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May 23, 2003/Iyar 21 5763, Vol. 55, No. 39
Letters to the EditorMay 23, 2003
Outreach remains federation's goalEditor:Thank you for your encouraging editorial stressing the importance of supporting the annual campaign of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. ("Time to Give," Jewish News, May 2) As a longtime volunteer of the federation, I have had the privilege of meeting people who have been directly assisted by our dollars, locally and around the world. The programs we fund are making a significant difference in communities and individual lives. Letters to the editor in the past few weeks concerning those who have attempted to contact us without success sadden me. The writers obviously care about our community and I appreciate their persistence. The challenge of outreach has been, and must continue to be, a major goal. Unfortunately, there are precious few of us willing to ask others for money. We have a dedicated core of volunteers but many more are needed. There are so many new people moving into the community and without them calling us, we don't know who they are or where they are. Thankfully, there are many that do call us and want to contribute. We have an incredible mission to rescue Jews, support Jews and strengthen our Jewish community. We need you and we welcome you. Mim Bottner Annual Campaign chair Paradise Valley Do not use Torah to justify prejudiceEditor:In the 18th century, Christian clergy used the Bible to justify racism against dark-skinned peoples. It is unfortunate that, in the 21st Century, Jewish clergy would use the Torah to justify prejudice against homosexuality. Yet Rabbi Chaim Silver's letter to the editor ("Use Torah to define morality," Jewish News, May 16) appears to do just that. The view he advocates tells homosexual Jews that they are second-class citizens and that they should be ashamed of who they are and what they do. This view - which is shared by others in our community - helps explain why so many gays and lesbians have simply opted out of Jewish life. And it dodges the issue to say we condemn homosexual acts but not homosexuals. Are we to ask our gay brothers and sisters to live their lives under false pretenses? Would we tell those in gay unions that the Torah trumps their right to share life with the person they love? I can't imagine anything more antithetical to Judaism. Our community needs committed Jews of all kinds. It needs to practice what it so often preaches, that people should to be judged solely on the merit of their works and the quality of their character. Randy Warner Phoenix Judaism cannot remain frozen in timeEditor:Rabbi Chaim Silver made some interesting points in his plea to return to Torah. My question is whether he means literally following every word, like the Karaites? Is he advocating returning to animal sacrifice and rebuilding the Temple and reversing two millennia of advancement of Judaism by Rabbis who had the intellect and foresight to see that Judaism had to change completely even before the second Temple was destroyed? Judaism will disappear if rabbis cannot get together and look at halacha and have the same courage of Hillel, Akiva, Judah HaNasi, Maimonides, Mordechai Kaplan, Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber and many others. Judaism has always been influenced by the surrounding ethnic and dominant culture and we still survived. Howard Weinstein Mesa Palestinians guilty of apartheidEditor:Apartheid was the systematic separation of races enforced by a racist administration in South Africa in order to maintain white domination. The intifada is the systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel and is being used to manipulate, terrorize and destroy. It is clear that the intifada was not initiated by Israel; Israel did not shoot the first bullet, and Ariel Sharon had every legal right to tour the Temple Mount in September 2000. If Sharon's tour to the Temple Mount sparked the violence, then Israel has the legitimate right to accuse the Palestinians of enforcing apartheid. Arabs have a right to live freely in Israel as citizens with the full benefits that are afforded to Jewish and Christian citizens. The fact that Jewish settlers, who are building homes in their holy land, should be required to destroy these homes and move into mainland Israel is a form of Palestinian apartheid. It should be clear that the Palestinians are therefore guilty of apartheid and are deriving satisfaction from the hardships and brutal realities of another nation's history, South Africa, in order to manipulate world opinion. Jarred F. Elias Scottsdale
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