Letter | It’s naive to expect that politics wont come up in synagogue

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By Leonard Koenick December 8, 2020

Dear Editor,

In a recent Forward article, Adrienne Skolnik accused her former congregation of being unwelcome to Republicans. As a member of that same synagogue, I strongly disagree with her characterization of my community.

While Skolnik claims that “for not conforming to a specific political groupthink, [she] was censored, silenced and squeezed out of a Jewish religious space,” I have not experienced this, nor am I aware of it.

Moreover, how could she be surprised that here in Asheville, once described by a conservative legislator as the “Cesspool of Sin,”, the Jewish community is more liberal than conservative?

And some of her accusations, including that she was called racist by a new friend, have nothing to do with the local synagogue. The synagogue’s weekly and monthly bulletins carry regular announcements of activities by several of the synagogue’s conservative political groups. I also find her assertion that political discussions have no place during Shabbat luncheon as naïve.

I’m disappointed in the Forward for publishing this.

Sincerely, Leonard Koenick
Asheville, North Carolina

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