August 12: The heat is on

Sir, – Is Shmuley Boteach kidding? What so far are the wonderful results of the Arab spring?

By JERUSALEM POST READERS

AUGUST 11, 2011 23:26

The heat is on

Sir, – Is Shmuley Boteach (“How Israel is missing the Arab spring,” No Holds Barred, August 9) kidding? What so far are the wonderful results of the Arab spring?

Egypt, where Mubarak kept the peace with Israel for 30 years, is now talking about canceling the peace treaty. In Libya there is civil war. Who will succeed Gaddafi if he is toppled? A friend of Israel? And in Syria, everyone is shocked by the atrocities. But if Assad falls and the Sunnis take over, will that benefit Israel?

Even more ludicrous is the idea that the “Israeli Spring” was inspired by the Arab Spring and can yield social justice and more democracy. What will happen will be the weakening of the Israeli government and the diversion of the public awareness from our existential dangers.

I am afraid that both the Arab and the Jewish springs will end up hot, cruel summers.

JACOB CHINITZ

Jerusalem

DIY kids

Sir, – While I support the claims of the social justice demonstrators, I am not sure why protesting parents choose to focus on the cost of daycare, baby carriages, formula and diapers, as if these are staples of childrearing.

Even today, most of the planet gets along very well without these “essentials.” There is a wealth of research indicating that babies in Africa cry less than they do here. A simple cloth sling is a much better option than a carriage.

Likewise with diapers. If more mothers practiced elimination communication (natural infant hygiene) and/or used cloth diapers, there would be no need to pay through the nose for disposable ones.

There are ways of bringing up children on the cheap. It just generally means you have to do it yourself.

This country has spent so long entrenched in the ideal of outsourcing its young at the earliest possible age that it seems parents now need an education in how to bring up their kids. A few basic policies from the government to support and encourage stay-at-home moms would serve the nation a lot better than reducing the price of formula.

DUGGI GLICK

Karmiel

The real scare

Sir, – I found Stewart Weiss’s “A world without Israel?” (Comment & Features, August 8) important and necessary – not for its predictions or its conclusions, but because the Jewish people refuse to see anything negative, especially on Tisha Be’av, when it is our duty to correct our continual errors as a people.

If we didn’t have any errors, we wouldn’t be lamenting.

Our rabbis taught: “Every year that the Temple is not built, it is as if it is destroyed” by our actions and inactions.

Demand for words of comfort remind me of Jeremiah’s struggle with the false prophets of his day. The people chose comforting prophecies simply because they were more pleasurable and consumable than a truth that required confrontation and change.

Jeremiah was cast to the pit, God was infuriated and the Temple destroyed.

The need to be lulled with words of comfort is the real scare.

YEHOSHUA PINTO

Ra’anana

Just a pretty face?

Sir, – Regarding “Becky Griffin forces Nivea to place Israel on website” (August 8), I have such a warm feeling for this bright, beautiful and articulate young woman.

Just imagine if more people in the public eye had her moral clarity.

Three cheers to Becky Griffin.

BARBARA OBERMAN

Herzliya Pituah

Sir, – Kol hakavod to Becky Griffin. In her blistering critique of German cosmetic giant Nivea, she has shown that not only is she a pretty face, but an eloquent fighter for Israeli rights.

I am now, and will forever be, a fan of hers.

I. ZUNDER

Ramat Hasharon