YENTEL JACOBS NetanyaWomen and songSir, – Regarding “IDF chief of staff rejects rabbi’s remarks on singing women” (November 21), isn’t there anyone in the upper echelons of the IDF with an ounce of common sense? Does it really make sense to create a miserable rift in the military by obdurately insisting that soldiers listen to singing, by females or not, at the cost of offending the principles of a number of them, often the cream of the crop? Assuming that such programs are intended to contribute to esprit de corps, they are apparently having the opposite effect.If someone up there would have a mind to ban the wearing of tefillin on the grounds that they are not part of the uniform, or order the cutting off of sidelocks as not being militarily correct, I am sure all of Israeli society would be appalled.MARCHAL KAPLAN JerusalemSir, – The words of Rabbi Elyakim Levanon (“Chief rabbi of Samaria region: Better that soldiers face the firing squad than listen to a woman sing,” November 20) follow on sayings of the sages that are still observed: The voice of a woman is erva (sexually exciting), the hair of a woman is erva. With separate seating in synagogues, at weddings and other religious functions, it is presumed that the body of a woman is also erva.I wonder were it that, heaven forefend, the rabbi suddenly had cardiac arrest and the only instant medical help available was a woman. Would he prefer to meet the Angel of Death, his sword at the ready, rather than subject himself to cardio-pulmonary resuscitation at hands of a woman? SONIA GOLDREIN Jerusalem Not ‘far-fetched’ Sir, – James Adler (“Serious charges,” Letters, November 21) says that accusing Arabs of wanting to blow up buses is “grievous” and “far-fetched.” Really? Anyone who lived through that awful time will never forget it.Our lives and the lives of our children were in mortal danger every time we got on a bus. We never knew if we would step off at our destination or be scraped off.Yes, I “understand the other side.” While the Palestinians have now stopped blowing up buses, they are actively supporting the monsters who were responsible. The PA is financially supporting them with housing and naming streets after them.In other words, Palestinian society still, either actively or passively, supports vicious criminals.Adler is asking us for empathy for the “other side.” Not on my life. Not on the life of my children.
THELMA JACOBSON Petah TikvaSir, – A knee-jerk query to letter- writer James Adler is irresistible: Where are the other side’s partners in “empathic reciprocal understanding” for our maze of J Street, Peace Now, Physicians/Rabbis for Human Rights, Adallah, Ir Amin, ISM, the Sheikh Jarrah protesters, B’Tselem, ACRI, ACLU, the Israel Policy Forum and very many more? Bus bombing may seem “farfetched” in far-off Massachusetts, but no one seriously can claim it is “frivolous.”ESTER ZEITLIN JerusalemComic reliefSir, – Liat Collins wrote a very interesting piece (“Not-so-easy riders,” My Word, November 20) in which she discusses the absurdity of Israel’s policies.It is incomprehensible how Israel has managed to exist in relative and absolute terms. It is surrounded by constant enemies, including Iran, which has trained Palestinian terrorists. We have Arab representatives in Knesset who refuse to swear allegiance to the State of Israel.Now the government allows an Arab bus with anti-Israel slogans on it to ride blissfully through the land until it reaches a Jerusalem checkpoint. Only Israel has this comic relief.Thank God we live in a land that has a sense of humor about its fate.
TOBY WILLIG JerusalemDamned anywaySir, – Your article “By next decade, over half of citizens won’t do IDF service – top officer” (November 18) states that among males, “the largest number of exemptions is given to the haredi sector, which constitutes 13% of draft-dodgers.” According to the math that I learned, this means that the other 87% aren’t haredi. Why don’t we hear about them? The same article also mentions allegations that the IDF is “being overrun by religious extremists.”The religious sector is denounced if its members don’t serve, and excoriated if they do.SHIFRA PAIKIN Jerusalem Schonfeld kinderSir, – I was on the first kindertransport arranged by Rabbi Dr.Solomon Schonfeld, which left Vienna on December 20, 1938.After that there were many children who were brought to the UK by Rabbi Schonfeld in organized kindertransports or as individuals before, during and after the war.On February 27/Adar 4 we will mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. I hope to arrange a memorial tribute on that date in Jerusalem and wish to invite Schonfeld kinder who would like to attend.I can be reached by e-mail at fischerjlm@hotmail.com or by mail at PO Box 18279, Jerusalem 91182.
EMANUEL FISCHER Jerusalem