Forum
FORUM LOOK Vanished! (Will Moment?) Your cover story on "Abandoning Judaism" (August 1992) reminds me of another cover story 20 years ago in Look magazine on the "Vanishing American Jew." Look...
...It gave the reader an accurate and balanced religious perspective on the issue...
...What transpired over the past 40 years to contribute to the sudden decline...
...If Shabbat is so important, why does he seek to redefine it...
...I applaud Joshua Haberman ("The New Exodus Out of Judaism," August 1992) for confronting the issue...
...A Shabbat meal can be a life-transforming experience for an unaffiliated or indifferent Jew...
...moment has shown great courage in highlighting the meltdown of American Jewish life, especially among young American Jews...
...Suzanne Singer's editorial ("Abortion—Bridging the Moral Gap") is the main reason I have decided to subscribe to the magazine...
...In only five years, over 25,000 have participated in Shabbat at our Turn Friday Night into Shabbos" programs, and over 100 beginners services have been established...
...Minimizing and misrepresenting the attractions and positive attributes of pagan religions may be reassuring to some, but it does not advance scholarship...
...It is sadly true that Jews who remain outside the major Jewish religious organizations are most likely to become assimilated, but this need not become a self-fulfilling prophecy...
...Hers is a perspective which clearly elevates the debate...
...Deborah Frankel San Francisco, California Francine Klagsbrun responds: In In the Wake of the Goddesses, author Tikva Frymer-Kensky demonstrates, through literary and archaeological evidence, how the roles of goddesses in the ancient Near East were progressively narrowed so that by the end of the second millennium these deities were clearly subordinated to male gods...
...It seems quite futile to hope to attract gentiles to a Jewish community from which thousands of Jews are walking away annually...
...Ephraim Z. Buchwald Director National Jewish Outreach Program New York, New York How Can Haberman Ignore Orthodox Outreach...
...Furthermore, it is misleading to suggest that there is only one pro-choice position...
...Singer eloquently articulates the very pro-choice stance she seems unwilling to adopt...
...Given this relationship, it is implausible that Zakheim's own very direct interest in promoting the sale would not cloud his judgment— much in the same way that while an employee of Caspar Weinberger's Defense Department, Zakheim was the point man in undermining Israel's Lavi aircraft project...
...It is a challenge to confront the realities and mysteries of existence, intellectually and emotionally...
...This research, however, applies only in a limited way, if at all, to the goddesses of antiquity...
...Rabbi Martin P. Beifield, Jr...
...Judaism in its formation was a reaction to paganism...
...The two sides of the debate as it is currently structured are so diametrically opposed that I doubt they can ever be reconciled...
...Singer writes, "I will not speak here about what the law should be or about who should decide about every possible abortion situation...
...There are many, just as there are many pro-life positions...
...Jesse Zel Lune Delray Beach, Florida Kosmin Is Confused and Contradicts Himself Barry A. Kosmin's article ('The Permeable Boundaries of Being Jewish in America," August 1992) is so confused and self-contradictory that it is difficult to know precisely what the author is trying to say...
...I hope it enjoys wide distribution...
...The Penis Becomes a Scapegoat As physicians, we feel it is important to address issues raised in letters to the editor in the June 1992 moment...
...I also agree that many women have "non-therapeutic" abortions (this is my word, not hers, though I believe it is fairly applied to her perspective), which are of dubious validity from this same Jewish perspective...
...As we begin to lose—or to forget—that crucial element, American democracy, and our secure place in it as Jews, begins to crumble...
...If Kosmin means that a Jew who joins another religion remains a Jew—like it or not—he contradicts his earlier assertions that "nobody has to be a Jew" and that it's "easy to pass" from being a Jew to not being one...
...As for the "attractions and positive attributes" of paganism—some people may still find those appealing but that is immaterial to the fundamental nature of Judaism, which is and must remain uncompromisingly monotheistic...
...The penis becomes a convenient scapegoat...
...And if we won't follow halachah, what compels us to follow Mr...
