FORUM
FORUM Reader's Act Leading Off Bloated Religious Nonsense Please convey my guffawing congratulations to the artist of the June cover, which spoofs the Holy Land theme park. It's truly glorious....
...Walt O'Brien Everett, Wash...
...You C o t Thailand Wrong As one who has been involved with Thailand and its small Jewish community for more than 48 years, I am upset and distressed by your decision to publish the distorted "Where Jews Eat Pork" (June 2001...
...The religiously tolerant Thai are generally too uninformed about Judaism even to have misconceptions that Jews have a great fondness for pork...
...Second, doesn't developer Marvin Rosenthal have a right to open this park, as a form of religious expression...
...Suppose someone, acting on this demand, visits Israel and is hurt or killed...
...By insisting upon the rights of Palestinians to live everywhere in Israel—while maintaining that certain areas in Israel be free of Jews— Arafat revealed to the world that he believes what he tells Arabs in Arabic, not what he tells armchair intellectuals in English...
...Doris Gahler New York City Drop 'Squaw' Too The little note giving the original Hebrew derivation of "shiksa" indicates its pejorative nature...
...I have tremendous pride in the state of Israel...
...She has hit the nail right on the head...
...What kind of role models do we provide when we can't sit down with each other without judgment...
...Gila Wertheimer Skokie, III...
...Holy Land is hardly the scariest thing out there...
...Sholom Schonfeld Cleveland Heights, Ohio Rhymes W i t h A m r am I first encountered David Amram ("The Music Mensch," June 2001) many years ago on a children's record by the singer Raffi...
...Fortunately for me, I found a Reform/Renewal synagogue where joy and love are still at the helm...
...We can kvetch and wring our hands about the evils of proselytizing, but it is the weakness of our own faith commitments that do the most damage to our young...
...Instead of mobilizing for "unity," she writes, Israel should mobilize for "peace...
...Instead of sticking around to listen, Shafran has left the mountain...
...What Shafran doesn't seem to get is that, as many Conservative Jews believe but are usually too polite to say, Orthodox Judaism is fundamentally wrong...
...The whole institution of dajly prayers with a minyan is a rabbinic injunction, of the sort often derided by Conservative leaders...
...I must say that the community existed for some decades before the arrival of Chabad...
...He is a man of utmost integrity and you would be hard-pressed to find a bigger mensch...
...Parents who don't want their children to convert have to stop practicing "drop-off Judaism, congregations that want to retain the next generation have to get serious about brochure promises of "warmth," families need to reclaim Jewish holidays as home holidays, and everyone needs to learn and live Torah...
...This is true...
...Low-impact Judaism leads to low-commitment Jews...
...Scott Lacey Auburn, W.Va...
...Israel was mobilized for peace under Ehud Barak...
...For years I have been saying that missionaries succeed best when they work in a vacuum...
...however, they are out to convert everyone...
...Shafran Has Left t h e M o u n t a in Underlying Shafran's initial criticism and his subsequent amplification ("Treating Halachah with Honesty," June 2001) seems to be the belief that Conservative Jews are too lazy or insincere to be Orthodox...
...Philip Sawilowsky Grand Prairie, Texas Bigger Problems t h a n Holy Land When I first saw the article on the Holy Land theme park, I couldn't help but laugh...
...Funny, But True Gut naches to the creator of the June cover...
...To the contrary...
...Unfortunately, pride and emotion are not justification enough to "demand" one's life be put at risk...
...The lyric went like this: "A peanut butter sandwich made with jam / One for me and one for David Amram...
...Yes, there are Christians out to convert the Jews...
...An emotion...
...I don't know which gave me more giggles—the cross-shaped lollipop or the burning bush visor...
...I will join Jaffe-Gill's efforts to rid Jewish discourse of this abomination...
...Soul Snatchers W e ' d Always Be Complaining What's the big to-do about this tiny theme park in Florida ("Soul Snatchers in the Sun Belt," June 2001...
...I converted to Judaism this year because of my inability to take the Gospels seriously...
...Low-Impact Judaism Suzanne Singer asks, "Where is Judaism's counterpunch...
...Throughout all of history, God has remained atop Mt...
...Or is it a halachic demand...
...The author gives the impression that the Jewish community of Thailand exists thanks to the efforts of Chabad...
...Orthodoxy forfeits its best opportunity to discourse direcdy with God when it clings so tenaciously to a rigid, mind-numbing interpretation of halachah...
...Sinai, continuing to reveal Himself...
...One cannot make peace unilaterally...
...All one asks of a reporter is to be fair and balanced...
...As long as most Jews define their theology in terms of what they don't believe in (Jesus), other Jews are going to look to religions with a positive message...
...Conservative Lie Fraint's Astounding Logic I commend you for publishing Rabbi Avi Shafran's politically incorrect article ("The Conservative Lie," February 2001...
...The article, with its superficiality and sensationalism, is not suitable for a periodical of serious Jewish thought...
...The prohibition against working on the Sabbath is mentioned at least 10 times in the Pentateuch (including an explicit prohibition against combustion...
...I do not see how the artist could craft a straight line for laughing so hard...
...Is it a feeling...
...W h e r e A r e t h e Role Models...
