LETTERS: November 6-12, 2009

I am troubled by Rabbi Isaac Jeret’s “Key to Peace” d’var Torah in the Oct. 30 Journal. Much as we are continually informed and taught by our Torah, its blessings and its commandments, I am reluctant to base international political decisions on biblical promises — be they Hebrew or Christian — or anyone else’s scriptural promises for that matter. That the land of Israel has been (continuously) inhabited by Jews does not negate the fact that it has also been (continuously) inhabited by others. “An honest accounting of history” often rests in the eyes of the beholder, and in the end what stands out in my mind is that the current relationship between Israel and her neighbors is not working well for them, nor for the rest of the world.

[additional-authors]

JewishJournal.com

November 5, 2009

Who Were the Historical Inhabitants of Israel?

I am troubled by Rabbi Isaac Jeret’s “” title=”Who Owns The ‘N’ Word?”>Who Owns The ‘N’ Word?” Oct. 30) correctly points out the dangers and trivialization of Holocaust analogies to current controversies such as health care, as well as criticism of President Obama, yet he omits a significant part of the history of the use of the N word: The use of the Nazi epithet to de-legitimize and stigmatize individuals as well as nations has been utilized for over thirty yeas by two disparate groups — the anti-religious American and European left use the term Nazi as a substitute for anti-Christ, something purely evil. Conservative figures such as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been tarred with the term Nazi or fascist regularly by the left.

The second group to use the Nazi epithet is the Arabs and Muslims at large. This ruse attempts to hit a raw nerve with Jews but it is a ruse — the Palestinian Grand Mufti was allied with Hitler and offered to aid Germany in the Final Solution.

Therefore what is ideological among the left is used cynically by the Muslim world as a propaganda tool. The use of the Nazi and Holocaust analogies has no place in American discourse and those who recklessly trivialize it, on both sides of the aisle, should be censured.

Richard Friedman
Los Angeles

A Favorite Deli Overlooked

As a former New Yorker who’s had her fill of deli, from brises to funerals, it’s unconscionable that David Sax never even mentioned Label’s Table on Pico Boulevard in his article, “” title=”Fans Embrace Maccabi Electra at Staples”>Fans Embrace Maccabi Electra at Staples” (Oct. 30), the Clippers’ Blake Edwards’ name was spelled incorrectly.

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