...If abortion is illegal, as the pro-life movement would have it, there would be no decision making, frivolous or serious, because there would be no legal options...
...What a non-Orthodox Jew cannot do is ignore Shabbat...
...The law under Roe v. Wade, which is the basis of the pro-choice movement, allows governmental restrictions for abortions during the second and third trimesters...
...The New Exodus Out of Judaism," by Joshua Haberman...
...Is it insignificant that there are hundreds of Orthodox outreach volunteers and professionals sharing the joy of Torah and mitzvot with their less-educated brothers, some as one-person practitioners and many as partners in large movements...
...It is certainly true that her perspective today differs from the one she had 20 years ago...
...that might be true...
...Frederic March Vice President Los Alamos Jewish Center Los Alamos, New Mexico Can't Pay, Can't Ask Your stories in the August moment about people who "Abandon Judaism" missed one very important issue...
...What is that supposed to mean...
...And what about those of other religious backgrounds (or none) who choose to become Jews...
...Will women, their families and whomever they wish to consult be able to engage in their own moral deliberations and make their own decisions...
...It does not mean that we accept their words as literal divine-revealed truth, including notions about a supernatural God...
...But they are not Jews by any generally recognized standard...
...The Jews who represent the most vital and promising element in Jewry are those to whom Judaism is a problem...
...And as a humanist, a secular Jew faithfully observes the ethical and moral teaching of the prophets...
...Defining a Secular Jew One can usually rely on Dennis Prager for discerning and thought-provoking commentary and his June 1992 column was no exception...
...The known disadvantages are minor, extremely rare and almost nonexistent in the hands of a skilled operator...
...Quite a few developments in this period (such as the invention of organized warfare) make generalizations difficult...
...Mercifully, Barry Kosmin ('The Permeable Boundaries of Being Jewish in America") has spared your readers the goriest demographic details...
...Diplomat American Board of Dermatology West Hills, California...
...In the words of Torah "your sons and daughters are given over to a foreign culture and you have no power over them...
...Surely, however, it is possible for serious people to disagree...
...I agree with Haberman's conclusion...
...Prager's assessment that "non-Orthodox Jews must take Judaism as seriously as Orthodox Jews do," I do not understand how Mr...
...Prager's plan manifests this seriousness...
...Marina Warner, in Alone of All Her Sex, points out that the images of the quasi-divine Mary in the Catholic Church are oppressive to women because they set up a standard that is humanly impossible to emulate...
...It is true that goddesses of fertility and nurturance were important—the capacity to bear and nourish children is the most striking capacity that women have and men do not...
...The California Medical Association overwhelmingly endorsed newborn circumcision as an effective health measure...
...Hardly a day goes by when we do not treat some problem resulting from a man not being circumcised...
...Singer's Position Is Really Pro-Choice In "Abortion—Bridging the Moral Gap," (August 1992), Suzanne Singer puts pro-choicers and pro-lifers at two extremes, and suggests that the Jewish position on abortion, as she interprets it, provides a useful middle ground...
...This was received as a revelation by my students and enabled some of them to seek a liberal Jewish affiliation with integrity...
...I experienced the sincerity and intensity of people searching for their Jewish identity when I taught a course at the Jewish Community Center of Washington, D.C., on humanism in Jewish religious thought and practice...
...Singer leaves her position open for misuse by those who would wrongly and self-righteously impose it on others...
...Any outreach that ignores this issue will be dead on arrival...
...It is very hard for those of us without sufficient means to ask for reduced fees...
...But those numbers don't reflect the many more thousands who never become fully Orthodox, but as a result of outreach efforts are now involved in synagogue life, have kosher homes and/or pursue Jewish education for themselves and their children...
...And yet, as Kosmin reports, they feel that being Jewish is somehow important in their lives...
...For in that world, the decision would have been predetermined by the state, and no individual decision-making—sober or otherwise—would be allowed...
...In defiance of all logic, Kosmin considers "gentiles who are members of Jewish households" to be Jews...
