LETTERS
LETTERS THE ARTIFICIAL JEWBOY-October 1975" To the Editor: For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why a Jewish magazine of such high quality would decide to publish "The Artificial...
...To the Editor: Despite the proliferation of American Jewish literature in the past few decades, the sensitive question of what it means to be Jewish in Gentile America has still not been exhausted...
...Lyons's liberal use of sexual and racial epithets implies, at least to me, that the editors of moment must have found the article to be of superior merit...
...The case of Anatoly Marchenko, which has become widely known thanks to his principled stand of not yielding at all to the KGB even while preparing to leave, is a good example...
...I'll be no trouble...
...Philip Strauss Milwaukee, Wis...
...on page 6 Letters—continued Zionists...
...I don't think it would hurt circulation, either...
...I wouldn't be so concerned except that you featured the article so prominently that I would like to know what it is that I missed...
...For while it may seem a bit bizarre, "The Artificial Jewboy" carries a ring of truth about it...
...What is Schmooz, schlepp, Purim, Moo Goo Gai Pan...
...That an Irish Catholic cannot be successful...
...Edward Kline New York, N.Y...
...I am grateful to moment for publishing Gene Lyons's article...
...If moment were not so new, I would cancel my subscription...
...This tactic of the authorities can be explained by foreign and domestic propaganda considerations (of an anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic nature...
...They organize day trips and weekend trips, they are involved in a multitude of adult education courses, they hold parties and dances and lectures and meetings...
...But I think you deserve another chance...
...There are so many retired citizens who lead productive, full, and happy lives...
...Rubinstein's article to call the attention of your readers to a statement sent by Andrei Sakharov to the National Assembly of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (Washington — May, 1975 ). The statement read in part: ". . . It is vital that American Jews as well as government officials, cultural figures and all who enjoy influence in society realize that the defense of Jewish emigration alone would constitute an impermissible narrowing of a more general problem...
...I assume you published it to draw attention to your magazine, and to increase subscriptions...
...Dana Silver New Orleans, La...
...To the Editor: If ever an article on the subject was brilliantly perceived and written, Gene Lyons's "The Artificial Jewboy" must be it...
...Several years ago, New American Review published a fine short story by Gilbert Sorrentino entitled "The Moon in its Flight...
...I realize that getting a new magazine off the ground is difficult, but if this is the price you have to pay, I wonder whether it's worth it...
...It is not an America that the Jewish community knows much about, but somehow I think it is as important a perspective as those offered by Jewish writers...
...GROWING OLD To the Editor: Howard Wolf's article ("The Last Sanctuary," October, 1975) on retired Jews in Florida was well written, poignant, and sensitive...
...That anti-Semitism still exists...
...That Jews dominate American culture...
...What Sorrentino, and now Gene Lyons, have to teach Jews is this: There is an America where not to be Jewish means to be an outsider, and where all Jews seem to be wonderfully exotic, talented, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, and, above all, mysterious...
...Julia Lasky Minneapolis, Minn...
...In the future, please be more respectful of your readership...
...All of this has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, but it is frequently misunderstood as exactly that...
...but three times because it is so full of meaning that it deserves several readings . . . and each time you will find yourself coming up with another point or observation that you may have skimmed over the first time...
...But if here and there a millionaire wants to contribute substantially to Jewish causes, whether we call it guilt money or anything else, we are not in a position to be high-minded about it...
...To the Editor: "The Artificial Jewboy" is a vulgar and tasteless article...
...This apparent diversion of immigrants to Israel should not trouble Jewish organizations as the persons involved never intended to go to Israel...
...CORRUPTION To the Editor: I read with interest the letter by M. J. Rosenberg in your October issue...
...I would like to talk in particular about the emigration from the USSR of persons of German nationality...
...Lyons, who is clearly intelligent and perceptive, is a fine stylist...
...What is a Stravinsky...
...The Germans have experienced the special hardships of deportation as well as persecution, discrimination, cultural deprivation and constant national humiliation...
...It is only recently that Jewish writers have begun to explore the psychological issues involved in this delicate relationship...
...15, 505 Eighth Ave., New York, N.Y...
...I'll do anything you say," the hero tells his Jewish girlfriend...
...Who is Berlioz...
...It was a courageous article for you to publish, though I suppose you will be roundly criticized for its "lack of taste" and other such nonsense...
...But after reading his article, I am at a loss to understand what it is he's trying to say...
...It seems appropriate in connection with Mr...
...I don't even know where CCNY is...
...I think that I am in a position to understand both sides of the story, and I shall recommend Gene Lyons's article to all my friends who are interested in the attractions that Judaism holds for non-members...
...Yes, it would be better, if, in some ideal world, every dollar that went to Jewish charities were "clean...
...I'll work as a stock boy in your father's beautiful sweater factory...
