Letters

LETTERS Beautiful People To the Editor: With reference to "Beautiful People, Ugly People" (October 1980), I wish to commend the author, Danny Siegel, for dealing with this subject in such an...

...But it is an offense against scholarship and historic truth to speak of "equality" between the Jewish connection and anything else...
...Those families that choose to ignore the lessons of our history are doomed to fade from its pages and will be lost to our people...
...Many outside Israel and the Jewish people" revere certain shrines in the city of Jerusalem: this is not the same as revering the city of Jerusalem itself...
...The facts of American life are that nearly half of all marriages end in divorce...
...in any part of the Temple-court...
...And those who look around will Find that on the whole, those people, Jew and Gentile alike, who have chosen to maintain traditional attitudes towards marriage, family and morality are leading the happiest lives...
...My only regret is that I cannot convey to those who regard me with sorrow, surprise, embarrassment or pity that my physical appearance does not bother me at all, and despite what I look like, I am thankful to God because the being that exists within the shell has remained unaffected...
...and may be eaten anywhere in the city...
...About twenty years ago, a study was done on the Jews of Rome...
...Zevahim 5:6-7) It is not a matter of shrines alone: "anywhere in the city" is holy for the eating of some sacrifices...
...That I am a Jew is enough for me, for I am proud that this is my heritage, and if, over centuries, Jews have survived devastating disasters, how can I complain about the minor discomfort that the term "ugly" implies...
...I neither apologize nor do I resent whatever reactions others may exhibit when meeting me...
...M...
...Ario Hyams Roslyn Heights, New York...
...Officials who turn themselves into tourist agents should realize that they are spreading anti-Jewish propaganda when they proclaim "equality" for the "three religions" with respect to the holiness of Jerusalem...
...Family life itself is under severe attack...
...While those Jews who most closely resembled Italians may have found it easier to live in Rome, and therefore the Jews of Rome looked Italian, they had maintained their identity over two mil-lenia by keeping marriage within the community...
...Shirley Harris Clearwater, Florida Playing With Live Wires To the Editor: Norman Mirsky's note on "Mixed Dating, Mixed Mating, Mixed Message" (October 1980) is as irresponsible a piece of writing for its topic as an article suggesting that it is better to play around with live wires would be in Popular Science or Popular Mechanics...
...For example, the Mishnah says: "The thanksgiving-offerings of individuals, the ram of the nazirite, and the peace-offerings are of a lesser degree of holiness...
...LETTERS Beautiful People To the Editor: With reference to "Beautiful People, Ugly People" (October 1980), I wish to commend the author, Danny Siegel, for dealing with this subject in such an honest manner...
...Too often we avoid giving this topic conscious consideration, and rather than comprehend and contemplate the implications involved, we avoid the issue...
...The city of Jerusalem itself, besides the Jewish shrines in it, is holy to the Jews...
...We have lived in Rome for over two thousand years, and the Jews of Rome look very much like their Italian counterparts...
...A Jew living anywhere in the Land has certain religious obligations, traditionally, which a Jew living outside the Land does not have...
...I am too busy living, while I am able, for one day my physical handicaps will become the hurdle that will destroy my present ability to remain above the confinement stage...
...While we need not exert ourselves to look different, we must exert ourselves to maintain the Jewish community and the Jewish family if we are to survive...
...Mental stimulation, perception: the challenges that the academic world presents, the pleasure of exploring news ideas—I am far, far from crippled in this...
...Harold Engelsohn Brooklyn, New York On The Holiness of Jerusalem To the Editor: Permit me to suggest a footnote to Abba Eban's fine column about Jerusalem (Perspective, October 1980...
...Blood factor studies showed, to the surprise of the investigators, that the Jewish population was indeed very distinct from the Roman Italians and closely related to other Jewish populations...
...The presumption was that intermarriage had taken place on a large scale, despite the restrictions on both sides...
...I am only sorry that they feel uncomfortable, and don't know how to react, being more self-conscious about my appearance than I am...
...Yet, were conditions reversed, I ask myself, would I behave the same way...
...The world calls it "The Holy Land" and at the same time calls it "The Land of The Philistines" (Palestine...
...I suggest a clarification of the phrase "have an interest...
...Ugly or beautiful I am glad I do not have to make that choice, merely to live within its confines...
...Judaism cannot survive on the philosophy that "free will" includes sexual interaction with non-Jews...
...I thank Him for permitting me to retain my mental capacities and abilities, for the sensitivity that has always been a part of my psyche, for the ability to appreciate His wonders and creations...
...The whole city of Jerusalem is a shrine...
...I speak from personal experience, for my own outward appearance has altered, due to years of ill health, from healthy, robust, attractive comeliness, to emaciation, gaunt-ness and deformity...
...They might be slaughtered...
...The Jews of Rome have a message for all of us...
...The key sentences seem to me to be: "It is true that many outside Israel and the Jewish people have an interest in Jerusalem...
...By the way, the same is true of the whole Land of Israel...
...I have no answer—my only truth is my faith in God, stroriger, perhaps, because of adversity, yet complete and fulfilling...

Vol. 6 • December 1980 • No. 1


 
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