Letters
LETTERS Mmm Mmm Kosher To the Editor: Barbara Grossman's 81-year-old mother-in-law shouldn't have been disappointed in the quality of Campbell's chicken soup (The Spice Box, July-August 1981)....
...Bluestone, so she shouldn't worry...
...Our daughter, Jenny (Hebrew name: Shear Yashuv—meaning A Remnant Shall Return) is already becoming a Talmudic scholar, Benyamin—too young to be a scholar—fulfills his Jewish obligations by asking incessant questions, including "Why doesn't God divide up all the money equally...
...Let the Jewish residents speak for themselves: In the June national elections, Kahane received only 95 votes in Kiryat Arba...
...Admit it, intermarriage is the reason for most conversions...
...Harsh...
...Since this is a requirement for Pesach, it must follow logically that there has to be kosher pet food for the rest of the year...
...A Jew, often minimally involved, wants to marry a non-Jew...
...In a conversion class, bland, universal Judaism is taught in ten easy lessons and presto...
...Second of all, where do treif chickens compare to a fresh killed pullet bearing the kashrut hechsher...
...We did, indeed, "come home" to Judaism some six years ago...
...Ah, the "Joys of Jewish...
...Howard Marblestone Easton, Pennsylvania Jews By Choice To the Editor: While I was very moved by the converts' paths to Judaism ("Jews By Choice," June 1981), I wonder how typical they are of a convert's sincerity...
...Anyhow, I thought that you might want to pass this information on to Ms...
...No— just realistic...
...As for the gender of Passover, the Aramaic and Hebrew words are "masculine" perhaps because they signified originally the sacrificial lamb...
...We would like to hereby exit the closet and tell the readers of moment that we are John and Joanna Bush of Lexington, Kentucky...
...see below...
...But Paques as Easter is clearly singular, as no plural article is used, and one says, for example, Paques est arrive...
...In contemporary Jewish society, that's no problem...
...It is the task of the couple, especially the born Jewish spouse, to prove her/his ties to Judaism—not the reverse...
...Paques may be plural only in special senses, as in /aire ses paques, "to do one's Easter duties...
...Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar...
...Among the Church Fathers Greek and Latin pascha came to mean Easter ("the Christian Passover") as well as Passover...
...But what about the loss of the Jewish spouse and the future children to Judaism...
...And then answering himself by saying that some people would spend their money foolishly anyway...
...The French Paques, Easter, retains in the s a relic of the plural sense of pascha in Greek and Latin...
...But, as the conference pointed out, there are many pains to deal with: rejection from families, lack of Jewish background (which makes one unsure if you're "doing things right"), and lack of training in the daily/weekly/yearly services and mitzvot...
...Drache (moment, June 1981 /Sivan 5741) asked why in French (la) Paque, which is feminine and singular, means Passover, which is "patriarchal" and plural in its lasting eight days...
...Following a reverse sort of logic, then, since the pet of an Orthodox Jewish household may not be fed chometz, it must be fed food that is kosher l'pesach...
...Every aspect of our lives is touched by this decision...
...some even related the word fancifully to the Greek root meaning "to suffer...
...Friends in that town tell me that Kahane has the support of perhaps 10 percent of its residents...
...Instead of an outreach campaign to attract non-Jews to Judaism think of what can happen when Jews are exposed to Judaism, as Ms...
...Frankly, not very...
...and share this experience with our Jews-by-Choice...
...Jews have finite resources that must be used carefully...
...for My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples...
...However, like it or not, there will be some resistance...
...Third of all, there are kosher prepared broths on the market that at least have a resemblance to Jewish chicken soup...
...Those who convert more or less of their own volition from a sincere internal belief should of course be welcomed...
...There are some attempts in this direction, but not enough...
...We both feel that our choosing of Judaism is the second best thing that we have done (our marriage being the best...
...I have just finished reading Naomi Bluestone's article "An Existential Crisis On The Long Island Railroad" (June 1981...
...Neither patriarchs, feminists, nor arithmeticians are to blame for this apparently anomalous situation, but grammar and grammatical gender, and in offering the following teshuvah to those interesting sh'elot I hope not to seem like the Wicked Son, whose teeth should be blunted in reproach: Passover in Aramaic is pasha" (cousin to Hebrew pesah, or more precisely, happesah, "the Passover"), which is masculine in grammatical gender (why...
...By endorsing and encouraging any behavior there is more of a loss to Judaism, albeit subtle...
...In any event, the transformations of gender of pascha in Greek, Latin and French are merely mechanical...
...I'm not saying the label "convert" should stick with one forever, but it is a very uncomfortable position to be expected to know something you've never been taught...
