Letters to the Edtior: ‘Dinner for Schmucks,’ Avi Pincus, Chabad

Change in Word’s Meaning

I appreciate your recent article about the changed meaning of “schmuck” used in the movie being released July 30, 2010 (“Springtime for Schmucks,” July 9). Given my family name going back generations from southern Germany, I have another set of concerns about its use.

Some years back there were 400 people in the United States with our family name. In German it means jewel or jewelry. I have been aware of its Yiddish meanings, too.

I ask for awareness and sensitivity to various audiences out here.

Sister Mary Schmuck
Nazareth, Ky.

Jewish Recovery House

I offer my condolences to the Pincus family (“Dying to Recover: The Life and Loss of Our Son and Brother, Avi Pincus,” July 23). I only wish you had known about Beit T’Shuvah, the only Jewish recovery house in the country, located on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles. We house 120 men and women, 18 years old and over, who struggle with addiction as your son did. I am so sorry you did not know about us.

Our program uses the 12-Step program along with Torah study and traditional psychotherapy as the major part of our recovery treatment. A resident can stay six months to a year or more, if necessary, and we do not turn anyone away for their inability to pay our fee. We are an agency of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. We work very hard to overcome the shame and denial that many Jewish families feel as they face this horrible disease and face their friends and community.

Again, I say to the Pincus family that I am so sorry for the loss of your Avi.

Annette Shapiro
Chair, Board of Directors
Beit T’Shuvah

Thank You for ‘Thank You’

I didn’t know anything about you, so, when I started reading “Thank You, Robert Gibbs” (July 23), I figured it was going to be some innocuous, overly nuanced [column]. But, when I finished it, I was amazed. The article is not only beautifully and insightfully written, it’s an important statement that needs wide publication.

So I’ve written a fan letter. So what?

Arthur Margolis
via e-mail

Chabad’s Lessons Learned

Dennis Prager’s article (“Lessons for the Rest of Us From Chabad’s Success,” July 16) was “spot on.” I would respectfully add one more reason for the success of Chabad. That reason is that Chabad shluchim [emissaries] really believe in Ahavas Yisroel (love for a fellow Jew) and will go to unbelievable lengths to fulfill this mitzvah. I personally know of Chabad rabbis who offer to pay for funerals of deceased Jews in order for the body not to be cremated. This is for complete strangers and not for members of their respective communities. I have seen them go to great lengths to raise bail for Jews and go to trials for Jews. I always tell people that no matter where in the world they are that they should look up and see if there is a Chabad rabbi there and to call him if they ever get into trouble. Chabad shluchim live Judaism to the fullest in regard to every mitzvah. How many rabbis can we say that about?

Morton Resnick
Oxnard

Out of the Ashes

Jonathan Zasloff asserts that Rabbinic Judaism could have arisen only in a post-Temple world (“What Are You Doing for Asarah B’Av?” July 16). This seems to imply that Rabbinic Judaism and the Temple represent two mutually exclusive eras, that Rabbinic Judaism was somehow invented as an alternate religion to Temple Judaism, which was no longer feasible. This theory ignores the fact that while the Mishnah was not written down, halachah certainly existed, as did a framework for interpreting the law. Starting with Joshua, many Prophets and Judges added rabbinic enactments. Going one step further, it was the Sanhedrin that created many rabbinic enactments along with explanations of the Torah specifically during the time of the Temple. When Judah HaNassi composed the Mishnah, he did not just create laws and transcribe them on paper. What he did was collect generations of discussion about the laws and put down the most valid opinions. Where there was a split about what to do, he put in both opinions. The progression of the Oral Law was certainly independent of the destruction of the Temple.

Certainly, if the Temple was never destroyed, then Judaism would be different. Today, much of our religion rests upon the reality of our destructed Temple. What this reflects is that the Jewish people are a people of memory. In halachah and in our rituals, we consistently delve back into history, redeeming the value found in our collective Jewish memory and applying it to our present. To forget the pain of the destruction of the Temple can be labeled as nothing other than “Jewish Amnesia.”

