hadassah associate...
...Elmer L. Winter, Chairman Committee for Economic Growth of Israel Milwaukee, Wisconsin Jespy House and Riverview School Recommended I was particularly interested in 'Teach Your Children...All Your Children" by Betty S.Jacobs (February 1990...
...To quote him: "I declined [to debate Kahane] because, stupidly, I thought debates should address issues on which one's mind is open, and on those questions my mind is not open....That was highfalutin, self-serving nonsense...
...February 1990), while it included some good points, was unnecessarily glib...
...It lays, like eternal grieving All over the naked walls And under the Crown of Glory...
...Please remember that Hadassah ladies were feminists—rulers and decisionmakers of their own structure—before the present feminists were born...
...The territories occupied by Israel in 1967 were made the pledge for peace...
...Hanna Bandes, Editor/Publisher Nesbama Brookline, Massachusetts Israel's Economic Boom I find an Israel quite different from that expressed by Pinhas Landau in "Why Has Israel Missed Out On the Global Economic Boom...
...My father, husband and son are all Hadassah associates...
...This will reflect savings of up to $500 million in interest costs...
...To say it is burying one's head in the sand belies the importance that some of these groups place upon merely being recognized...
...Did Neusner see a video or hear an audio tape of the debate...
...Broken rest two Priestly hands...
...With eyes closed I saw both poems and I retranslated each word in my mind...
...Now, having had to live with the reality of being challenged and having chickened out, he resorts to what can best be described as a semi-m«a culpa...
...However, I just could not rest...
...and one with EEC countries...
...Since we believe that an evil inclination is at least part of our human make up, one might more properly say that: "Judaism, in contradistinction to Christianity's belief in original sin, does not believe that humanity is basically evil...
...The rabbis would not have eliminated this evil inclination even if it were within their power to do so...
...In other words, the evil inclination is not "bad," as Prager would have us believe...
...Joel Dimitry Willowdale, Ontario Don't Knock the Evil Inclination in Us I am a loyal subscriber, but Dennis Prager's column (February 1990) was nothing short of ignorant and offensive...
...As evidence that Judaism does not believe in the basic goodness of humankind, Prager cites the tradition that each of us carries within us an inclination to do good and an inclination to do evil—yetzer hatov and yetzer harah...
...I would not waste my time and yours but for the feeling of moral responsibility to call attention to the type of thinking that had such disastrous consequences during WW II for the Jewish people...
...She told me there was no question in her mind, or indeed in the minds of any of the other people who were familiar with Ford and his feelings about Jews, that these revelations about the Shoah caused his death...
...Indeed, in the "more reactionary than thou " sweepstakes, I'll make a race of it with Rabbi Kahane...
...Still, most of my best friends really are Jewish liberals...
Vol. 15 • June 1990 • No. 3