...It is also deeply insulting to those who have had to struggle and make sacrifices for the privilege of leading Jewish lives...
...As a freelance writer, I wonder how much of my personal life to share with readers and admire her courage in describing her experiences in Jerusalem nearly two decades ago and her recent loss...
...Jewish education is, in fact, the key...
...As a result of my "problem," I have always felt alienated from organized Jewish religious life...
...American Jews can be effectively reached...
...But her change is irrelevant...
...The primary thrust of her article is that a woman should take very seriously the decision to have an abortion...
...Diplomat American Board of Urology Robert Miller, M.D...
...In this paragraph, Ms...
...It is difficult not to question if they have another unstated agenda...
...I want to commend moment for making those Jews with "a problem" (such as myself) the major theme of the August 1992 issue ("The Permeable Boundaries of Being Jewish in America," by Barry Kosmin...
...As a secular Jew, I maintain strong ties to the Jewish community and am actively involved in many Jewish affairs...
...While she may not wish to ally herself with the pro-choice movement, the intelligent and sober decision making Ms...
...The three excellent Jewish thinkers in this August issue shed some light on the "problem" but in my view, the light is insufficient...
...What she wrote not only expressed our concerns and approach to the debate, but touched our hearts...
...Rabbi Raphael B. Butler National Director Orthodox Union New York, New York Judaism Without A Supernatural God Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan writing in the 1930s {Judaism as a Civilization) said: "Judaism is a problem to those who find that they cannot be spiritually whole and happy if they repudiate their Jewish heritage, and who at the same time are fairly convinced that to expect that heritage to function in the manner in which it did in the past is neither desirable nor practicable...
...Those of us out in the field know that the "Silent Holocaust" has already most likely claimed close to two-thirds of America's six million Jews—lost to Jewish life, perhaps irretrievably...
...I hope that an effort can be made to outreach to these people and keep these families among the ranks of "Jews practicing Judaism...
...Federations all over the country are falling over each other to conduct "continuity" studies for the umpteenth time, and they still don't know where to turn and what to do...
...Another study found uncircumcised men to be more than nine times as likely as circumcised men to become infected after HIV exposure...
...I am waiting for a Supreme Court opinion in an abortion-related case to refer to any one of many Jewish philosophers, rabbis and scholars who have carried on a debate about the abortion issue since long before.Roe v. Wade...
...Anti-circumcision advocates tend to base their arguments on emotional, rather than medical, evidence...
...Unfortunately, by trying to place herself in the middle of what she has defined as two extremes, Ms...
...But the American Jew not only did not vanish, but in the last 20 years produced more Jewish children than the Jewry of any country throughout the ages...
...Goddesses of the ancient world were not confined to any particular realm...
...While I wholeheartedly agree with Mr...
...But then he goes on to announce that "in this new world order you can be Jewish on your own terms"—evidently without study, effort or commitment of any kind...
...Name withheld at writer's request] Elevating the Abortion Debate Regarding Suzanne Singer's editorial on the abortion issue ("Abortion— Bridging the Moral Gap," August 1992), I found it to be the most reasoned and insightful piece I have read on this most explosive topic...
...If abortion were illegal, what option would there be for a serious person who disagreed with you...
...They use buzzwords such as child abuse, FORUM savage and mutilation, terms chosen to frighten the uninformed and undecided...
...It is supported by all of the national organizations of the Reform and Conservative movements and Hadassah...
...Someone like myself ends up uncomfortably supporting the pro-choice side, only because it allows the Jewish ethic to operate within its boundaries...
...But making Jewish life attractive seems not to be a priority of American Jewish leadership...
...Millions of Jews were chloroformed into believing that Judaism would be saved by watering it down and making it palatable to the masses...
...Most reports are anecdotal and usually associated with psychological problems...
...Prager...
...What must be reported is that so much is being done, but even that is but a drop in the bucket...
...This is what the writers of Torah and Talmud do, and being Jewish means accepting the responsibility to face the same universal challenges to human existence...
