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December 14, 2000

Agape

Your story on Agape and how so many Jews are flocking to “non-Jewish” services was an eye-opener (“The Gospel According to Agape,” Dec. 1).
There is nothing in the Torah that mandates boredom and nothing that precludes synagogue services that inspire, that uplift, that surprise, that renew, that move the soul and engage the mind. I challenge every rabbi to do just that, but with one caution: You’ll need a lot more space to handle the flood of new members.

David Suissa, Founder and Editor,OLAM Magazine

If there is a moral to be gleaned from your article about the Agape Center, it is that there is more to life than feeling good about one’s general moral sentiments. Feeling inspired to pursue one’s higher morality in the context of an interdenominational service produces a temporary high, but it does not give us the guidance or support needed for dealing with actual conflicts within our society, such as those over abortion, immigration, public education, ecological problems, foreign policy, etc.

Larry Selk, Los Angeles

I stopped over to visit my folks last night and got an earful from my 87-year-old dad. He asked if I saw the article on Agape and then proceeded to tell me what I didn’t know and what was not presented by Julie Gruenbaum Fax. In the dictionary, agape is used to describe Christian love, among other things. I used an Internet search engine to research the term. Almost all of the sites were like the following: www.agape.com.

The site tells us “What a friend we have in Jesus.”

Does anyone do journalistic research anymore? Or is this part of the philosophy which concurs with the notion that intermarriage doesn’t matter?

The Jewish Journal has a higher duty of responsibility than any other Jewish paper in our community. I don’t think this paper is the appropriate place for a puff piece on what is basically a Christian organization.

Geoff Seaman, Hermosa Beach

Editor’s Note: The organization Religion Editor Julie Gruenbaum Fax wrote about can be found online at www.agapeonline.org. It has no affiliation with any other Web site. To read her article, visit us at www.jewishjournal.com and click on “Archives” for the issue of 12/1/00.

In the past eight years, I have studied and or worshiped with all of the clergy in your article. But you omitted the supreme parallel to the Agape Church. I have found my special place in Congregation N’vay Shalom. Rabbi Stephen Robbins and his wife, Cantor Eva Robbins, are an exceptional pair.

The services are uplifting with Rabbi Steve’s words and Cantor Eva’s music. Weekly we are touched Judaically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. There is a strong sense of being part of a caring, loving community. We have members who drive in from Long Beach to the south and Westlake Village to the north. We wouldn’t do this on Friday nights if it weren’t for the magnetism of the services led by our dynamic duo.

Robin Feldman,Westlake Village

Intermarriage

I would like to commend Rabbi Dov Fischer for his recent article (“No Big Deal,” Dec. 1), which criticized segments of the Jewish community for their nonchalance on the issue of intermarriage. However, he overlooks an even more disturbing and pernicious problem that goes beyond simple ignorance of Jewish law and traditions. There is an open disdain and hostility toward our faith and culture by some that further undermines any interest in finding a Jewish mate. At a recent Jewish function, for example, I was asked by one prospective woman, “Are you one of those freaks who keeps kosher?”Sadly, as long as such closed-minded sentiments flourish, it may not even be possible to hold a constructive dialogue on the need for greater Jewish education to promote intramarriage.

Joshua Sostrin, Los Angeles

I was struck by the ignorance that Rabbi Dov Fischer possesses. Love is universal. It’s what keeps the human family growing and progressing. Love is what is in a person’s heart, not where the person worships. What allows a relationship to thrive is the sharing of one’s culture and beliefs with their romantic partner. This opens a whole new world to each other. Thank goodness there are many rabbis who are open-minded and progressive.

I was also offended by Fischer’s snide remarks about Teresa Strasser. Although I am old enough to be Strasser’s dad, I am able to relate to her columns with no difficulty at all. She’s very much like my own daughter. I dig her style.

At least Fischer didn’t offer an opinion about Strasser’s mom’s new husband. He probably doesn’t dig it. I agree with the statement that Strasser and Fischer are from different centuries. She is now, he of the very distant past.

Pedro J. Baez,Los Angeles

Rabbi Dov Fischer is smart and correct about how to preserve Jewish identity in the new century. I applaud his ideas. It makes sense to stress the positive and fulfilling tenets of Judaism instead of the tired tales of woe and suffering that foster a negative stereotype.

