Among the most potent logical fallacies available to the polemicist is the “appeal to authority,” by which one attempts to suggest that the opinion of an expert on a question within the general area of his expertise must be correct. An “appeal to authority” is at the heart of J.J. Goldberg’s column “Israel Security Establishment…
I am appalled by your portrayal of Faigy Mayer’s suicide. An event like this deeply saddens all of us, regardless of race or religious denomination. Yet it amazes me how you have used this woman’s story to wrongfully generalize about ultra-Orthodox Jews (specifically women) worldwide. Thankfully, as thousands of our success stories don’t end in…
The news that Rabbi Brant Rosen, previously at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois, has started a “non-Zionist synagogue” comes as no surprise, given his courageous stand against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. But the term, “non-Zionist synagogue” is problematic. If there can be a “non-Zionist synagogue,” the implication is that there are “Zionist…
In his op-ed, Rabbi Ari Segal portrays the quandary that most Jewish day schools, and especially Jewish high schools, find themselves in today in regard to their middle-income families (“The 1% Solution,” January 2). Tuition increases have well exceeded rises in wages, cost of living has increased greatly and middle-income families with multiple children in…
I read with great disappointment Jane Eisner’s piece, “Chasing Ghosts, Reviving Spirits: The Fall and Rise of Poland’s Jews” (December 5). The feeling that Jews have toward Poland is understandably painful, because millions were killed there. But most of that anger is misplaced. And, the Jewish perspective on Poland is not the only one. For…
In its April 4 issue, the Forward reported that some Philadelphia Jewish officials objected to the March 27 screening of our film, “The J Street Challenge,” in the City of Brotherly Love (“Tough Road for J Street as It Bids for an Official Place Within the Communal Tent”). We are perplexed. We made the film…
Martin Buber tells the story of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev. Before Passover, the great rabbi was inspecting the local matzo factory to make sure it was kosher. Afterward, he said, ”This factory is not kosher.” When the shocked factory owner said, “We have followed all of the laws of kashrut,” the rabbi explained: “The…
A column from March 21, “Only One Way To Change Hillel: Leave,” contains some gross inaccuracies that need to be corrected. It suggests that, in 2009, the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco issued a “gag rule” regarding Israel-Palestine, and that we did so because “two major California-based foundations said that if one dime of…
In its editorial, compellingly titled “Protect the Children,” the Forward implores Mayor Bill DeBlasio to not “go wobbly,” urging him to “curtail” Metzitzah B’Peh (often referred to as simply MBP), a part of many ritual circumcisions, which has been asserted to cause Herpes Simplex (HSV1) infections. The editorial is misguided in its medical and policy…
In two recent columns, on November 16 and December 21, J.J. Goldberg has written of the Senate coalition that consisted of Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans from the prairie and mountain states that blocked efforts to admit Jewish refugees in the 1930s and 1940s. He ignores, however, the actual men who were responsible for these…
In his recent piece “Who Benefits From Service Trips?” (November 16), Brent Spodek highlights an issue that has long troubled many of us in the Jewish volunteer world: Sometimes service-learning trips for Jews in their 20s and 30s focus more on cultivating “effective Jewish citizens” than on working with communities that could benefit from volunteer…
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