...Louis Malcmacher Cleveland Heights, Ohio A Pox o n Both Their Worlds Thank you, MOMENT, for reminding me why my father left Orthodoxy and why I left Conservative Judaism...
...This reasoning is astounding for anyone remotely familiar with the Torah...
...There must be a halachic source for a decision like that...
...Nowhere in the Five Books of Moses is there a command to pray with a minyan, or even to attend synagogue...
...The theme park is not worth worrying about...
...Samuel Fraint, in his response ("The Truth About Conservative Judaism," June 2001), asserts that the Conservative movement created a halachic stringency by permitting Jews to drive to shul on Shabbos, since Jews who live far from a synagogue are now required to attend minyan...
...I am a member of HONOR, a Native American defense organization...
...Let's see more of his articles in MOMENT...
...My now-grown sons played it over and over when they were small, and while they may have forgotten it, I haven't...
...While the word passed into English to mean "an Indian wife," its original etymology refers to the female genitals...
...B. Jean VanWinkle Bloomington, Ind...
...to evangelical proselytizers (Perspective, "Stop Complaining—Do Something," June 2001...
...The eye-catching tide and the provocafive subtitle about "exotic and widely misunderstood" Jews in Thailand would lead the reader to believe that there is much interest in and awareness of the Jewish community there...
...and, as with all humor, it is all the more hilarious for being so true...
...Their articles are two more pathetic examples of why so many thousands of our post-b'nai mitzvot abandon "traditional" Judaism...
...Orthodoxy embraces a dangerous magical thinking in its view of God and God's involvement in the world...
...I have long been appalled by the ease with which this derogatory term is thrown around...
...If this continues, it's only a matter of time before our children and our children's children convert to Christianity looking for unity...
...Ernest B. Cohen Upper Darby, Pa...
...Several years ago at a large university in Bangkok I viewed an exhibit on world religions put together by students under faculty supervision...
...Anne Laks Passaic, N.J...
...Peter Anderegg Ashburnham, Mass...
...But I am a Conservative Jew because I believe that is how God intends for me, and all other Jews, to live...
...I wish that the author had taken the time to interview a few of the older members of the community...
...I myself have known members of three generations in a few families...
...The Crusade Against 'Shiksa' Bravo to Ellen Jaffe-Gill for speaking out against the ubiquitous use of the word "shiksa" ("The S-Word," June 2001...
...Arafat chose the intifada...
...Why don't we let people decide for themselves about the park's merit, instead of trying to demagogue it by insinuating that Rosenthal is evil...
...Far scarier for the Jews is the lack of interest in Torah study...
...Rabbi Alan J . Yuter Springfield, N J . Israel's N o t W o r t h t h e Risk Dennis Prager, writing about his son David's upcoming trip to Israel ("My Son's Turn," June 2001), states, "It is a risk we as a family are taking because it is something that being a Jew at this time demands...
...I know of only three commandments obligating one to die, and visiting Israel is not one of them...
...Fred Bluestone Pembroke Pines, Fla...
...A ' H i t ' Against Holy Land I must protest the hit piece Mark Pinsky wrote...
...I couldn't believe all the finger-pointing and holier-than-thou attitudes I read in response to "The Conservative Lie...
...Barak offered concessions on territory, sovereignty in Jerusalem, and a partial right of Arab return to all of Israel...
...After reading it, I had to agree with one thing that Rosenthal said: "People don't convert from, they convert to...
...Both Shafran and Fraint are feverishly stuffing more halachic bubblegum into the gaping holes in their sinking spiritual ships...
...Chris Ramko Seattle And Furthermore...
...He speaks his mind and truly loves all Jews...
...FORUM Reader's Act Leading Off Bloated Religious Nonsense Please convey my guffawing congratulations to the artist of the June cover, which spoofs the Holy Land theme park...
...Not surprisingly, much attention was given to Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity, but nothing— absolutely nothing—was displayed about the ultimate source of the latter two, Judaism...
...Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews need to find a way to accept each other's views, instead of picking them apart...
...First, no one forces Jews to attend the Holy Land theme park...
...Who's "demanding" this...
...Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis Flower Mound, Texas Can't M a k e Peace Unilaterally Letty Cottin Pogrebin believes Israel should be more concerned with peace than with political unity ("The 'Unity' Card," June 2001...
...Arthur S. Abramson Mansfield, Conn...
...It is refreshing to see a magazine that dares to present opposing points of view...
...Orthodoxy deceives itself when it insists the written and oral Torah were God's final words...
...And if they ignored the Jews, you'd be complaining that they are anti- Semitic because they don't believe that the Jews are good enough to be converted...
...A True Mensch I know Avi Shafran personally...
...Let's drop the use of all terms that have nasty connotations in their original languages...
...One of its current campaigns is to remove the word "squaw" from geographic names...
...Benjamin Benson Santa Rosa, Calif...
...God ratchets up His demands on us every single day—consider modern physics, evolutionary theory, and most recently, the genome project...
...May you live to skewer more bloated religious nonsense with your pens, pencils, and paints...
...In my growing shul, helping to make the world a better place is far more important than worrying about whether I am keeping kosher...
Vol. 26 • October 2001 • No. 5