I feel, however, he could have done so without taking cheap shots at fellow Journal writer Teresa Strasser. It is healthy to disagree with her point of view on intermarriage in print. But to make rude comments about her tastes in music and appearance, as well as what sound like veiled barbs about how seriously she takes her religion, is uncalled for. In a sense, it violates the very philosophy he espouses. His argument is to demonstrate to a young Jewish generation how good the inside Jewish world is rather than how evil and unjust the outside secular world is. After all, apple and honey are easier to swallow than vinegar. Yet in the same article, he demeans a fellow Jewish person. Certainly someone as creative and intelligent as Fischer could make his points without those harsh remarks.

Marc Edward Heuck, Encino

I have a non-Jewish son-in-law and will have two more by the end of this Jewish calendar year. My husband and I did provide our three daughters with a Jewish education and set an example of Jewish living in the fullest sense. All three are planning to raise Jewish children, because they feel strongly about Judaism.

I found Rabbi Dov Fischer’s article to be self-congratulatory, smug and at times off the mark. In addition, I took offense at the nasty remarks he made about Teresa Strasser, who is a regular columnist and deserves respect as such.

Our family, like many other Jewish families, has the misfortune to have at least one or more genetic conditions common in the Eastern European Jewish community. Ours include Tay Sachs, which was probably the cause of death of two of my grandmother’s children. Although we encourage our daughters to date Jewish men, in our hearts we are worried about the risks to our future grandchildren.

I suggest that synagogues welcome interfaith couples, provide Jewish education classes and treat them with the utmost warmth and respect. Interfaith couples are welcome at my synagogue, which has resulted in the conversion of many non-Jewish spouses. Interestingly, the new Jews-by-choice often become more religious and committed than their born Jewish spouses.

I’m not sure what is achieved by turning away interfaith couples, but I do know what can be achieved by welcoming them to the Jewish way of life.

Diane Mautner, Oxnard

Palestinians

While Israelis are listening and pleading for peace, Palestinians are shooting and exploding bombs. Ninety-eight percent of Palestinians live in Palestinian Authority self-rule areas, and Arafat already controls 40 percent of the West Bank and 95 percent of Gaza. Barak offered Palestinians statehood in the contiguous West Bank and Gaza territory. Arafat preferred a glorious intifada.

Violence against Israel and Jews is based on Arab nationalism and Islam’s rejection of any Jewish claim to independence in the former Arab empire. Arabs also deny Iraqi Kurds and Berbers (in Algeria and Morocco) their right to autonomy or independence. Many Arabs and other Muslims say they want to destroy Israel and kill Jews everywhere. There is no Jewish equivalency to such worldwide, murderous hate.

Leonard Fein envisages “the grand day” when each sides’ stories can be “incorporated in a common narrative.” But no amount of “listening” by Jews will erase ancient Arab Muslim hostility toward Jews. Self-defense (historically unavailable to European Jews surrounded by hostile Christians) is the only credible, longterm survival strategy for Israel. Fein’s exercise in “postmodern” narrative equivalency fails to meet any reasonable test of plausibility.

Bob Kirk, Los Angeles

Bravo to Leonard Fein for his courage to mention the Palestinian’s narrative, especially in these difficult days for Israel. Almost every week in Israeli papers, especially by the fine journalist Gideon Levy in Ha’aretz, similar and worse situations of humiliation and intentional and senseless suffering of Palestinians caused by some Israeli soldiers and settlers are described. There are many Israelis who are torn between their loyalty to Israel and the injustice and plain humiliation and suffering caused by some Israelis to Palestinians. Even Ehud Barak declared some years ago that if he were born a Palestinian, he probably would join the intifada or even Hamas.

People often ask me if it is true that Arabs understand only the language of power, as supposedly claimed by Jews from Middle Eastern countries, who speak from experience. Absolutely not, for the simple reason that no Jewish community in the Middle East, outside of Israel, had an opportunity to test this assumption. They were too small and too weak and had no weapons to prove this, even if they were at times in danger. Their best defense was the traditional Jewish weapons: prayers, fasting, paying ransom or bribing.

If there is any experience that we can learn from, it is this: When you show an Arab some respect, he will respond with twice as much, and vice versa. Humiliate him, and he will never forget that. The evidence of this is quite clear. The more we humiliate them, the stronger they become as people and as a nation; very similar to what the ancient Egyptians did to the children of Israel: “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they burst forth ” (Exodus 1:12).

Dr. Yona Sabar, Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic UCLA

Corrections

In Judy Zeidler’s recipe for Double Chocolate Chanukah Stars (“Chanukah Gifts From Your Kitchen,” Dec. 8), 1/2 cup sugar was accidentally omitted from the list of ingredients.

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