Survivors around the country wrote letters to media and members of Congress in support of HR 1746, the Holocaust Era Insurance Accountability Act. Since no survivor group has opposed this legislation, it is deceptive to say, "Only information provided by those supporting HR 1746 has been published ...+ ." Even the American Gathering does not oppose this legislation: A Resolution Supporting the Absolute Right of Survivors to Pursue Restitution Claims.

The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants reaffirmed its unequivocal support of the absolute right of Holocaust survivors to pursue all claims of moral and material restitution, including property and insurance claims, in every appropriate venue.

The Holocaust Survivors Foundation-USA states: "Holocaust survivors strongly reject the groundless allegations of a link between annual negotiations with the Government of Germany over various programs and passage of HR 1746. There is absolutely no evidence that the bill, if enacted, will 'interfere' with ongoing or future negotiations with the German Government." Nobody has cited specific "critical negotiations, involving hundreds of millions of dollars in Holocaust-related compensation" that might be damaged.

Generations of the Shoah International (GSI) stands with the survivor community in supporting the legislation as originally introduced. It is unacceptable that Holocaust survivors are denied the right to take legitimate insurance claims to court.

Intergenerational survivor groups have joined in a grassroots movement on this issue of Holocaust era-insurance. Others need not tell us what is in our own best interest nor speak for us. We have our own voice.

NESSE GODIN, president

Jewish Holocaust

Survivors and Friends

of Greater Washington

ESTHER FINDER

president, The Generation After

Stop this nonsense

I am criticized for speaking out against the presidential political commercials. I am denounced for venting disgust with the way the contenders attack each other, instead of discussing the question: How will they deal with our country's woes?

Day after day, night after night, on TV, in the press and radio, the candidates are shamed, trampled-on and crushed by the media with stories about their personal lives, things that happened long ago are revived as facts that just took place yesterday. Reputations are ruined by opponents, creating mutual distrust, destroying any earnest examination of the issues of great interest to our country.

A short time remains before election day, will someone cry out: Stop this nonsense!

HERMAN TAUBE

Rockville

Road crashes preventable

In Israel, road crashes have killed approximately 30,000 people since 1948 and 345 people in 2006 alone. Additionally, 1,000 individuals are hospitalized each week due to road crash injuries. Every year, more than 1.3 million people die in road crashes worldwide and 50 million people are injured.

These are sobering facts, and the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) would like to commend Metuna, a leading Israeli road safety organization, for organizing 24/7: A day of no road accidents.

The event, which occurred between July 22 and July 24, sought to bring attention to the issue. The slogan, "wheel in our hands," reminded people that they are each responsible for their lives and the lives of others on the road. A wheel was passed from Metulla to Eilat, and many towns held road safety activities as the wheel passed by.

This program serves as an excellent model that could be replicated in other countries. Road crashes, expected to dramatically increase if conditions do not improve, are the leading cause of death for healthy Americans traveling overseas and in developing countries, where 85 percent of road crashes occur.

ASIRT has been fighting to improve global road safety since 1995, when Aron Sobel, a 25-year-old American medical student, was killed in a bus crash in Turkey. ASIRT is dedicated to the principle that road crashes are predictable and preventable and we believe that public awareness is the first step to correcting the problem.

ROCHELLE SOBEL

president

CATHY SILBERMAN

executive director

ASIRT Potomac

Stick to the issue

Much has been written about the Agriprocessors/Rubashkin issue. Indeed, questions have been raised regarding the meaning of a kashrut hechsher. I am disappointed with most of what I read, as the issue is being either used as a vehicle by those who appear to have agendas other than kashrut; or it is expressly ignored by those who can and should address the issue.

Some members of the Conservative and Reform movements have seized upon the issue as a vehicle to push a 7-year-old notion of a hechsher tzedek as a vehicle for raising a social justice agenda. Although I'm the last one to argue against a social justice agenda, their push for a boycott of other than their hechsher tzedek would have a more genuine ring if they were also pressing for observance of kashrut in their movements. Absent a commitment to observe kashrut, they are little more than busy-bodies telling others what they should be eating, with no intention of observing themselves. Their calls to boycott are as hypocritical as someone who observed kashrut announcing they he would not eat a brand of ham because of the company's practices.

The Orthodox approach of letting the federal authorities investigate is not a responsible position. The secular authorities have neither knowledge of nor interest in what constitutes kashrut. They're not even looking at the social justice issue -- only at specific technical, secular legal issues that have nothing to do with kashrut.

There is a reason why a shochet must be pious and his blade must be very sharp -- certainly without a knick. Kashrut requires that the animal not experience unnecessary pain or harm. If Halacha requires such consideration for animals, how much greater the importance of the treatment of humans. It seems to me that this is the essence of the issue, and why it must be the Orthodox Union, who are the poskim, that must investigate and assure us that all kashrut requirements are being met when they, or a similar organization, certifies something as kosher.

Robert A. Berman

Vienna