Letters
Letters To the Editor: Two things were shockingly apparent from the poll on religious practice (September 1977). First, Reform Jews in America are continually put down by their brothers and...
...On the contrary, for the last 29 years Israel has had a secular government...
...I would encourage moment to act on this regrettable situation...
...I remember a stifling evening in early July 1941 when I attended a mass meeting at Madison Square Garden in support of Russian resistance to the Nazi invasion of their country...
...Let's set the record straight...
...Rabbi Rubin Dobin International Chairman, Operation Recognition New York, New York...
...There will be no continuity to the Jewish people if the younger generation of Jewish women refuses to bear and rear replacements for those who have died and those who have dropped out...
...so what...
...Leona Morgan Magen David Adorn, International Department Tel Aviv, Israel To the Editor: Regarding "Begin at the Beginning" (September 1977), two comments...
...There is no other way...
...Second, you are correct in the assertion ". . .an historic impropriety was now corrected...
...What struck me when I walked in was a copy of moment, opened to Richard Magat's piece...
...Second, while it is refreshing to learn of the renewed interest in observance by Jews of all persuasions, I was dismayed to see so small a percentage of writers who state that they actually believe in God...
...Conference in Belgrade...
...This is really : first time that the Magen Davi Adorn Recognition issue has b given this kind of professional treatment on such a high level...
...Now we ask you to help us rediscover the basis of our faith and culture...
...Stanley Goldstein New York, New York To the Editor: An anonymous letter in the October issue complains that the high cost of temple membership forced a couple to discontinue their own method' of dispensing charity...
...I had a meeting with Ambassador Arthur Goldberg as well, who is going to head the Unitec States Delegation to the Helsin...
...Enlarge your space devoted to spiritual issues, such as those raised by Jacob Neusner in Tav of the same issue...
...A majority of Israelis are middle-class so their government should reflect this fact...
...Of course, I am delighted that my prophecy (or wishful thinking) came true the following May 17...
...Imagine how expensive public school would be if only those parents whose children attended public school paid taxes...
...Your article mentions Robeson's love for the Jews...
...Robeson loved Communism and not Jews...
...Our synagogues and national organizations have been so successful in emphasizing Jewish identity that the core purpose of that identity has been lost...
...Steven Greenfield Schenectady, New York To the Editor: Your Tav column (September 1977), "We've won...
...Professor Neusner can continue in his role as teacher and leader if only he will join with the feminists who seek creative ways of combining Jewish family life with self-fulfillment...
...There are too many people who affiliate only for that period of time when their children attend Hebrew School, usually until Bar or Bat Mitzvah, rather than being involved for life, as an important adjunct to Jewish living...
...You are obviously worried about an "Orthodox hegemony...
...For moment to think otherwise is naive...
...There really is no such thing...
...However, one explanation for their problem lies in this sentence: "This practice (of giving charity) continued until it became necessary to join a temple so we could provide a religious education for our children...
...It is clear that moment is a shaping force for many of its readers...
...For the nineteenth and twentieth centuries we may count the women who have done noteworthy work in Jewish Studies on the fingers of one hand—the late Rosa Sonne-schein, Henrietta Szold, and Reb-betzin Pesha Chaya Poupko, and may they be separated for a long life, Trade Weiss-Rosmarin and Nechama Leibowitz...
...You must realize that an Israel without religion, without a strong belief in God, will fall apart and fade away...
...This is obviously detrimental to the unity of the Jewish people...
...It is no wonder that Moonies and Jews for Jesus have found some success with Jewish youth looking for deeper beliefs and a sense of community...
...Respond to Blu Greenberg's suggestion for kollelim for women...
...Perhaps there are another five names to make up two hands...
...Still, I disagree that "in a different sense a new impropriety had been introduced...
...Where was Robeson three mohths earlier when Molotov and Hitler were toasting each other while carving up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe...
...Robeson was of course on the program...
...The three branches of Judaism can, and must, arrive at a modus vivendi for working harmoniously for survival...
