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December 12, 2003/Kislev 17 5764, Vol. 56, No. 12
Letters to the EditorDecember 12, 2003
The facts behind 'partial-birth' abortionEditor:In her letter to the editor, Arlene Millman said "It would behoove Harris Weisman to learn the facts. Partial-birth abortion has never been used on a healthy child. This procedure has been used sparingly and only to save the mother's life." ("In defense of late-term abortion," Jewish News, Dec. 5) In the March 3, 1997, edition of Medical News, a Publication of the American Medical Association, Diane M. Gianelli quotes Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers: "What abortion rights supporters failed to acknowledge, Fitzsimmons said, is that the vast majority of these (partial birth) abortions are performed in the 20-plus week range on healthy fetuses and healthy mothers. 'The abortion rights folks know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so, probably, does everyone else,' he said." A larger and more important issue is that God has commanded: "Do not commit murder." (Deuteronomy 5:17) It does not say: "Do not commit murder of the healthy." Once we start deciding whom among us is not worthy of life, a holocaust can not be far behind. As for my quote of the legislation, I am quoting from S3/HR 760 Section 3, Chapter 74 subsection 1531 (a). (Read the complete legislation at http://thomas.loc.gov by searching for Bill Number HR760.) Harris Weisman Scottsdale 'Best of Jewish Phoenix' misses the markEditor:I am most disappointed with your "Best of Jewish Phoenix." (Jewish News, Dec. 5) First, many of the restaurants listed in this "Best of Jewish Phoenix" aren't kosher or even Jewish-style, so what's inherently Jewish about them? How did your "Best of Jewish Phoenix" fail to mention Albertson's, The Kosher Store, King Solomon's Pizza or even Krispy Kreme? Your "Best of" section presumes that the average Valley Jew doesn't need to know where to find kosher food in "Jewish" Phoenix. Second, your "Best of Jewish Phoenix" listed the best synagogues for Friday night services. One such category was "Best 'come as you are' Friday night service," which was awarded to Temple Chai. Temple Chai won this category because "The point of (their) worship service is not how you appear, but what you can add to tefilah (prayer)." Yet, there was no mention of the best of Saturday morning services. Are Saturday morning Shabbat services not worthy of mentioning? It saddens me that Jewish News would create a competition amongst Valley synagogues. Feel free to highlight the unique attributes of the Valley congregations but don't declare one the best over the others. Overlooking kosher vendors and highlighting informal services over traditional services is not very "Jewish." Ellen Lawson Scottsdale An insult to Israeli democracyEditor:An article you ran last week on the Geneva accords described the plan as a "grassroots" effort. ("Peace proposal gains support worldwide," Jewish News, Dec. 5) From such a description, one might have the mistaken impression that the effort has widespread support here in Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. The "grassroots" of Israel overwhelmingly rejected Yossi Beilin and his approach in the last election: Not only did he lose his ministerial position in the government, but also he lost his Knesset seat and was booted out of his own Labor Party and was relegated to irrelevance even by the far left Meretz Party. Beilin, therefore, represents no one except himself. His hoisting of the Geneva Initiative onto the world stage is the most anti-grassroots move imaginable, and world Jewry should know that entertaining Beilin is nothing more than slapping Israeli democracy in the face. A far more acceptable proposal would be to "give back" Beilin's own house rather than the Temple Mount or any number of other concessions he made in the Geneva accords. And if you think that I perhaps am overextending my power by offering to give away someone else's home without his permission, you are exactly right. And that's my point. Ian Pear Jerusalem All extremists are not equalEditor:If Gordon Weiner is serious about equating Jewish extremism to Muslim extremism ("Identifying Jewish moderates," Jewish News, Dec. 5) in his response to Daniel Pipes, ("Identifying Muslim moderates," Jewish New, Nov. 28) he plays right into the hands of Muslim apologists who argue that every religion has its extremists and that Muslim extremism is no different from the others. Yet, it is belaboring the obvious to note that Muslim extremism is different: Muslim extremists, not Jewish or Christian extremists, have murdered thousands of innocent people in recent years and threaten to murder thousands more. The world war on terrorism is aimed at Muslim extremists exclusively because nobody is afraid of haredi Jews or fundamentalist Christians, whatever you may think about them. Our security depends on identifying and supporting Muslim moderates, not Jewish moderates. Daniel Pipes was right on target. Carl Goldberg Tempe Keep Israel pro-unionEditor:There are many good points to be made about the article "Israel undergoes internal revolutions," (Jewish News, Nov. 28) but I take issue with its harsh anti-union diatribe. Yes, perhaps the unions need to be improved in many ways. But we must remember that working people must be represented and protected. American workers would be better off if more people were unionized. By all means, work to make the unions better but do not bust them. Israel must not become an anti-union country. Faye Frankel Phoenix
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