Navier-Stokes not fictional
In the review of the book Mathematician’s Shiva (“Debut novel driven by ideas provides food for thought,” WJW, Feb. 5), there is reference to a mathematics problem that is referred to in parentheses as “fictional”. This problem, the Navier-Stokes Equation, is definitely not fictional. In fact, it was selected by the Clay Mathematics Institute in the year 2000 as one of the seven most important unsolved mathematics problems of the century, and they are known as the “Millennium Problems.”
The specifics of that problem are quite complex and typically accessible only to mathematicians with advanced training. In addition, the Clay Mathematics Institute will award an individual who produces a verified solution this problem, or any of the other open Millennium problems, a $1,000,000 prize. The reviewer could have found this information easily with an internet search, for example at: www.claymath.org/millenium-problems/navier-stokes-equation.
ARNIE GREENLAND
Silver Spring
More to Iranian threat than efforts at nuclear weapon
WJW fears that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned address to Congress in March “has turned broad-based support of Israel into a partisan issue” (“The fallout from Dermergate,” WJW, Feb. 5). In emphasizing partisanship, WJW seriously underestimates the urgency of the need to counter Iran’s imperialistic designs.
There is much more to the Iranian threat than its attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon, as grave as that is. The Iranians have marched virtually unopposed through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, encircling Israel and its Arab neighbors. While the Obama administration prefers to ignore the danger, the United States itself has been in the crosshairs for years. Ever since the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, the U.S. military has suffered thousands of casualties at the hands of the Iranians and their proxies throughout the Middle East.
President Barack Obama and his advisors choose to see no evil, hear no evil, nor speak of the evil that emanates from the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Netanyahu has repeatedly warned, the Obama administration is making an historic mistake of epic proportions by appeasing Iran’s nuclear ambitions (see my letter to the editor, “Delusional path,” WJW, Jan. 22). The government of Iran has proven by word and deed that it is an uncompromising enemy of both Israel and the U.S. Yet, our present commander-in-chief is AWOL.
Under these circumstances, it is essential that Congress do whatever it can, in a bipartisan manner, to counter the feckless foreign policy of this administration. Is it any wonder that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ambassador Ron Dermer apparently have concluded that political considerations pale in comparison to the urgent need to inform Congress of the clear and present danger posed by Iran? Unless WJW has very good reasons to second-guess Netanyahu on questions relating to existential threats facing Israel and the national security of the United States, it should give the prime minister of Israel the benefit of the doubt.
MARC CAROFF
President, Louis D. Brandeis Chapter, Zionist Organization of America
Silver Spring
Obama takes Palestinian side
Your editorial (“Obama’s word about Israel,” WJW, Jan. 29) called for “active American engagement” in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process. “Engagement” can mean different things to different people.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration has chosen to “engage” by repeatedly taking the Palestinians’ side. The administration has demanded that Israel retreat to the extremely narrow and vulnerable pre-1967 lines and permit the establishment of a Palestinian state next door — which would put terrorists within easy firing range of civilian airplanes landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport. At the same time, the administration has never demanded that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its obligations (in the Oslo Accords) to extradite terrorists to Israel, outlaw and disarm terrorist groups, and halt anti-Jewish incitement. Hence the prospect of further American “engagement” in Israeli-Palestinian talks is more a cause for concern than a cause for hope.
RABBI ROBERT SCHECHTER, President
DR. NATHAN MOSKOWITZ, Vice President Religious Zionists of America – Washington, D.C., Region
Critical of Rabbi Freundel
What incredible arrogance. (“Kesher Israel wants him out,” WJW, Feb. 5)
LES BERGEN
from WashingtonJewishWeek.com
Freundel should be evicted
What chutzpah. (“Kesher Israel wants him out,” WJW, Feb. 5) Freundel (undeserving of any title or honor) has disgraced himself, the synagogue, the mikvah, and the Jewish people with his betrayal of all Jewish values and trust bestowed up him. I cannot imagine how any Jewish court or any court for that matter would not only rule against him but should impose the maximum punitive fines as well.
I personally would like to see him physically evicted, all of his monies taken to pay damages to everyone he wronged, for his total excommunication, and ultimately for the court to take every penny he has to pay his victims.
MEIR ELAZAR
from WashingtonJewishWeek.com