...For others, in their forties, like me, it is difficult or impossible to enter a world which has excluded them while they were being wives and mothers, again to the detriment of the Jewish people...
...Alex Gottdiener Elizabeth, New Jersey To the Editor: I was in Washington yesterday on behalf of Magen David Adorn concerns and I felt that I wanted to tell you about the impact your article "When Symbols Become Substance" (September 1977) made on a number of important people...
...I then had an extended conversation with Frank Sieverts who is Coordinator of the Human Rights Division of th State Department...
...Simply, we cannot afford to fight among ourselves...
...The world of Jewish scholarship has been male dominated until the present...
...One day I saw and recognized Ambassador Malcolm Toon, to whom I said, "The Israelis should do as the Swedes did, just as they got rid of the Social Democratic government after 44 years, the Israelis should do the same...
...Durinj our conversation, he mentionec that he and his family were vei impressed with that article...
...Most are confined to the basics...
...Yet the time devoted to the raising of a family often shuts women out of the world of scholarly achievement during their twenties and thirties...
...Begin's election, and the change it implies, is long overdue...
...That is all true as far as it goes...
...The modern Orthodox Jew is only a watered-down version of his predecessors...
...She told me that she had read it and that she was going to take it along to Bucharest so that she can refresr herself on some of the points made therein...
...First, Reform Jews in America are continually put down by their brothers and sisters for their choice of practice...
...finds the success its author (Jacob Neusner) achieved after "two decades" as "a minor prophet'' of 'Judaic renaissance" is "disappointing and empty...
...I should like to suggest that there is a Jewish problem where success has not yet been achieved, a problem which Neusner has been influential in bringing to the fore—Jewish feminism...
...I had my first appointment with Mrs...
...Pat Derian who is an Assistant Secretary of State in charge of the Human Rights Division...
...While Hitler was rounding up Jews, Robeson was remarkably quiet as long as the Nazis were allies of his beloved Russia...
...That Jews were ever attracted to Communism has always confused me, but after the evils of Stalin, the oppression of Jews in Russia and the Communist aid to the Arab cause, that a Jewish magazine could still sing that love song absolutely baffles me...
...There is a movement among some of the people—in the havurot, in Jewish Studies programs, etc.—to learn even more about being Jewish—and "people" here includes women...
...Help the other 50 percent of the Jewish people help you in your search for the core of meaning in Jewish life...
...The female members of the younger generation, like those taught by Neusner, are now embattled and need the assistance of the same Jewish scholars...
...She will also be the head of the United States Delegation to the forthcoming Bucharest Conference...
...So secular, in fact, I wonder what damage has been done these past years...
...This poll affirmed my growing suspicion that Jews have increasingly begun to worship Judaism instead of God...
...Here is a new challenge worthy of your talents, Professor Neusner...
...These are only examples of literally hundreds of comments from many sources about Magat's article...
...He also told me how much he enjoyed the ar tide...
...Rachel Adler's quest to be recognized as an adult Jew...
...For some young Jewish women marriage and motherhood are thus postponed—to the detriment of the Jewish people...
...Isidore Eisenberg Milford, Massachusetts To the Editor: I have seen your article "When Symbols Become Substance" and found it an education...
...Ida Cohen Selavan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania To the Editor: Of all the silly things that moment has done, the paean of praise to Paul Robeson is the silliest...
...This world has been predicated on the existence of anonymous enablers—the sisters, wives, mothers, and mothers-in-law who worked and kept house so that the the men could study Judaism and serve God...
...The pain and resentment expressed by Reform respondents to your poll helps clarify my own actions within our Conservative synagogue...
...First, my wife and I spent three weeks in Jerusalem last October...
...The generation of the seventies now seeks enablers to support them through the years of arduous effort required for Jewish scholarship...
...my suggestions for a reconstruction of the Jewish family...
...But that occurred after June 1941 when Germany attacked Russia...
...Employ modern midrashim, forums on ethical questions, and newly written and ancient prayers...
...He never hesitated to express special empathy for the Jews...
Vol. 3 • November 1977 • No. 1
