Letters 02/09/-02/15/ 2001

Henry Waxman

The article on Henry Waxman is full of praise, yet understated (“Undefeated Champion,” Jan. 26).

If excellence is measured by the amount of good one does in life, then Rep. Waxman is one of the greatest Americans in history.

Charles Aronberg, Beverly Hills

Boy Scouts

Thanks to Rob Eshman for his sensitive editorial (“Scout’s Honor,” Jan. 26). As Eshman noted, our congregation responded to the Boy Scouts of America’s policy of discrimination against gays by withdrawing our sponsorship of Cub Scout Troop 118. With heavy hearts, our board members present unanimously resolved that Temple Ahavat Shalom could not in good conscience continue as a chartering entity for the troop in light of the Boy Scouts’ national policy. They acknowledged the many positive dimensions of scouting, but they also reaffirmed their utter rejection of the kind of discrimination that the Boy Scouts presently enforces upon all its affiliates.

Marvin Himlin tells us that “impressionable” kids don’t “need to be introduced to that,” and that “if you’re a homosexual, you shouldn’t flaunt it.” But no one is claiming that sexuality of any kind should be brought into the scouting program. At best, Himlin’s comments bespeak a total ignorance of what we know about sexual orientation today. At worst, they betray an unvarnished bigotry against homosexuals that we Jews, of all peoples, should utterly reject and oppose.

Rabbi Jerry Brown, Temple Ahavat Shalom, Northridge

The Boy Scouts have always had a policy of excluding avowed homosexual men from leadership positions. No one ever made a big deal of this until the James Dale case.

The Union of American Hebrew Conregations (UAHC), while never agreeing with the Boy Scouts, nevertheless “tolerated” having them in their synagogues. Now that the Supreme Court has nodded its agreement with the Boy Scouts’ defense, the UAHC is turning the screws and telling its synagogues that the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater. By doing so, the UAHC stoops even lower than the Boy Scouts. While the Boy Scouts will tolerate leaders who are closet homosexuals, the UAHC has shown that it will “tolerate” only those groups that believe exactly as they do. What a shame.

Philip Baron, Northridge

Holocaust Training

The recent article outlining the teacher training program at The Jewish Federation’s Los Angeles Museum of The Holocaust seems to imply this is solely a program of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (“Women of the Shoah,” Feb. 2). While we are delighted to have such a prestigious partner, the museum developed this training with the ADL. We have been running this educational program jointly for the past 18 years. During the past few years, additional partners have been Los Angeles Unified School District, United Teachers Los Angeles, Bureau of Jewish Education, Facing History Ourselves and The Jewish Labor Committee.

Dr. Gary J. Schiller, Chair

Marcia Reines Josephy, Director/Curator, The Jewish Federation’s Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Corrections

In the Feb. 2 article “What a $230 Million Deal Means to You,” the Austrian National Fund e-mail address should have been:nationalfonds@eunet.at.

In the Feb. 2 article “Go Hug a Tree,” the date of the Tu B’Shevat tree-planting event, Tu B’Shforest, was omitted: Sun., Feb. 11. Preplanting party at 9 a.m. at B’nai David-Judea, 8906 W. Pico. Check in for planting at 10:30 a.m. at Victory Furniture, 9040 W. Pico Blvd.

The photo of Dr. Michael Rosenbaum in the Feb. 2 article “Women of the Shoah” was taken by Joe Shalmoni.

The Feb. 2 Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc. ad had the wrong phone number for Bet Tzedek, LA. The correct phone number is (323) 939-0506.