Relying On Jews to Do The Right Thing Is Hardly The Same As Beseeching

Adolf Eichmann Image by Getty Images

Dear Ms. Eisner:

Thanks for the attention by the Forward to my column about the Times review of the Eichmann exhibit. I appreciate it.

There is however one factual error that I would appreciate your correcting. You write “he ends his piece by beseeching his readers to cancel their Times subscriptions.”

In fact nowhere did I “beseech” anyone to cancel anything. I wrote, “The exhibit the Times reviews is at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan through December 22; feel free to use the money you save by canceling your Times subscription to go buy a ticket and see it.”

My online dictionary defines “beseech” as “ask (someone) urgently and fervently to do something; implore; entreat.” I just assumed that any rational Jew would cancel their Times subscription in response to this piece if he or she hadn’t already done so; no “beseeching” from me would be required. The “feel free” gentle suggestion about possible ways to reallocate the funds is about as comfortable as I usually am in urging readers to do anything, other than becoming paying members of the Algemeiner, the New York Sun, FutureOfCapitalism.com, or Smartertimes.com.

Please correct the story, as I wouldn’t want to allow the false impression to get around that I am beseeching my readers to cancel their Times subscriptions. No beseeching is necessary, as most of the readers are intelligent enough to make their own judgments on that sort of thing. Given the pernicious presence of the boycott, divest, sanctions movement, I myself want to be particularly cautious about urging people to express political views by desisting from commerce.

Ira Stoll

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO