October 13: Helping ourselves...

In this new year, we will hopefully stop worrying so much about how the rest of the world feels about us and begin protecting ourselves.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters to the editor 88 (photo credit: )
letters to the editor 88
(photo credit: )
Helping ourselves... Sir, - Re Golda Meir's "We want defensible borders not only so that if we are ever attacked we will be able to defend them, but so that the borders, by their very existence, will dissuade our neighbors from touching us" ("Golda's meltdown," Yom Kippur supplement, October 8): Many promises have been made by those running for office since Golda's time, and it seems as if at every opportunity someone is trying to offer up our borders for "peace" or the possibility of their names going down in history. In this new year, with a new government perhaps being formed, we will hopefully stop worrying so much about how the rest of the world feels about us and begin protecting ourselves. God helps those who help themselves. SHEILA NARTOSKY ROTENBERG Petah Tikva ...and the opposite Sir, - It seems the hooligans in Acre are having themselves a good old time ("Acre riots continue despite massive police presence," October 12). The police should crack down on all offenders - Arab and Jewish - without limits. Either we live in a civilized society, or we don't. ROSALIE BROSILOW Shoham Sir, - The rioting in Acre was apparently started as a protest against a car being driven into the Jewish area on Yom Kippur. Those responsible contend that this was done as a provocation - yet had they been truly concerned about the sanctity of the day, they could not justify their actions. They should at least have given the driver the benefit of the doubt; that he was on a legitimate errand. Driving down a road is not illegal, even if it disturbs the peace. Was the riot not disturbing the peace? Even worse, it was self-defeating. If the provocation was deliberate, then the provocateur succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. It would have been smarter to let him pass unnoticed. A let-down for him - and much saved in anger, time, money and injury. What a way to begin the New Year. DEENA SPIGELMAN Jerusalem Sir, - That community leaders from both sides agreed to meet to calm Jews and Arabs in the aftermath of the riots in Acre stemming from an Arab driving into the city on the holiest of Jewish holidays suggests that peace is attainable. One hopes that those Arab and Jewish leaders will continue to apply their efforts to bring about lasting peace between Arabs and Jews nationwide. HERB STARK Massapequa, New York Privileged caretakers Sir, - On Succot, the festival during which we offer thanks for life's abundance, we are reminded that humans are only privileged caretakers of this precious but imperiled planet. Like the succot of our Israelite ancestors in the wilderness, this Earth is no more than our temporary dwelling, and it is our responsibility to cherish and care for our planet and all its creatures, as co-workers with God. We cannot rely on technological advances but must find a way to live in harmony with nature. As we decorate our succot with pictures and replicas of fruits and vegetables, we should consider how future harvests are endangered by global warming, widening water shortages and soil erosion and depletion. And as our Israelite ancestors were sustained with manna, a vegetarian food "like coriander seed," we should sustain ourselves with a wide variety of plant foods, to improve our health and help move our endangered planet onto a sustainable path ("Greens see Israel's shades of gray," October 2). STEVEN SCHUSTER RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ New York Loving, not austere Sir, - It broke my heart to read Yaron Yadan's "Religion and secularism - a moral accounting" (October 8). No doubt there are communities where his skewed view of Orthodox Judaism is accepted. In all facets of life there is a spectrum of views; he, unfortunately, found himself at one extreme. Orthodox Judaism believes in a God whose perfection we fallible mortals must try to emulate as best we can. The Torah and Halacha are an attempt by God, together with the great rabbis throughout the generations, to create the best framework for this. Although Halacha contains laws pertaining to the relationship between man and God, the vast majority of laws - and, if one properly understands Halacha, the most important ones - pertain to the relationship between man and his fellow. The striving for humanistic values in life is central to Orthodox Judaism, and to present Halacha as monolithic and immutable is to deny a tradition of thousands of years of debate presenting conflicting views on almost every topic. Where Halacha differs from secularism is that it believes in absolute morality, as opposed to relative morality where everyone can decide for himself what is moral. (This is akin to allowing every driver to determine the proper speed limit). Orthodox Judaism is not the austere, forbidding and fearsome religion presented by Mr. Yadan. It is warm, loving and fulfilling and tries to make us better people. ROY STERN Efrat Not greedy enough Sir, - In "Good, bad, and greedy" (October 10) Asher Meir implies that excessive greed is the cause of the current financial crisis. However, greed is simply the desire to make a profit. If anything, the bankers and insurers weren't greedy enough, or they would have worked harder to make wise investments. Their laziness, gullibility and stupidity, not excessive greed, have caused the financial crisis in which we find ourselves. Bankers and insurers can be the world's worst businesspeople. We give our hard-earned money to them for their use, practically for free, and they lose it. Rather than investigating how best to invest our money for their own profit, bankers and insurers take the lazy way out, follow the herd mentality and make investments in what turn out to be pyramid schemes. What are the business ethics of running a successful business into the ground through laziness? That's the question I would like answered. JOEL BURSTEIN Jerusalem 'Mad cow disease' needs another look Sir, - Re "MDA kept busy during fast" (October 10): I feel that Magen David Adom has no one but itself to blame for the shortage in blood donations around the time of the High Holy Days or at any time. As a Brit who immigrated here 14 years ago, I have been prevented from donating blood for many years now for fear of "mad cow disease" - which, if I am correct, has not surfaced in Israel. I am sure that MDA would have more than adequate supplies of blood if it stopped preventing Brits (and I understand also French and Irish) from donating. Until it implemented this exemption, I donated every four months. Whenever I see a request for donations, I can't help but think of the number of people excluded from this extraordinary mitzva. Isn't it time to review this policy? DEVORA GREEN Jerusalem 'Great Schlep' debunked Sir, - Thanks to Haviv Rettig for addressing the insolent "Great Schlep" project so intelligently ("Mocking the Jews," October 12). Do these patronizing young people realize that the logical extrapolation of this insulting attitude to their grandparents is that at age 65, they too will be hapless half-wits unable to analyze a problem that presents a difficult choice? M.R. MILLER Jerusalem