In response to your September 30 article, “Jewish and Muslim Leaders: Better Together,” we would like to voice our agreement that Jewish-Muslim cooperation and dialogue, especially since 9/11, is a hopeful phenomenon for both communities and for America. We believe that dialogue is a fundamental building block for mutual respect, inter-group harmony and peaceful co-existence….
Jay Michaelson writes in his September 16 column of his delight and empowerment in D.I.Y. — Do it Yourself — Judaism. While he acknowledges that Judaism has always been a tradition of direct access, where we are “each responsible for our own religious lives,” he writes, “only a small minority of non-Orthodox Jews live this…
The Forward’s September 16, 2011 news story and editorial questioning the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program because it purportedly disproportionately serves Jewish institutions (and Orthodox institutions, at that), betrays several profound misunderstandings about the program’s purpose, government’s role in supporting non-profits, and the Orthodox community’s leading role in the Jewish organizational world. The news story’s…
Naomi Zeveloff’s September 9 article, “Conservative Synagogues Open Door to Intermarried Couples,” offers a thoughtful analysis of some of the issues facing such congregations. The language in the article, perhaps inadvertently, suggests a certain set of assumptions about the challenges of balancing inclusiveness and the integrity of Jewish religious tradition. Zeveloff writes: “However, non-Jews cannot…
Thank you for highlighting in a September 16 article the efforts of the Jewish Federations of North America and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to assist non-profits and Jewish institutions as they protect themselves in the post-9/11 reality, in which they have become targets of terrorists. It is worth noting that every grant decision…
Both the September 16 article, “How an Anti-Terror Program Became a Jewish Earmark,” and accompanying editorial are guilty of anti-Orthodox bias. For example, the authors admit that the Reform movement has, in large part, decided not to apply for the Homeland Security grants because it feels there is a church-state issue. But the authors then…
Thanks so much for your September 9 editorial “Remember Who We Are.” I am an Arab-American (though not a Muslim one) and I really appreciated the thoughtful reminder that the Jewish and Muslim communities have much in common in terms of their liberal attitudes and eager participation in American life. We all must confront the…
Len Lyons’s September 9 article, “The Last Ethiopian Jews Finally Make Aliyah,” is a fine example of a disappearing genre: a newspaper article that takes a relatively unknown, complicated subject and, in broad comprehensible strokes, lays out the critical issues. However, one of the issues discussed in Mr. Lyon’s fine piece deserves a little more…
Nathan Guttman’s September 2 article, “New Israel Fund Alone in Funding Israel Protests,” stated that “the leaders of most major American Jewish organizations have been noticeably silent” about the demonstrations taking place in the State of Israel calling for new economic policies by the Netanyahu government. The Jewish Labor Committee’s support of the demonstrations can…
As an American living in Israel for the past 33 years, I want to thank you for your August 19 editorial, “Israel’s Inspiration.” And as the director of the Israel office for the National Council of Jewish Women, I want to point out the inspirational leadership of Israel’s young women in this protest for social…
Your article (“Line Between Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic Protests Splits AJC,” Aug. 16) inaccurately stated that the 2009 complaint alleging a hostile environment at UC Santa Cruz was the first case of anti-Semitism that the U.S. Department of Education ever agreed to investigate under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. In fact, the first case…
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