Letters
LETTERS Reactions to "Bill" To the Editor: In May 1981 ("Coming of Age at 66"), moment noted that a CBS television drama about Bill Sackter, entitled "Bill," would be telecast later in the year....
...Mitch Dorson Tucson, Arizona To the Editor: Barry Morrow's goal in "Bill" had been to write a story about friendship, a story in which a retarded man would be not only a central character but also a forceful character...
...Many Jews believe in the need and right of Israel to exist, but some of us feel that the commitment also involves action—namely, aliyah...
...It can be acknowledged that the main lines of the story—Bill's encounter with Barry, his move to Iowa City, his role at the coffee shop—were all lived before the Bar Mitzvah...
...However, when Dien knocked, he noticed much hesitation before his knock was answered...
...Nathan Perlmutter New York, New York West Meets East To the Editor: To follow up on Betsy Gidwitz' article ("From Moses to Mao: When a Jew Visits China," November 1981) and my letter to the editor (January-February 1982), here is some more information about Westerners' visits with the Jews of Kaifeng...
...We are not angels or fanatic idealists, we are just very ordinary human beings who believe firmly in the principles of Zionism, in the existence of a homeland...
...That afternoon, about 18 people went to the Zhao's...
...The film ends with a few minutes of film clips of the real Bill...
...The proper role of television is to show situations like this as they really are, not in some bland, homogenized format that is palatable and inoffensive to the widest possible audience...
...All letters should be typed, double-spaced, and sent to the moment Editorial Office, 462 Boylston Street, Suite 301, Boston, MA 02116...
...But there was something important that was missing from this film...
...This is easy for me to summarize ("Coming of Age at 66," May 1981), but it is not easy to dramatize...
...This is not true...
...But the film is not a documentary...
...It is also very important to say that Barry Morrow deserves great credit for seeing to it that the records of Bill's Jewish origins were retrieved and for strengthening Bill's consciousness that he is Jewish...
...I think that much of the deserved praise that the film has been receiving is in recognition of this subtle and extremely difficult accomplishment...
...It is my opinion that the great majority of us did not leave America because we found life there intolerable...
...With reluctance, the two ladies stepped outside into the lane where they were introduced to everyone and pictures were taken...
...Bill is instead depicted as some sort of "Everyman," one who likes all churches and temples equally, stumbles through a recitation of the Lord's Prayer at the bedside of a very sick little girl, and dresses up as Santa Claus every Christmas...
...In June 1980, Prof...
...Zhao's son...
...Is there another way to make meat kosher...
...The thrust of my point was that regardless of the absence of anti-Semitism, there are issues—the military industrial complex's profit motivation in the AWACS sale is an illustration— which negatively impact Jewish interests...
...What can be done now...
...Virtually every Jewish person to whom I have spoken has expressed disappointment that Bill's Jewish identity was absent from the film, and that by opening and closing the film with Santa Claus images, Bill is made into a Christmas metaphor...
...Time is telescoped, some events are changed to suit the needs of the story line, and events that took place after Bill's Bar Mitzvah are included...
...I am offended by the idea that Bill's Jewishness needed to be obscured so that this movie could be advertised as being "in the Christmas spirit...
...He was directed to a house belonging to the Zhao family...
...We reserve the right to edit for publication...
...The first time, in June, the Zhao's were out when he called...
...What we really need now is "Bill II"—the story of Bill's Bar Mitzvah, with a full-scale interpretation of its meanings...
...The fictional Bill, like the real Bill Sackter, does a great deal to shape his own life and to affect the lives of those he encounters...
...The word "anti-Semitic" should have read "a-Semitic...
...Leon Kellmann Miami, Florida Americans in Israel To the Editor: In your December 1981 issue, in Vanessa Ochs' article ("Get Me To A Nunnery", there is a statement I find extremely disturbing: "It seemed as if Israel wasn't the life for any of my friends who plotted aliyah...
...That, of course, brought his group to Kaifeng...
...Most of us have settled in Israel out of an intense commitment to the survival of Israel—for the good of all Jews everywhere...
...The group visited the hospital which is on the site of the synagogue and saw the stelae, one of which Dien identified as the 1512 inscription...
...Or that one of my brightest public high school students once, during a class discussion, described Jews as not being "normal" Americans...
...I would like to see every American-Jewish publication devote a certain amount of space—regularly and consistently—to presenting the reality of aliyah as it truly is—a life-style that is possible and that does work for many of us...
...You attribute to me "The AWACS matter is a good illustration of an issue that is basically anti-Semitic...
...The three visitors were invited in for tea by an old lady and her daughter...
...The only ones who remained beyond the ulpan and the absorption center were those who found life in America absolutely intolerable and any form of American fellowship inadequate...
...But Schulweis also makes a statement damaging to heart attack victims...
...Not everyone can be privileged to live here, but many can make a greater contribution by supporting those of us who do make aliyah and by presenting the topic as a viable option for those who may have been frightened off by subtle messages such as the one sneaked in by Ms...
...I urge CBS to prepare a new ending, which omits the Santa Claus image at the end (not because it is inaccurate, but because it is, in a deeper sense, untrue) and to substitute an ending which makes use of the photographs and tape-recordings of Bill's Bar Mitzvah...