Jacob Agi
Los Angeles

Jacob Agi is a rising junior at Brandeis University and is president of the Brandeis Orthodox Organization on campus.

This Marriage Trumps Chelsea’s

If you want a marriage to celebrate (“Clinton-Mezvinsky,” July 16), try Ivanka Trump’s recent marriage to Jared Kushner. Prior to her marriage, she spent several years studying and living Judaism, then had a universally accepted (Orthodox) conversion. She chose Judaism, not just a Jew. Her children will be Jews. That was a wedding to be joyous about, to want to attend, to wish a mazel tov. Where was your article to celebrate that?

Jason Kay
via e-mail

I’m so sorry to read that you weren’t invited to Chelsea’s wedding—neither was I (“Clinton-Mezvinsky,” July 16). But I want you to know that, as a frequent reader of The Journal, I totally support your message to her and her Jewish bridegroom. I wish them well, and hope they will raise several wonderful Jewish children who will be a blessing to them and all the grandparents. Your wishes for them were very wise, thoughtful and kind.

To assuage your disappointment, I will tender to you an invitation to a very different kind of event:  the 34th annual Catholic-Jewish Women’s Conference, taking place at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, 3663 Wilshire Blvd., Nov. 11, 2010,  8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Continental breakfast and a box lunch will be served.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Who Is My Neighbor? Do We Practice What We Preach?” Speakers will be Rabbi Denise Eger, president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, assistant professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University.

I think you will find this a very informative and enjoyable day, and I really do hope you will join us.

Lee Soskin
Member of the Board of Catholic-Jewish Women’s Conference

Web Site for Orthodox Jews

I am a conservative Jew living in South Florida and I check the Jewish Journal Web site five to 10 times a day to keep up with the latest happening in the Jewish community.
I have become aware of a new Web site run by the Miami Herald, Orthodox Miami, that targets the Orthodox community in South Florida.

Now, what I don’t understand is why open a site that is exclusively for Orthodox Jews and ignores all other types of Jews, unlike the Jewish Journal that is available for Jews and Non-Jews of all kind, including Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews.

This site is bluntly saying that they only acknowledge Orthodox Jews. It is wrong of the Miami Herald to open such a site, as their paper is available for all communities, races, etc.

If they wanted to open a news site for Jewish people, it should not be only for Orthodox Jews, but for all Jews, like The Jewish Journal.

Sarah Cohen
Aventura, Fla.

Pondering Ad Placement

In the July 23 issue, I found the articles “A Taste of Peace” and “Jews Feel at Home at Sisters of Charity Hospital” very interesting. However, what struck me as most interesting was the placement of the advertisements next to each article. The Gelson’s ad next to the “A Taste of Peace” article was about food as a way to bring together countries at war with one another. And the “Jews Feel at Home at Sisters of Charity Hospital” was sandwiched between a full page ad for St. John’s Health Center (whose foundation was referenced in the article) and Providence Tarzana Medical Center, and a few other health-related ads. I was left with the question: “Were these articles or advertorials?”

Julie Friedman
Malibu

Conversion Bill’s Effects

Regarding “The Israeli Conversion Bill” (July 23), whenever I could, when I lived in Israel, I would go and listen to Israeli Orthodox Jewish philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who was a staunch believer in the separation of state and religion.

He continually warned mixing the two corrupted faiths. I remember Leibowitz pointing out laughingly that the appointment of the Chief Rabbis of Israel were confirmed by the Israeli Knesset, which had a significant minority of Arab members and a majority of secular Jewish members.

So it will be with the current conversion bill before the Knesset that will determine who gets to decide who is a Jew. I wonder how the 14 Arab Knesset members and their estimated 77 (non-Sabbath-observant) secular Jewish colleagues out of a possible 120 Knesset members will be voting. As Leibowitz wrote: “What is truly illegitimate is the surreptitious introduction, by administrative action of religious items into the secular reality, so as to disguise its essential secularity.”

