Readers respond to latest 'Jerusalem Post' articles.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORFed upSir, – I am fed up! Every day it seems some high-ranking person is to be indicted for a crime (“Attorney-General likely to indict former chief rabbi for bribery, February 11).We just read Parashat Yitro, where Jethro tells his son-in-law, Moses: “You shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain.” If you don’t fit this description, don’t run for high office.In the Torah we learn that the higher one’s position, the more severe the punishment, as was the case when Moses was forbidden to enter the Holy Land. So if an ordinary man commits a crime and gets two years, a prominent person who commits the same crime should get 20 years. Then, maybe we will see less fraud in our Holy Land.NISSIM BAHARAshdodShabbat cureSir, – As a research fellow at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, I have found a cure for digital dementia (“Digital dementia,”In My Own Write, February 11). The cure is Shabbat.Once a week, tune out, turn off and unplug. Put your computers, tablets and smartphones to sleep.Just tune into God’s creations, enjoy family and friends, walk in the forest and fields, watch the sunrise and sunset, play with your children and make love to your spouse. Adopt the formula instituted millennia ago to free the Israelites from their own enslavement in Egypt.
The fourth of the 10 Commandments enjoins us to remember what it was like to be a slave who never had a break from the repetitive sameness of everyday life. Make every seventh day different.Make it an ecology day by leaving the world the way we got it. Make it a non-art day, when we honor God’s creations rather than ours.One day each week, stop doing, stop making, just enjoy being alive. On the eighth day, return with renewed energy to being partners with God in the continuing creation.MEL ALEXENBERGRa’ananaPA boycottSir, – With regard to “PA bans sale of products from six major Israeli companies” (February 10), the respected Globes financial economic newspaper runs continuing coverage that shows Israel exports more than NIS 30 billion of products each year to consumers in the Palestinian Authority, with no sign of a slowdown.Nothing like the PA announcing a boycott of Israel in the media while Palestinian shopping for Israeli products hardly occurs under the radar.DAVID BEDEINJerusalemSir, – Israel should ban Palestinian workers from being employed by these Israeli companies starting as soon as the boycott takes effect. The ban should be applied for any other companies added to the list.There are many Israelis looking for work and we can add others from Asia, Africa and eastern Europe.HAROLD FRANKModi’inDisenfranchisedSir, – With regard to “Election campaign blues” (Think About It, February 9), I am sick and tired of the infantile antics of our senseless, defective political system.I am once more disenfranchised from a system that will be led by party hacks without ethics and aptitude, who encourage mediocrity and electoral bribery.It is distressing to see them running around like sheep without a shepherd, leaving the country devoid of stability. It fosters cynical allegiances that make our political system full of bizarre bedfellows. The goal is self-preservation, not to enhance our security and quality of life.How many times will Israeli voters need to be misled and lied to by devious politicians? The system no longer stands for much at all beyond achieving power.JACK DAVISJerusalemPriority is given to letters that are brief and topical, and which bear the writer’s name and place of residence, as well as the name and date of the Post item being referred to. They may also be edited and shortened. letters@jpost.com