Just plain ‘bunkum’
Regarding “Messages undermining election integrity are circulating on Orthodox social media,” Nov. 12: Those members of the Jewish community who refuse to accept the presidential election results on the basis of unwarranted, unsubstantiated fraud allegations are, unhappily, reminiscent of those Americans who supported Donald Trump’s racist “birther” bunkum. In both cases, individuals have maliciously and cynically supported Trump’s obsessive, demagogic and undemocratic attempts to subvert and delegitimize a presidential election.
TED HOCHSTADT
Pimmit Hills, Va.
Some of his best friends’ parents were anti-Semites
Regarding “Anti-Semitism circa 1974 and in 2020,” Voices, Nov. 12: Well said, Alan Ronkin. Being a faithful Jew and a proud American citizen do go hand in hand. My experiences as a child, circa 1954, were similar to yours. I grew up in the New York City melting pot, specifically in the Bronx. Most of my friends were Irish and Italian first- and second-generation Americans.
As friends, we got along famously. Yet a number of them confided that at their home dinner tables and at church, their parents and church leaders sometimes referred to Jews as “Christ killers.”
I think this goes to show that true friendship and being instilled with the American spirit and values, both at home and at school, can overcome anti-Semitism.
MARC L. CAROFF
Virginia Beach