...Prager in bemoaning the lack of passion for Judaism among the non-Orthodox, but Jewish spiritual revival lies in learning and observing the Torah...
...Singer's perspective is very valuable if left as a guide to those facing this decision and seeking guidance...
...Overemphasis on the Holocaust is killing our young Jews...
...S. Sidney Verner Gaithersburg, Maryland Prager's Orthodox Bogeyman Dennis Prager (June 1992) asserts that "Jews who do not affirm a religious Judaism will eventually cease identifying as Jews," but "most will never become Orthodox...
...With present medical information available, one must question the motivation of no-circ advocates like Mr...
...She uses as evidence the statistics that most women have abortions for reasons that are probably not valid (from her Jewish perspective) and her own personal experience...
...She suggests that it advocates unrestricted access to abortion...
...The liberating idea is that Judaism (including its God language) is not a system of dogma to be accepted at face value...
...Further, a secular Jew-is not passive about his/her Jewish identity but proudly asserts his/her Jewish commitment through active interest and participation in Jewish communal life...
...Many large city synagogues simply have fees for dues and religious school that are too high for Jews with "average incomes...
...American Jews have dramatically rescued their brothers and sisters in the Soviet Union, Ethiopia, Syria and Israel, while effectively abandoning their own sons and daughters in the United States...
...Samuel Kumn, M.D., F.A.C.S...
...I join Mr...
...She admits that she herself didn't take it seriously enough...
...They will find a much more maintainable view of the problem, one that recognizes that the decision to have or not to have an abortion, along with so many of the decisions real people face in real life, cannot be pigeonholed into "pro" or "anti" thinking...
...Unfortunately, if his analysis of Orthodox efforts is any indication^of his thoroughness (or methods), it invalidates the body of his essay—though not his conclusion...
...I miss in your roundup on the NJPS a critique by other experts, such as Steven Cohen, who used the same statistics to argue that American Jewry is holding its own...
...Her characterization of the pro-choice position is incorrect...
...I dispute this statement on all points...
...There is a gaping hole in Prager's logic...
...Look vanished from the magazine scene a few years later...
...Dennis Prager plays off the bogeyman of Orthodoxy...
...These family members may be strong prospects for joining the Jewish fold, and may be very good people indeed—B'nai Noach (Children of Noah), our rabbis would call them...
...that abortion is not murder, that abortion is sometimes required and that our first concern is for the mother...
...Moms J. Amitay Washington, D.C...
...This strategy only fosters decline, as the classic Torah message becomes more and more muddled...
...I really do not believe that is an extreme view...
...We could believe anything we wanted, but abortion would be illegal...
...Can Haberman honestly state "there is nothing to report" when NCSYs public school Teen Torah Centers have expanded nationwide in the past four years and continue to grow...
...She has probably changed in lots of other ways, too...
...Goldman...
...Assimilation for me, and for others who behave and believe as I do, is a totally alien concept...
...While I do not agree that only the woman faced with an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy should make an abortion choice without interference from parents or the father of the child, I cannot support the idea that all abortions are wrong...
...In addition, a secular Jew will share with other humanists adherence to deductive reasoning as opposed to reasoning based on reveladon...
...Russ Kaufman Surtonsville, Maryland Reclaiming Goddesses Francine Klagsbrun writes, "As recent feminist scholarship has found, in the ancient world goddesses actually symbolized women's subordinate positions, confined as they were to the realms of fertility, sexuality or nurturance," (August 1992...
...None of these writers suggests that one of the principal reasons for alienation from Judaism is that the majority of Jews no longer believe in a supernatural God...
...Unlike many Jews who avoid synagogue affiliation, I have been troubled by my feelings and have tried to understand what it is about organized Judaism that accounts for my spiritual alienation...
...As a result I have friends and relatives who want to give their children a Jewish education (and both parents were raised Jewish) but simply cannot afford it...
...First, we must mobilize the committed Jewish community...
