June 5, 2015: Winning the race

Readers respond to the latest 'Magazine' articles.

By JERUSALEM POST READERS

JUNE 4, 2015 12:09

Envelope (photo credit: ING IMAGE/ASAP) — Envelope

(photo credit: ING IMAGE/ASAP)

WINNING THE RACE

Dara Frank (“Running history,” Sport, May 15) writes about the first Bible Marathon from Rosh Ha’ayin to Shiloh in such a way as to imply, subtly yet determinedly, that it is a violation of human rights, while a parallel Palestine Marathon “ignores the area’s complex political situation.” She then, with a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t approach, makes a U-turn and accuses the Bible Marathon of refusing to “comment on the reality of the current political situation with the Palestinians,” promoting the “rhetoric of the Jewish people’s undeniable connection to the land.”

Frank heads a group that, according to its website, believes “Israelis and Palestinians need to understand each other on a deeper level.” The group also says it keeps its trips “as balanced and as non-political as possible... [w]hile politics cannot be avoided.”

I think that Jews and pro-Zionists of other religions, in running such a marathon, are expressing support for the human rights of a people that has the right to reconstitute its national home in the land to which it has a historic connection, as decided over nine decades ago in international law. That was when the race was won.

YISRAEL MEDAD

Shiloh

LOUD AND CLEAR

In “Pay more attention to your spouse” (Psychology, May 15), Dr. Mike Gropper lists wonderful ideas on how to show your spouse that you “care for him/her.”

We also feel it is extremely important for spouses to thank each other with words. The thank-you is most effective when attached to something specific, such as child care, working, shopping, cooking, cleaning, being nice to your in-laws, etc.

The message should be loud and clear: “Thank you. I appreciate you and what you do for us.”

ELLEN-TOBY and DANIEL KAUFMAN

Petah Tikva

ADVERSARIES WITHIN

Stewart Weiss writes beautifully, and his May 15 In Plain Language column, “A tale of two countries,” should be required reading for the entire Knesset.

I am surely not alone in being dismayed and disgusted by the rhetoric and mud-slinging before an election. Where is the dedication to building our state, to gathering the Jews of the world, to fighting hate, racism, ignorance and anti-Semitism, and not each other?

How can we not recognize the importance of uniting our own people, standing behind our elected government and understanding what Abraham Lincoln so rightly proclaimed: A house divided against itself cannot stand? The adversaries within are already planning to bring down the government! And we’re supposed to be able to deal with the adversaries without?

RIVKA ZAHAVY

Jerusalem

DIVERGING OPINIONS

In “Flickering Israel” (Books, May 15), his critique of David Rubin’s Sparks From Zion, Alexander Zvielli writes: “We may wholeheartedly agree with [Rubin] in regard to Kulanu MK Michael Oren’s peace plan for unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria...We might dispute his conclusion that the two-state solution is a recipe for the destruction of Israel...”

How in the name of common sense and survival can this be disputed when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to acknowledge that we have any claim to this land, and demands the return of millions of so-called refugees to all parts of Israel? Zvielli further asserts that after the kidnapping and murder of the three yeshiva students last summer, Rubin’s suggestion to “shut down Hebron completely” could hardly have been followed by a responsible Israeli government.

I submit that it is an irresponsible government that refused – and refuses – to do so.

When Rubin quotes Winston Churchill’s appeal for “victory at all costs,” Zvielli claims that in real life, victories are often likely to become a burden too heavy and too costly to bear.

I submit that our government refuses to destroy our enemies, allowing them to grow more lethal in their capacity to destroy us, and that this is a burden too heavy and too costly to bear.

YENTEL JACOBS

Netanya