We American Jews live in a world of separation of religion and state, and it’s time to realize that Israelis, no matter how much we want to cleave to them, live in a different world, of their own making. Let not their craziness or mishegoss infect our American Jewish spirituality that is nurtured in an environment they aren’t fortunate to share. I’ve chosen my rabbis, and their conversions of those who sit next to me in shul transcend national boundaries no matter how the political pie gets divided up in Israel.

Pini Herman
via e-mail

Clinton-Mezvinsky Marriage

I tried to digest Rob Eshman’s editorial-cum-letter (“Clinton-Mezvinsky,” July 16) to Chelsea (or is it the other way around?), together with my tuna sandwich at the local deli. And I just couldn’t. Better people than I will surely comment on this tragedy. No, not the tragic intermarriage taking place and the ultimate loss of Jewish generations as a result, a type of union that has taken more Jews out of Judaism than any other tragedy in history.

No, the tragedy here is the tacit, albeit humorous, approval and acceptance of this union by the editor of a well-known Jewish publication. Rob Eshman has deftly summed up decades of liberal Jewish secular aspirations and tolerance of what can only be termed as a national tragedy in these few words:

“The princess openly chooses a Jew.”

And the Jews sing mazel tov! Aside from the fact that anyone who considers the Clintons royalty needs acute psychological help, here we have the crux of the American secular Jewish dream: To finally be accepted, at any cost, as long as society at large is willing to have me, I’ll do anything to facilitate it, I’ll give up everything dear, I’ll change my name, my nose, my values, my religion, anything! As long as I’m accepted in that most coveted inner sanctum—the non-Jewish world society.

Finally! Royalty has accepted the lowly Jew. A true simcha. Mr. Eshman, you and all you represent are just as responsible, just as culpable as Marc, his parents and teachers.  You set the tone. And unfortunately you all seem to be tone-deaf.

Harold Weiss
Los Angeles

Destruction of the Temple

Jonathan Zasloff’s claim that “the destruction of the Temple was one of the best things ever to happen to the Jewish people,” juxtaposed with an illustration of the Romans massacring Jews and looting the Temple, is upsetting and inappropriate (“What Are You Doing for Asarah B’Av?” July 16). What is more, his arguments reveal stark ignorance of Rabbinic Judaism, which he ostensibly so adores.

There is no neat border between the pre-Rabbinic and Rabbinic Judaism, and anyone with basic familiarity with the Talmud is aware that it records traditions that long predated the destruction. Thus pre-Rabbinic Judaism included a component of sacrifice, which is described by the Torah at length as one element of a healthy religious life, and thus was understood by the earliest prophets, who advocated and even participated in sacrifice (e.g. Samuel). Pre-Rabbinic Judaism, beginning with the Torah, also included “Love your fellow as yourself,” tort law and welfare taxes on produce.  Rabbinic Judaism retains all of these; in fact, an entire talmudic order (“Kadashim” or “Sanctities”) focuses on the Temple service.

Zasloff asks whether anyone believes that sacrifice is “a way of uplifting the soul and approaching God.” The Torah does. The Talmudic sages did. So, for that matter, did Maimonides, whom Zasloff sloppily attempts to cite, but, in fact, indicates elsewhere that sacrifice is inherently religiously valuable and will be reinstated (cf. Code, Me’ila 8:8 and Melakhim 11:1).

Much has been written on the value of sacrifice in terms of giving of one’s own to God, seeing the animal as a substitute for oneself and thus being spurred to repentance, and so on. Let it suffice that Zasloff’s failure to appreciate sacrifice, or not injuring others, or the Exodus, or the Land of Israel, or honesty does nothing to detract from their rightful place in Judaism.

David B. Greenberg
Jerusalem

If some pseudo intellectual educator had the audacity to write an article explaining how the Holocaust was “one of the best things to happen to the Jewish people” and then piece together some absurd theory about how the establishment of the State of Israel and the growth of Judaism around the world made it all worth it, would your publication have the impudence to publish it?

What Jonathan Zasloff (“What Are You Doing for Asarah B’Av?” July 16) either doesn’t know or fails to mention in his article is that hundreds of thousands and —according to many authorities—millions of Jews were killed during the destructions of both the first and second Temples. Mr. Zasloff’s attempt at an innovative view of history was not only pitiful but patently offensive.

