December 31, 2004/Tevet 19 5765, Vol. 57, No. 18
Letters to the EditorDecember 31, 2004
Lighten up about the holidaysEditor:As a Mormon - whose adherents were the subject of governmentally sanctioned extermination orders and were otherwise mobbed, beaten and killed because of their beliefs - I feel a special kinship with Jews. I read with interest the editorial submitted by Jonathan Tobin ("Merry whatever," Jewish News, Dec. 17). I appreciated the sensitivity with which he approached Christmas as an admittedly ubiquitous Christian holiday. As the "Holiday" season approaches each year, I take stock of my clientele and make every effort to make sure that cards and presents are appropriate for the recipient. Some of my clients celebrate Chanukah, some DiWali and most Christmas. My cards usually contain the generic "Happy Holidays" motif with snowscapes or the like. Mr. Tobin was right in that "Happy Holidays" is akin to "Have a nice day." What's wrong, however, with "Merry Christmas" to a Christian, and "Happy Chanukah" to a Jew and (perhaps) "Dynamite DiWali" to my Hindu friends? My children have attended bar and bat mitzvahs and had no problem celebrating with their Jewish friends on those occasions. My Hindu neighbor has put up lights at the end of November and left them up through the New Year. I made a lighted Star of David for my Jewish neighbors down the street. They proudly displayed it on their home along with their white and blue lights during the month of December. What a great sight to see along with the other neighbors' Christmas lights. Not only do we need to lighten up when it comes to differing religious beliefs, we need to be enriched by them. William Richardson Mesa Flunking out on the environmentEditor:I just looked at The League of Conservation Voters 2004 edition of the National Environmental Scorecard, which provides objective, factual information, about the environmental voting records of all members of the final 108th Congress. I am deeply disappointed that so many members consistently voted contrary to the interests of our health and environment. When it comes to protecting our air, water and natural heritage from corporate polluters, we need members of Congress who will stand up to the big business lobby and do the right thing. I urge everyone to see how their elected officials fared. Let them know that you're keeping track of how they vote on environmental issues, and that you'll keep watching in the upcoming 109th Congress. The text can be viewed at www.lcv.org. Jason Michael Walker Tempe Life not so sweet in 'Golden Age' ParisEditor:Norman Levine, in his otherwise excellent and interesting article about Jewish life in Paris ("Marais continues to thrive in Paris," Jewish News, Dec. 24), makes too much of the tolerance that the earlier Muslim rulers showed towards Jews. The Jews (and Christians) were literally "tolerated" by the Muslims. That is, they were at best second-class citizens, ever subject to discrimination, humiliation, special taxation and lethal pogroms by their Muslim neighbors and local Muslim rulers. Even though Maimonides eventually found refuge in another part of the Muslim empire, he had been forced to flee for his life from Muslim persecution in the Spanish peninsula, and he wrote letters to the Jewish community in Yemen, advising them that it was OK to pretend to convert to Islam in order to save their lives. The so-called Golden Age that the Jews experienced in the Muslim empire was golden only in comparison to the cruelties of Medieval Christian Europe - but that's not saying much. Carl Goldberg Tempe
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