...Bear-field's aim, though some grudging admiration for the Kiryat Arba Jews comes through, despite himself...
...but an Orthodox Jew, at Passover, is forbidden to feed a pet any food that is chometz...
...the masculine gender of Paques is the usual rendition of the Latin and Greek neuter (which French does not have...
...But the gender of words in Semitic and classical languages is commonly "grammatical," that is, based on inner principles or workings of those languages...
...Isaiah 56:3, 6-7) To the Editor: In the June Issue of moment, Mary Lynn Kotz refers to the "delightful couple from Kentucky" who embraced Judaism...
...Conversion is not the solution, it is part of the problem...
...Our suggestion is that every congregant pull out his/her "specialty" (be it Shabbat, making challah, Seder, etc...
...another Jew...
...conversely, French Paques, which appears plural, means Easter, which is "singular," that is, one day in length...
...Why should Jews rush to embrace another Jew who has destroyed one of the foundations of Judaism by marrying a non-Jew...
...The writer then wonders if the femininity of la Paque is "a small but significant feminist victory...
...Judaism and Jewish living—if these two can be separated—have proved to be a warm and wonderful way of life...
...Sibby Slotoroff Margate, New Jersey MSogyny To the Editor: The delightful linguist-guest at the Seder of S.L...
...The results are often, to us, silly, as Mark Twain observed for German, where "young girl" is neuter, or as in Latin, where "manliness" is feminine...
...This new Jew, often enough, now possesses the same level of Jewish knowledge and the same Jewish commitment as the born Jewish spouse...
...First of all, Campbell never said it tasted anywhere like a Jewish "tarn" chicken soup...
...Ira Smith West Newton, Massachusetts...
...Glenn Richter New York, New York Kosher for Canines To the Editor: I just want to let you know that, as a former subscriber to Jewish Living, I am delighted that my subscription was transferred to you...
...Whether or not there is a special mashgiach to supervise the preparation of kosher canned pet food is something beyond my ken...
...In the local elections a year and a half ago, his list came in last in a field of six or seven...
...They were lost long ago...
...Ethel C. Fenig Chicago, Illinois Editor's note: "Let not the foreigner say, who has attached himself to the Lord, 'The Lord will keep me apart from His people...
...it should be expected and understood...
...It is the joy of the home experience— the "doing Jewish"—that can be taught by each and every Jew in every congregation...
...So, Barbara, no matter how Campbell tries, their chicken soup can never have the taste your mother-in-law craves...
...Never as delicious as home prepared, but far superior to what she purchased...
...To satisfy parents, or one's vestigial Jewish conscience, the non-Jew converts—as painlessly as possible...
...Kukoff suggests...
...As for the foreigners who attach themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—all who keep the sabbath and do not profane it, and who hold fast to My covenant—I will bring them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer...
...Jewish survival is once again assured...
...Hence the French la Paque...
...Transcribed into New Testamental and later Greek as pascha, it was taken according to Greek grammar as neuter, thence into Latin, pascha, which appears grammatically feminine...
...In reference to her question as to the existence of kosher canned pet food, I cannot answer that definitely...
...The few sincere Jews who do emerge from the intermarriage conversion process just do not offset the damage done to the community by accepting the others...
...Before we eagerly invite the Trojan horse of converts-by-marriage into our already weakened, divisive community, let us help the born Jews...
...One can find them on most grocery shelves...
...Occasionally the Greek and Latin pascha was understood as neutral plural, and some authors reserved that plural sense for Easter, so as to distinguish it clearly from Passover...
...But Paques is the usual rendition of the Latin-Greek neuter (which French does not have...
...They represent the pioneering spirit of return to the Biblical homeland more than those living in the comfort of Savyon...
...It even accelerates it by removing the barriers to intermarriage...
...As Lydia Kukoff stated: "You can read for weeks about the Shabbat experience, but until you've had your own, you'll never know the joy...
...I cannot speak for the Imam, but to smear Hebron's Jewish settlers with the tarbrush of "Meir Kahane"— who is nowhere else mentioned in the article—seems to be Mr...
...Who are we kidding...
...John and Joanna Bush Lexington, Kentucky Citizens of Hebron To the Editor: Lev Bearfield claims in "Where Extremists Meet" (July-August 1981) that "in Hebron the pervasive spirit is that of Meir Kahane and the Ayatollah Khomeini...
...So now another Jewish marriage can occur, another blow against intermarriage is struck...
...No comparison...
...The Jews of Hebron have deep, historical, real and rational reasons for being where they are...
Vol. 6 • September 1981 • No. 8
