An inspirational mitzvah project
Thank you so much, Washington Jewish Week, for printing this wonderful piece about Ethan Greeley’s bar mitzvah project (“This Bethesda teen did his bar mitzvah project halfway around the world,” Bar & Bat Mitzvah Planner, May 25). Hopefully, this story will inspire other students to reach and help beyond the world they can see with their own eyes.
Ethan’s family connection to Burkina Faso is a clear contact to the outside world, but we are all part of the global community.
AMY TURIM
Takoma Park
The writer is the librarian at Temple Emmanuel in Kensington and is one of the original members of its Global Mitzvah Team.
Gaza not occupied area
The review of Ulysses’ odyssey to Gaza (“Ulysses’ odyssey to Gaza, Mosaic Theatre kick off Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival,” May 25) erroneously states that Gaza is occupied. Surely you know that this is demonstrably false as Israel at great cost withdrew from Gaza well over a decade ago.
The Israeli blockade of materials that can be diverted to military use such as terror tunnels and rockets is not the cause of hardships experienced by Gazans. Those hardships are imposed by the terror organization Hamas that rules the territory. Journalistic standards of accuracy should extend even to theater reviews.
STUART ENDICK
Burke
Sarsour is apologist for sharia law
Regarding the article, “Why Sarsour courts controversy” (May 11), I would like to point out another compelling reason for the controversy surrounding her.
Linda Sarsour is an apologist for sharia law. The controversy arises out of the conflict between adherence to sharia law and the law of the land, which is currently our Constitution. For those who strongly believe that our country should remain under the Constitution, application of sharia law is a foreign, contrary and destructive intrusion.
As for Sarsour’s anti-Zionism, it is not the same as opposition to a particular Israeli policy. Fundraising to fix a Jewish cemetery is great public relations, but not as affirming as supporting living Jews thriving in a legitimate country of their own.
Is this really a left/right divide? If so, then the left has apparently become so global and humanistic that it believes any uniqueness is necessarily detrimental. Very sad, because as much as we have to gain by universal brotherhood, there is at the same time much to be gained by mutual respect for significant and beneficial uniqueness. Each human group, in preservation and nurturing of its uniqueness, can more effectively serve human brotherhood.
PENINA GREENSPAN
Silver Spring