Daniel Rosenberg
Thousand Oaks

Like witnessing a horrific accident on the road, I couldn’t avert my eyes from the awful cover of your paper praising the destruction of our holy Temple as “one of the best things ever to happen to the Jewish people.” I read with disgust the erroneous claims of professor Jonathan Zasloff, (“What Are You Doing for Asarah B’Av? July 16) another ivory-tower resident who arrogantly imposes his false, radical opinions on an uninformed public.

What Zasloff fails to mention is that, as a direct result of the Temple’s destruction, the Jewish people have, over the past 2,000 years, lost countless millions through expulsions, inquisitions, pogroms and the Holocaust.  Despite having a secular State of Israel, we’ve also lost thousands more to continuous wars and intifadas. And who knows how many we have lost, and continue to lose, through intermarriage and just plain abandonment of our heritage?

Zasloff justifies his delight over the Temple’s destruction because, in its aftermath, all the great Rabbinic texts of the past two millennia were composed. That’s like saying wars are good for humanity because of the great technological advances they produce.

Our tears aren’t shed over a building, but what that building represents. Our people were once together on an undisputed land given to us by God, Whose presence and protection we continuously felt. But because of our sins, He distanced Himself from us, leaving us vulnerable to those who hate us. We yearn for that closeness with God, symbolized by the Temple, to return and pray that the Third and final Temple will be built speedily in our days.

Daniel Iltis
Los Angeles

Last week’s front cover on Tisha b’Av tore into my heart (“What Are You Doing for Asarah B’Av?” July 16). Just to think that the destruction of the temple is/was good for Israel. Are you now able/receptive to putting out a front cover with a picture with caption “Good for Jews”?

Moshe Brodetzky
via e-mail

No More Blame Game

The eight years I spent in White House and Congressional life, due to my appointment by President Reagan to a position on the United States Commission of Public Diplomacy, I learned firsthand how the government works. Professor Kaplan’s column, “Thank You, Robert Gibbs” (July 23), lays bare the difficulty we have in finding a solution to our economic crisis. Both the left and the right are guilty of playing the blame game. The ins blame the outs, and the outs blame the ins. President Obama needs to act on his campaign promise of bipartisanship. The right needs to find leadership that will do the same. Our country is in serious financial straits. We, the people, must insist our leaders focus all their attention on fixing our economy. The media must also stop playing the blame game. They should use their power to bring all sides together to find a solution. All media have a bias. That is a luxury we cannot afford today. Kumbaya, professor Kaplan.

Hershey Gold
Los Angeles

Book Review

The Jewish Journal review of the new book about the Lubavitcher Rebbe by professors Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman (The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem,” July 16) failed to mention the intense controversy surrounding it.

Scholars have raised serious questions about the quality of the scholarship. The book ignores crucial facts, makes numerous false claims, uses nonexistent documents and translations that distort the original texts. One of the major assertions of the book is that the Rebbe was disengaged from Chassidic life during the 1930s when he attended university in Berlin and Paris. To validate their preconceived theories they claim the Rebbe lived almost eight miles from a synagogue. This, it turns out, is a lie—he lived a 20-minute walk from a synagogue. They ignore volumes of talmudic and kabbalistic scholarship produced by the Rebbe during these years that reveal an intense commitment to Jewish learning and Chassidic life. Testimony that refutes their theories from many, including the great Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, an intimate friend of the Rebbe in his Berlin years. (It was the Rav who bailed the Rebbe out of jail after he was arrested in Berlin for making a public speech about the importance of Purim.)

Other media accounts, such as those in The New York Times, Jerusalem Post, Jewish Chronicle and Tablet, have highlighted the controversy, which raises very serious questions about academic integrity of the authors and the quality of their research. The Jewish Journal ignored theses crucial questions, which should have be central to any review of the book.

Rabbi David Eliezrie
Yorba Linda

Editor’s note: Rabbi Eliezrie is author of the forthcoming book “The Mission,”  about the Rebbe and his impact on modern Jewish life.

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