Unorthodox funds
Sir, – Without debating the merits of the issue (“In ‘historic’
decision, state agrees to pay wages of non-Orthodox rabbis,” May 30), I cannot
help but note the triumphant response of Anat Hoffman, executive director of the
Israeli Reform movement’s legal arm: “Israel is too important to be left to
Israelis.”
This is a telling and typical response of the leftist elite.
Imagine someone inviting interference in the internal affairs of the United
States by stating “America is too important to be left to
Americans.”
ZEEV GOLIN
Rehovot
Sir, – Anat Hoffman described the Diaspora
as “the engine making this happen.”
I don’t understand how she can think
that we Israelis have to rely on Diaspora Jewry to make our decisions. Let the
Diaspora take care of its own communities and let the people of Israel and its
courts decide what’s best for us.
I think we’re old enough to make our
own decisions.
HANNAH SONDHELM
Jerusalem
Sir, – I consider myself an
Orthodox Jewess but I resent the fact that MK Moshe Gafni calls Reform and
Conservative Jews “clowns, for whom Judaism is a laughingstock” (“Harsh words
exchanged over state recognition of non-Orthodox rabbis,” May 31).
Gafni
apparently has never attended the yeshiva at the Conservative synagogue on
Jerusalem’s Agron Street. Orthodox teachers there teach Gemara, Jewish history
and philosophy. They also have the “ODED” program, where Jewish values and Torah
are taught.
True, non-Orthodox streams may not insist on all Jewish
rituals, but they teach Jewish values as far as man’s behavior toward his fellow
man.
Ridicule never negates an idea. By calling these Jews clowns does
not take away their legitimacy.
JENNY WEIL
Jerusalem
Just ignore them
Sir, – The usual suspects rush to Bassem Tamimi’s defense (“Court sentences
Palestinian activist Tamimi to 13 months time served,” May 30).
Amnesty
International and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are never heard from
when it comes to abuse of Muslim women by their menfolk, about the persecution
driving Christians (including the Copts, the original Egyptians) out of Muslim
countries, about Sudanese genocidal activities, and so on.
The day I hear
these distorters of the truth demand rights for the many Jewish refugees driven
out of the Arab countries, where they had lived since long before the birth of
Mohammed, I will listen to what they have to say about current affairs. Until
then, we in Israel should ignore them.
LESLIE PORTNOY
Netanya
Why
apologize?
Sir, – Regarding your May 30 editorial “Turkish ties,” Alon Ben Meir,
from his lofty academic unreality, has suggested – in the Turkish press, no less
– that Israel apologize for the Mavi Marmara incident, which was a deliberate
Turkish provocation.
Perhaps when Ankara apologizes for the genocide of
its Armenians we might consider some form of regret for the loss of life caused
by the acts of “freedom-loving” anti- Semites. Any apology would be used as a
stick to beat us with.
CYRIL ATKINS
Beit Shemesh
Amharic translation
Sir,
– I was very happy and pleasantly surprised to read of a new translation of the
Chumash (“Ethiopian chief rabbi welcomes first translation of Torah into
Amharic,” May 23).
It cannot have been an easy decision for Koren
Publishers to embark on such a venture, so it is all the more laudable that it
went ahead.
DAVID S. ADDLEMAN
Mevaseret Zion
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