...The Orthodox community does not direct its outreach efforts, as does the Reform movement, to the needs of prospective converts and interfaith couples and by embracing the non-Jewish children of interfaith couples...
...What should be studied are the numerous successful, effective programs that must be replicated and sustained so as to reach more unaffiliated...
...But the truth is that watered down wine tastes like water and the drinker soon loses interest...
...By refusing to stand for choice, however, Ms...
...Can an honest appraisal of outreach efforts be presented without noting the achievements of the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) or the Association of Jewish Outreach Professionals (AJOP), that supports the efforts of the finest synagogue rabbis and outreach professionals who effectively use the Orthodox synagogues as their base for outreach...
...Young people in particular, in seeking meaning and a personal philosophy to guide their lives, often perceive Judaism as archaic and irrelevant, as well as fixated on belief in a supernatural God in which they do not believe...
...He forcefully promotes observance without the risk of being castigated as too extreme...
...Joshua Haberman's report on Jewish outreach ('The New Exodus Out of Judaism") was superficial and flawed, but his conclusion that outreach efforts have been feeble is pretty much on target...
...It is out of such dilemmas that there have always emerged new spiritual values...
...At a minimum, what makes one Jewish is affiliation with Jewish organizations, recognidon of major Jewish holidays, support of Israel and a lifelong study of Jewish wridngs and history...
...How can he not mention the Jewish Education Program (JEP) and the network of Jewish colleges that meet the requirements of non-affiliated...
...I know it will be of importance and value to all those who read it, and especially to the many people in our community who have not yet learned to balance social liberalism and halachah...
...While some valid points can be made for the sale of F-15s to the Saudis, they would have greater credibility if they came from a defense analyst—rather than a paid defense consultant...
...This debate is not some abstract moral discussion over when abortion is permissible and when it is not,, with those who oppose restrictions on one side, and those who support prohibition on the other...
...Most Jews today remain unaffiliated with, or tenuously attached to, any of the mainstream Jewish denominations because they are not persuaded that "prayers, ritual, holy days" are intellectually or spiritually meaningful...
...They dwell on three subjects: pain, sexual dysfunction and psychological trauma...
...Does he consider them to be Christians, Muslims or whatever "of another religion...
...Our survival demands commitment, a good understanding of who we are and a willingness to stand up against subtle (and not-so-subtle) pressures...
...What goddesses really meant in relation to women's status in a given society is undoubtedly complicated and worth discussing...
...Secondly, we must provide every Jew in America with positive, joyous Jewish experiences...
...it is a real struggle over who will be entitled to engage in these discussions and who will make these difficult decisions...
...We would certainly hope that informed readers would ask the same question, especially in light of the fact that we fine...
...Based on a plethora of current medical literature, we believe the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages...
...I have always perceived the pro-life side as endorsing what is essentially a Christian view of the problem, while the pro-choice side is generally perceived or portrayed as an atheistic, anti-life moral view...
...For the price of a chicken you can save a Jew...
...So how does a secular Jew define his Jewishness...
...Pain is transient and any physiologic changes disappear shortly...
...Egon Mayer's call for increased outreach to intermarried couples (Strategies for Taking Judaism Public) is a clear case of misplaced priorities...
...Singer advocates would be impossible in an anti-choice world...
...However, even in Old World civilizations with written records, we find prominent goddesses of war, death and rebirth, wisdom, truth and justice, poetic inspiration, wild and domestic animals, agriculture, arboriculture, spinning, weaving and metal-smithing, mathematics and measurement, rulership, mountains, rivers, caves, wells, and heavenly bodies...
...However, it must be Jewish education that has been transmitted through the generations, not created to meet the needs of the hour...
...Instead, Orthodoxy sponsors an ongoing, burgeoning array of programs and people throughout North America who are dedicated to Jewish outreach...
...Klagsbrun does not cite any specific "recent feminist scholars...
...if you listen to anything, listen to a Jewish talk show or to Jewish music...
