Obama, practice what you preach
I find it disturbing and disingenuous to read that President Barack Obama compares gun violence to freedom of religion. In the editorial “Balance of rights” (WJW, Jan. 14), Obama states that “the right to worship freely and safely … was denied to Christians in Charleston, S.C. — and to Jews in Kansas City, Muslims in Chapel Hill and Sikhs in Oak Creek. They had rights too.”
Obama, where are the religious rights of the Sisters of the Poor, who are being forced to buy health insurance containing contraceptive benefits? Where are the religious rights of the bakery owner, who didn’t want to sell a wedding cake with two male figures on the cake? The bakery is out of business, and both cases are in court.
JOSEPH TROST
Baltimore
From washingtonjewishweek.com:
Orthodox and libertarian: not a match
“Aron Schwartz … credits his modern Orthodox upbringing with shaping his libertarian views.”
This sentence (“‘Deep divisions exposed by Obama’s final State of the Union address,’” WJW, Jan. 21) is hilarious. Libertarianism and Orthodox Judaism go together like vegetarianism and brisket.
Orthodoxy is staunchly theocentric. Libertarianism is petulantly egocentric. Orthodoxy’s Torah focus is on obligations and responsibilities, while libertarianism’s is on rights and unabridged self-expression. The Torah’s primary concern is the wellbeing of the community, while libertarianism’s is upon the individual: It sings in one — and only one — key: me, me, me!
SAM F.
Pursuing a passion
What a fabulous article (“My son is majoring in musical theater,” Voices, WJW, Jam. 28). Our son, a freshman, is pursuing a music degree. Of course we encountered the comments about him making a living and supporting himself. My response has always been that he is talented, but more importantly, music is his passion and dream. Why would we — [he is] 18 — squash his dream?
I recently had an encounter with a college student at a concert, and during our conversation when he saw how proud I was that both my kids were pursuing their passions, he commented that he never had that kind of support from his dad. He wrote to me about two months later to say that as a result of our conversation he changed his major and is pursing what he always wanted to but was never allowed or encourage to.
I’ve shared your article on Facebook with the hope that it starts a conversation between parents and their children.
Thanks again.
DAVID SOKOLOFF
