October 15, 2010
Arranged Marriages
In the October 8 op-ed “Rabbi Searches Are Tough, but Are They Illegal?” Barak D. Richman is so correct in his analysis of the potential illegalities caused by the limitations set by rabbinical bodies involved in “monitoring” congregational searches.
Having also been a member of a rabbinical search committee, I, too, ran into this “antitrust” issue with the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Synagogues and rabbis are effectively limited in whom they may consider for each other. As Richman avers, “Ultimately, conforming to the law will be good for congregations,” and the time has come to reap those benefits.
Carl N. Steeg
New York, N.Y.
Good Genes
The author of the October 8 Arts and Culture article “Jews and the Booze” misunderstands the relationship between alcohol tolerance and the risk of alcoholism. Being able to “hold” one’s liquor is associated with higher risk of alcoholism. Ashkenazi Jews, by contrast, are more likely to have a genetically based enzyme deficiency, which makes them more “reactive” to alcohol, thereby causing them to drink less, thereby making them at lower risk for alcohol dependence.
Or, as I tell my friends, “I’m a cheap date,” because it takes only half a glass of wine to give me a buzz!
Dena S. Davis
Cleveland, Ohio
Giving Indeed
I read Dr. Seth Cohen’s letter, “Giving Without Receiving,” published October 8, with dismay for his condescension towards the Orthodox or Ultra Orthodox community. I’m Hasidic and I donated a kidney altruistically to a non-observant Jew several months ago through the Renewal organization, which Cohen criticized. I’m no exception in the Orthodox community for there are more than 30 other Orthodox Jews who have donated altruistically through the Renewal organization alone. I don’t know which gedolim he’s referring to, for every rabbi I asked about the procedure, before I committed to it, had lent his support. I just wanted to clear the record on that, though I don’t speak on Renewal’s behalf.
Rabbi Boruch Wolf
Brooklyn, N.Y.
I was shocked to read the uninformed letter from Dr. Seth Cohen, published October 8, regarding organ donation in the Haredi community. Orthodox Bikur Cholim organizations throughout the United States regularly run blood drives and perform bone marrow transplant compatibility testing to benefit local hospitals and national networks. Live kidney and liver donation is quite common in Haredi circles. In fact, family members often fight over who should have the zkhus, or merit, to be the donor. I am aware of quite a number of Haredi people who donated kidneys to complete strangers.
Irving Lebovics
Los Angeles, Calif.
Don’t Forget Envy
Regarding the October 8 editorial “George Soros’s Money,” it seems to me that Soros making all that money, and his and your paper’s drawing attention to it, has more of an influence in increasing anti-Jewish sentiments and behaviors than most of the other causes ascribed. It’s been true over the years that plenty of nonrational elements have contributed to our hatred, but we ought not to underestimate the more ordinary ones like envy and jealousy of success, particularly in the area of mega-finance.
In 1986, at dinner in Amsterdam on our honeymoon, my wife, a young Christian Arab with a Ph.D., could not help being astonished by the remarks of our European tablemate about the Jews in New York City who were messing up the international financial system for their own profits.
The greater wealth and power that we have achieved recently may be a rational element that augments — as well as lessens — that very old hatred.
Harold A. Hamer
New York, N.Y.
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