...Perhaps the most confused and most objectionable term in the article is 'Jews of Other Religions...
...Despite my general agreement with these points, I find myself disturbed by her article...
...Scores of Jewish culture clubs, staffed by National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) professionals, function in public high schools nationwide, and yet Haberman states "there is virtually nothing to report...
...Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg Adas Israel Congregation Washington, D.C...
...Our so-called Judeo-Christian tradition frequently leads unknowledgeable people to believe that the Christian view is the same as the Jewish view on numerous ethical and theological subjects, abortion included...
...What is most astonishing about the Jewish hemorrhaging is that there is no sense of urgency in the Jewish community...
...I suspect, however, that women do take this issue seriously...
...Congregation Keneseth Israel Allentown, Pennsylvania Pro-Choice Allows Jewish Ethics to Operate Thanks to Suzanne Singer for putting in print my own concerns about the abortion debate ("Abortion—Bridging the Moral Gap," August 1992...
...The battle will never be won by pretending that it's "easy" to be Jewish or by diluting the term to the point where it loses all meaning...
...We could be doing much more, but one cannot summarily dismiss, as Haberman does, the effective work of Lubavitch, Aish HaTorah, National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL), the Wexner Heritage Foundation, National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) and dozens of local outreach efforts...
...He writes, "Non-Orthodoxy is not interested in knowing whether a Jew drives on Shabbat," but "where the Jew is driving on Shabbat....And a related non-Orthodox guideline is: If you drive, keep Shabbat in your car— don't turn on the radio...
...In those matters each citizen—Jew and nonjew—must consider the alternatives in light of his or her own moral and pragmatic guidelines...
...All sexually transmitted diseases occur more fre-quendy among uncircumcised men...
...Yisroel Epstein Monsey, New York Zakheim's Cloudy Judgment In appraising Dov Zakheim's arguments in favor of the sale of advanced F-15E Fighter Bombers to Saudi Arabia (August 1992), one must view them in the light of Zakheim's professional associations with a number of U.S...
...We at NJOP have discovered that unaffiliated American Jews sincerely want to remain Jewish and desperately await the embrace of the Jewish community...
...defense firms—including McDonnell Douglas, the manufacturer of the F-15...
...My primary objection to the pro-life positions is that, were any of them law, they would effectively prevent you and me, and anyone else who held a view similar to the Jewish one we adhere to, from acting on our beliefs...
...True, the CJF Population Survey reports only about 2,000 ba'alei teshuvah annually...
...Ronald Goldman, executive director of the Circumcision Resource Center, claiming to be current, states that circumcision has "no proven medical benefit...
...Unless young people are shown how sweet Torah and Jewish life truly are, there will be nobody to remember anything, let alone the Holocaust...
...Not everyone may have read moment's informadon about the author or grasped the significance...
...My thesis in teaching was that of Rabbi Kaplan's, i.e., being sincerely religious as a Jew in no way requires or depends upon a belief in a supernatural God...
...virtually no medical contraindications and a host of benefits to circumcision...
...The 1990 Council of Jewish Federation's (CJF) National Jewish Population Survey will seem like child's play compared to what awaits American Jews in the final decade of the 20th century...
...He asserts, for example, that "today in America everyone can be a Jew by Choice" (hardly a startling revelation since this has always been true...
...Prager too glibly dismisses the Jewish commitment of a major sector of our people who, though not observant, are intellectually and emotionally Jewish in thought and deed...
...She implies that a woman, especially a Jewish woman, who is serious about the decision to have an abortion\will tend not to have one...
...The Five Books of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings, the Mishnah and Talmud, Maimonides' Code, the Shulchan Aruch, Luzatto's Path of the Just and the works of the Chafetz Chaim offer a cornucopia of knowledge which awaits the hungry Jewish soul...
...We would be remiss in our duties to leave several comments unchallenged...
...We are talking of a period from the Neolithic revolution, 10,000 years ago to approximately 500 C.E...