...LETTERS THE ARTIFICIAL JEWBOY-October 1975" To the Editor: For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why a Jewish magazine of such high quality would decide to publish "The Artificial Jewboy" by Gene Lyons...
...To the Editor: May I offer my compliments and thanks for "The Artificial Jewboy" by Gene Lyons...
...Marshall Schwartz Toronto, Ontario SOVIET JEWS-SEPTEMBER 1975_ To the Editor: "Our Russian Allies" by Joshua Rubenstein is an informed and intelligent commentary on the relations between Russian democrats and Soviet - com...
...Very many Armenians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Russians and persons of other nationality are meeting with similar difficulties...
...Jewish needs must come before ideals...
...In our community, we have a group of senior citizens who are so busy that they leave most of us far behind and shaking our heads...
...Simply because with all this talent available, moment should be sharper, stronger, even outrageous at times...
...A minor factual inaccuracy is the incorrect statement that Vladimir Ponomaryov and Vladimir Nedobora are Jewish...
...Moreover, Mr...
...It was published in full in A Chronicle of Human Rights in the USSR, No...
...At least, I hope that's why you published it, because I can't imagine that you found any merit in the article...
...How do you play Mah-Jongg...
...Rosenberg's angry attack on organized Jewish life was of interest to me, perhaps because there was a time when I agreed with that position...
...To be sure, Mr...
...This tactic of the Soviet authorities — giving permission for emigration only to Israel — partly explains why a large percentage of persons who formally leave for Israel in practice go to other countries...
...What is Bronx Science...
...Some three years ago, however, I became active in the organized Jewish community and discovered — to my surprise and pleasure — that corruption was in fact neither prevalent nor tolerated...
...Perhaps inspired by these works, Gentile writers in the 1970's have begun to address these same questions, but from the other side of the fence...
...Please be less subtle, more bold, and more assertive...
...otherwise, they could never have excused its many excesses...
...MOMENT To the Editor: Reading moment, I've had the pleasure of encountering good writing by fine and thoughtful writers, including Calvin Trillin, Mark Helprin, Garry Wills, Cynthia Ozick, Arthur Hertz-berg, Jacob Neusner, Elie Wiesel, and many others...
...I am a recent convert to Judaism (for reasons of marriage — and of conviction), and while I did not grow up in New Jersey, Gene Lyons might have been talking about my high school and college experience in and around the University of Chicago...
...In fact, this phenomenon is really a kind of philo-Semitism, and if Jews find that equally disturbing, let them (I mean us) take comfort in the fact that it is relatively harmless...
...The only sad thing about these people is that nobody writes stories about them, only about their less imaginative and far more frightened counterparts...
...It's not my fault I'm not Marvin or Shelley...
...Gene Lyons describes a feeling which I had supposed could not be captured in words, and he gives us a very accurate impression of how some ambitious and gifted young Christians view their Jewish friends and peers...
...Many of them are active on synagogue and federation committees, on institutional boards, and in our annual campaign appeal...
...Who is Conrad Aiken...
...I read it not once, or twice...
...I have faith that moment can provide an alternative, but I think you're still a long way off...
...So why am I complaining...
...I am not in favor of controversy for its own sake...
...Mindy Heller Nashville, Tenn...
...In fact, the vast majority of it is...
...We reserve the right to edit letters to conform to our space requirements...
...I don't like to think I converted for the reasons that Gene Lyons admired Jews, but I am too honest with myself to say that these psycho-sexual considerations played no part in my decision...
...In this regard, two works come to mind: Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, and Making It by Norman Podhoretz...
...Help me...
...In the majority of such cases the authorities suggest that they apply for emigration to Israel...
...Although a few years older than Gene Lyons and a Jew since birth, I can readily understand and appreciate his growing up, schooling and later years under the influence of Jewishness from outside sources and how this affected him and his own way of thinking- Arthur Pine New York, N.Y...
...They help one another, and they are a tremendous asset to the community...
...But I subscribed to moment because I was dissatisfied with Commentary, which no longer speaks to me and what I care about...
...I have to read between your lines to see what you stand for...
...it's not the way I would have liked things, but it is the way things are...
...These are people for whom the retirement years are, indeed, the reward...
...Still another important category includes persons who have been persecuted by the authorities, most often for their politics or their religion (Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists), and who wish to emigrate or are forced to emigrate...
...Arlene Baum San Diego, Cal...
...At the same time, as long as financial considerations are as they are, I can see no reason for the Jewish community to look a gift horse in the mouth...
...P. Karnopovich Waltham, Mass...
...The National Conference of Soviet Jewry did not read Sakharov's message during the Assembly program...
...But why, oh, why must we spend so much of our time on what's wrong with us...
Vol. 1 • January 1976 • No. 6