...In the sense that the movie helped those who saw it better understand the true meaning of the term, "mentally handicapped," it was a noteworthy success...
...Although Prof...
...Ruth Seligman Ramat-Gan, Israel moment welcomes letters from readers...
...One morning, while most of the group went to visit an embroidery factory, Dien and two others sought out the site of the synagogue...
...Ours is living here...
...Albert Dien of Stanford University led a tour to China entitled "Ancient Capitals of China...
...Mickey Rooney's portrayal of Bill was a powerful and moving one...
...Not being an observant Jew, I really don't know...
...Maybe the chronically ill should organize and fight...
...How can it be otherwise when the beauty of our faith is so often distorted or outright hidden from public view...
...Now that the movie has been so successful (as I write, Bill is flying to California to attend the Golden Globe awards, for which the film has been nominated) it no doubt will be shown again...
...Dien's visits do not fit the paradigm I proposed in my original letter, I would point to the fact that his was a random encounter—not an officially sanctioned visit—and that the family obviously was subjected to either internal or external pressure after their initially hospitable reception of Dien and his two co-travellers...
...It should also be stressed that Bill is a deeply religious man, in an ecumenical—even pantheistic—way...
...The inclusion in "Bill" of a nomore-than-five-minute Bar Mitzvah scene could have made the movie an eye-opener in more ways than one...
...Israel is not a place where the misfits of the world gather...
...In describing cardiac diets, he says "treif kills and kosher cures...
...There is a strong sense of having been shortchanged...
...I am both troubled and indignant that such an opportunity was lost...
...It seems to me that there should be more important concerns on our personal and communal agendas than worrying about a centuries-old play's political influence on our children and our neighbors...
...Of Bill Sackter's Jew-ishness, there is no mention, not even a clue...
...Is it any wonder that so many Jewish children consider themselves second-rate citizens at Christmas time, unless they too have a Christmas tree alongside their Menorah...
...Please give us credit for more...
...The film ought to end on a stronger, more complex, and more authentic note...
...Linda K. Kerber Iowa City, Iowa Linda Kerber, a member of Bill Sackter's synagogue, is the author of moment's "Coming of Age at 66...
...It could be your contribution...
...Diana F. Ackerman Providence, Rhode Island Our Apologies To the Editor: On page 15 of your January-February 1981 issue ("The New Anti-Semitism: A moment Symposium"), I am incorrectly quoted...
...Only signed letters with a complete return address can be considered...
...many "enlightened" people who would shudder at flimsily grounded, pop-psychology put-downs stereotyping blacks, women or gays apparently have no such compunctions when it comes to heart disease, ulcer or hypertension victims...
...In his early years in Iowa City he visited churches as well as the synagogue, and he responds strongly to ritual wherever he encounters it...
...Heart patients are, as he says, cautioned to avoid bacon and seafood, but they are also cautioned to avoid kosher meat, and for the same reason—the high sodium content...
...Due to the large volume of mail we receive, unpublished letters cannot be returned...
...Even the speech that he really gives at his Bar Mitzvah is instead spoken, in the film, at a surprise party for him when he gets the job at the coffee shop...
...I can only agree with you that "Jewish sensitivity about The Merchant of Venice is misplaced...
...Anson Laytner New York, New York In Defense of "In Defense of Shylock" To the Editor: Thank you, Jerold Auerbach, for your comments about Jewish reactions to Shylock ("In Defense of Shylock," January-February 1982...
...She conveyed this message unintentionally and unconsciously but that does not make it any less disturbing...
...Heart Meats To the Editor: A friend lent me the November 1981 moment, and I read it with interest, especially Rabbi Schulweis's article, "Infarct: Who's to Blame...
...CBS need not have omitted this important part of Bill's story and Bill's identity...
...And please give us more exposure...
...I have personally interviewed over 600 of them...
...In fact, given the growing evidence linking heavy salt intake and the eventual development of irreversible hypertension in susceptible individuals (who cannot be identified in advance), it seems dangerous to encourage the consumption of salted meat by anyone...
...They were told that there were 30 persons in the family...
...When the movie was shown on December 22,1 watched it with considerable interest...
...Dien visited Kaifeng twice more in 1981...
...other family members joined them...
...Ochs...
...It's nice to hear someone criticize the popular "blame the victim" approach to illness...
...After finding the "Jews' Street," Dien asked a bystander if there were any Jews in the neighborhood...
...Incidentally, those who do are often the ones who do not "make it" in Israel either...
...Bill does enjoy playing Santa Claus...
...the second time, in August, they were at home when Dien brought his group down the lane, but Dien (wisely) did not want to subject the family to the trials of another group visit...
...There are over 50,000 Americans living in Israel...
...Hopefully, every American-Jewish organization, every synagogue and every forum would devote some time to putting the topic of aliyah on its agenda...
...The son never appeared, he was said to have already returned to work...
...Plans were made for the Westerners to return with other tour members in order to meet the elder Mr...
...Why can't we Jews learn to appreciate art and literature for what it is, instead of harping on what it is not...
Vol. 7 • March 1982 • No. 3
