An Extraordinary Man, As Priest and as Pope Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, former chief rabbi of Israel, once told me about a conversation he had with Pope John Paul II (“Pope Oversaw Big Changes in Catholic-Jewish Relation,” April 8). Lau told the pope of a story he had heard about a Polish woman bringing a…
Ugandan Government Is Failing Its People As a native of Acholiland, I highly commend the Forward for exposing the slow-motion genocide perpetuated in northern Uganda during the past 18 years by the Lord’s Resistance Army and the equally ruthless Ugandan national army (“Children Forced To Become Killers, Sex Slaves in Forgotten Uganda War,” April 1)….
Revised ‘Passion’ Still Morally Irresponsible Mel Gibson still refuses to acknowledge what more than 100 biblical scholars and church leaders have said to him publicly: He is wrong in his presentation of responsibility for Christ’s death and is relaying the seeds of historic antisemitism in displaying it (“Less Gory ‘Passion’ Still Raises Hackles,” March 18)….
N.Y. Politician Wrong To Demonstrate in Gaza The visit by New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind and some 40 other Americans to offer support and solidarity to Gaza’s Jews reminds me, ironically, of the support and solidarity of the International Solidarity Movement for Gazan Palestinians (“U.S. Foes of Pullout Mobilize To Sink Plan,” March 11)….
‘Tug of War’ at Y.U. An Imagined Conflict The February 18 Viewpoint news analysis column posits that Yeshiva University President Richard “Joel stands at the center of a theological tug of war” between left and right at the university (“Y.U. Chief’s Quiet Gambit Creates Space for Change”). The Forward, however, omits reference to two innovative…
David Irving Responds In her gripping February 14 opinion article, Deborah Lipstadt shows that one reason she did not speak for three months during the British High Court trial of my libel action against her — a reticence that has puzzled many observers hitherto — was evidently because she was asleep (“60 Years Later, Dresden…
Privatized Religion Thank you for showing us a new side of Gary Bauer: comedy writer (“It’s ‘One Nation Under God,’ or America Goes Under,” February 11). I especially enjoyed the line, “Is it a coincidence that as Europe’s churches empty, its antisemitism and hatred of Israel grow?” Hysterical. Because of course nothing bad ever happened…
Fiction on the Orthodox Affects Societal Views My January 30 New York Times Book Review essay on fictional representation of Orthodox Judaism seems to have touched a nerve. Arts and culture writer Tova Mirvis, like other letter writers and bloggers, accuses me of trying to impose ideological standards on writers (“Judging a Book by Its…
Call Modern Hebrew By Its Name: ‘Israeli’ In the December 24 On Language column, Philologos criticizes my glottonym “Israeli” as a “denigrating word for modern Hebrew” (“Hebrew vs. Israeli”). But I would argue that “Israeli” is not at all derogatory. It simply acknowledges that the marvelously complex language spoken by Israelis is very different from…
Ad Against Withdrawal Crosses Communal Line The Forward ran an ad in the January 21 issue about the Gaza withdrawal plan, listing the Zionist Organization of America’s Washington office as its sponsor. We need to inform your readers that the individual who personally wrote and placed this ad did not receive the approval or authorization…
For Rights Here, Too While we appreciate your recent article on our organization’s human rights work in North America (“Rabbis’ Group Focuses on Rights in U.S.,” January 14), there were two inaccuracies in the article that we would like to correct. The letter that Rabbis for Human Rights signed along with a coalition of religious…
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