Letters

LETTERS To the Editor: I was disgusted by H. Teller's proselytizing attitude. Even though I can applaud his zeal in sharing Bible and Talmud, I can't accept his failure to see and respect the...

...Sure, I wouldn't want those to be the only scriptures available to me, but in Teller's shoes I would have used them...
...If we can resume and develop our relationship with blacks we'll all be enriched...
...He didn't know anyone else was there...
...Teller is himself such a missionary...
...They were tough and angry and had strong identities, and we could learn from each other...
...The Bill of Rights that keeps race and religion out of schools, housing, and hiring was crucial to both our groups...
...It was a natural process, but we're beginning to suffer from the erosion of idealism...
...Daniel Blass Detroit, Michigan...
...After we won some territory the going got harder...
...We should speak not just for the victims but also for our own self-respect...
...I'm not surprised he couldn't communicate with anyone in Kiryat Shmonah...
...Blacks are virtually enslaved in South Africa and we shouldn't be silent...
...Didn't Teller see that it was violence and not faith that the child responded to...
...We saw that we were separate peoples, two different movements for identity and survival...
...And we liked working with blacks...
...Even though I can applaud his zeal in sharing Bible and Talmud, I can't accept his failure to see and respect the people and situations before his eyes...
...I think that the lesson of the piece is that without denying our fears and our self-interest, it's time to move on...
...One little Moroccan told me that if he ever sees a missionary he is going to poke his eyes out...
...Teller taught children to burn what he called "missionary bibles," books containing what are conventionally called in English the 'Old' and 'New' testaments...
...Some blacks realized that they had Islamic sympathies and some Jews, pro-Israel to start with, discovered they had an investment of sorts in the status quo of U.S...
...You just don't burn books, any more than you burn people...
...Working for that kind of cause again is an obligation we can be glad we have...
...He was pleased with violence: "My pupils were enthusiastic...
...Why did Teller feel so threatened...
...Ralph Weiss Chicago, Illinois To the Editor: What fascinating excerpts from your readers' reactions to the Bakke case and affirmative action...
...Money and jobs got scarce, crime got worse, everybody had to fight harder for himself...
...They coerce rather than communicate...
...When I encounter a book that is someone else's scripture I feel interested and engaged...
...Or else I might have arranged for the books to be given to Christians or kept in a library...
...When even a gentle and persuasive missionary makes a speech to me, I feel attacked...
...Commenting on Bakke, moment's readers looked deep into themselves and their situation...
...I might have ignored the New Testament as no threat whatsoever, or I might have made a lesson of the situation, putting it to the students to understand how sad it was to have to read our words from someone else's book...
...They don't respect the present...
...power...
...You have to wonder (I do, anyway) if there isn't some way Jews and blacks can start talking again, relating, maybe even working together...
...Seems to me that in the sixties when Jews worked for black rights we were working for ourselves too...
...Unlike Teller, I dislike missionaries whether their ideas resemble mine or not...

Vol. 3 • April 1978 • No. 5


 
Developed by
Kanda Sofware
  Kanda Software, Inc.