Giving credit where very much due
Thank you for your article on a recent event featuring Israeli veterans (“Israeli veterans seek ‘peace of mind’ at Kemp Mill Synagogue,” Nov. 15). My wife and I were privileged to host two of these incredible Jewish heroes, and it proved to be the experience of a lifetime. “Love” does not begin to describe what we feel for these brothers of ours.
I write, however, to correct an important omission in the article and to give credit where it is very much due: The entire effort was designed, planned and carried out by Ina Lerman, a force of nature who earned everyone’s deep respect and admiration. Without her, this amazing program never would have happened.
SAUL JAY SINGER
Silver Spring
Do we have self-destructive instincts by nature?
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch’s recent article is an excellent statement of a problem that has vexed me since the early ’80s (“This is the gravest threat to the future of liberal Judaism,” Nov. 1). As a board member, I observed that my temple’s proposed budget earmarked grants to mostly non-Jewish recipients, about half affiliated with churches.
When I suggested that the distribution was wrong for a synagogue, I was insulted by the temple president.
Hillel admonished us to be for ourselves, but not only for ourselves. Why should we be the only people who regard the rest of the world more important than ourselves? Why do many Jews support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, while ignoring the sins of scores of nations committing far greater evil than Israel can even be accused of?
I often think that we have a self-destructive instinct coded into our DNA. Hirsch writes about “Jewish survival instincts,” but I wonder if there aren’t other instincts that countervail to an extent that we must reach the brink of disaster before they kick in.
PAUL CHANDLER
Falls Church, Va.
Editorial betrays anti-Trump animus
Shame on Washington Jewish Week for suggesting that President Donald Trump is in some way responsible for the Tree of Life synagogue massacre (“Horror in Pittsburgh,” Nov. 1). In reality, there is no linkage whatsoever between the murderous rampage of a deranged anti-Semite and our philo-Semitic president, the psychobabble in your editorial to the contrary notwithstanding.
In my opinion, your editorial dishonors the memory of the victims as much as it demonstrates disrespect for our president.
“Fake news” is too mild a term to describe this editorial. In my opinion, it violates acceptable standards of civility, common sense and good journalism. By conforming to the distorted views of the far left, views that are based on a visceral hatred of Trump, you do no favor to your more discerning readers who value the pursuit of truth over political correctness.
MARC CAROFF
Virginia Beach, Va.
Per usual, Mort Klein myrmidon Caroff – he was formerly head of the Washington chapter of the ZOA- talks narrishkeit:
PBS’s ““Documenting Hate: New American Nazis,” documentary quotes anti-Semitic, Hitler-loving Atomwaffen Division ideologue James Mason as follows: “The white race is in danger. And it is not by accident. It’s driven, it’s planned…(by) the JEWS. We know that.” And Mason draws inspiration from President Trump and his election: “With President Trump winning that election by surprise…anything could be possible. As Trump says, and he has it printed right across the front of his hat, make America great again. In order to make American great again, you have to make it white again….”
In the words of Yonah Lieberman, those who think Trump “can’t be anti-Semitic because he has a Jewish daughter don’t believe he can be sexist because he has a wife and can’t be anti-immigrant because his wife is an immigrant.”