...If we believe that Shabbat has specific rules and is not simply an arbitrary "day of FORUM continues on page 74 rest," why can't we allow hatachah to define those rules for us...
...Mordechai Kaplan writes: "The main reason Jews display such a negative attitude to their tradition is no doubt the fact that they labor under the assumption that it is inextricably bound up with a theology which has ceased to have any vital meaning for them...
...The leaders of yesteryear are turning over in their graves as they view what the mass rejection of Jewish traditional values and practices has wrought...
...Edward B. Rehfeld, policy associate Religious Acton Center of Reform Judaism Washington, D.C Singer Mischaracterizes Pro-Choice Position Suzanne Singer ("Abortion—Bridging the Moral Gap," August 1992) has fairly summarized a widely held Jewish position on abortion: that fetal life is potential life and not, as she put it, "full human life...
...Cal Kent Arlington, Virginia Learning to Balance Social Liberalism and ffa/achah It could not have been easy for Suzanne Singer ("Abortion—Bridging the Moral Gap") to have opened this aspect of her life to the world...
...His solution is a new, "non-Orthodox religiosity...
...This debate, though superficially about fetal life and women's rights, is, at its core, about how we resolve controversial, emotional and deeply personal issues in a democratic society...
...A greater than tenfold increase in urinary tract infections was found in a study involving more than 200,000 uncircumcised men...
...and "Strategies for Taking Judaism Public," by Egon Mayer...
...See the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) for details...
...In my experience many people, including Jews, are very surprised by the intelligent, reasonable and human view that mainstream Jewish thought has on abortion...
...That is both its strength and its weakness...
...Peter Strachan Tenafly, New Jersey Stop the Silent Holocaust The three articles in your August issue on "Abandoning Judaism and What to Do About It" deserve both praise and criticism...
...Childhood or adult circumcision has never been proven to be a source of sexual dysfunction...
...It is time for our Jewish leaders to cancel their continuity studies and begin experiencing the joys of Jewish study and practice themselves, so that they can be role models and inspiration for our young...
...Nevertheless, his contention that only avowal of religious (read observant) Judaism can prevent Jewish assimilation, however well-argued, does not come to grips with broad contemporary attitudes regarding Jewish affirmation...
...This reflects the stand of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1971, which is now outdated...
...Religions sometimes lag or sometimes lead other developments in a culture, so there is no one-to-one correlation between images of divinity and social relations...
...But Mr...
...Such an idea would certainly be rejected by all rabbinic authorities and by the Israeli courts as well...
...Or will a vocal minority—armed with misleading rhetoric, emotional appeals and displays of aborted feti—preclude any of us from making these decisions for ourselves...
...In 1989, on the basis of several studies covering urinary tract infections, cancer of the penis and cervix, sexually transmitted diseases, as well as all of the previously known problems, the Academy revised its stand to read that "circumcision has potential medical advantages as well as disadvantages and risks...
...Alan M. Rothenberg King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Abortion Perspective Leads to Subscribing I recently received a trial issue (August 1992) of moment magazine...
...Let's use our limited resources first to make Jewish life attractive to Jews...
...The answer lies in the rejection of the values of Torah and mitzvot...
...The genius of American democracy, and that element of the Constitution that has provided the safest haven for Jews outside of Israel, is its understanding that there are areas of our lives into which government may not pry...
...Forty years later, a chorus of sociologists is echoing the predictions of the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, the same predictions that were rejected by the false prophets of the past and present who have led so many astray...
...Singer fails to see that her attitude towards abortion— that each person must be left to make this decision for him or herself—requires a pro-choice environment and would not be possible in an anti-choice environment...
...That subordination continued later in Greek mythology, which often pitted wild, sexual females against more civilized men...
...Fifty thousand American Jews have taken our crash courses in Hebrew reading...
...Dennis Prager is a committed and religiously observant Jew and I respect him for his practices...
...Under Roe v. Wade, no one is forced to have an abortion and those who believe that they should not have abortions wouldn't have them...
Vol. 17 • December 1992 • No. 6
