Cordoba Mosque
Seventy percent of Americans do not want this grotesque monument to Islamic supremacism built where it would overshadow that hallowed ground, that stricken field, that graveyard of our murdered countrymen who were slaughtered one awful September morning (“The Islamic Center,” Aug. 6). If they must build it, let them build it elsewhere and without trying to insult our intelligence by trying to fool us into thinking that it is an act of contrition symbolizing universal outreach and the brotherhood of man, two concepts which are as alien to them as their undiminished ambition of a global caliphate, under the gruesome apparatus of Sharia law, is to the rest of us.
Paul Schnee
Executive Director,
Western Region,
Zionist Organization of America
First Amendment Right at Work?
Rob Eshman’s article “From Beirut to Manhattan” (Aug. 27), is comparing apples to oranges. The synagogue being restored in Beirut could be compared at best to the Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero which was destroyed during the 9/11 Twin Towers massacre, and that is still fighting bureaucracy to be restored. Were the Mosque in existence at Ground Zero prior to the 9/11 heartbreaking calamity, no one would have questioned its owner’s right to rebuild it.
The fact that the First Amendment guarantees the right to offend others doesn’t mean that one must do so, especially [given] of the nature of the tragedy. The correct Jewish approach in this case should be to apply the sensitivity of “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” which in this case means to build the mosque at another location, one to which no one seems to object.
Danny Bental
Tarzana
O’hev Shalom, Rodef Shalom. Love peace, pursue peace. We don’t have the luxury of performing sloppy profiling in choosing who our friends are and who the enemy is. The people who want to build an Islamic center two blocks away from Ground Zero are the very people we should be forging alliances with in order to bring peace to the Middle East if for no other reason (and there are others), [rather] than the possible communication link they might be able to achieve with the “other side.”
Is it insensitive to build an Islamic center just two blocks away from Ground Zero short of 10 years after those horrible attacks? Of course it is. But it is far more insensitive to the pursuit of peace and to the freedoms we enjoy as Americans to shun one group who hasn’t committed any crime and who, ironically, shares more of our core values if we just bothered to take the time to look.
Elliot Semmelman
Huntington Beach
Sheik Jarrah Property Disputes
The perspective regarding the legality of the property ownership in the East Jerusalem Arab neighborhood Sheik Jarrah, as conveyed by David Suissa in his column (“Showdown at Sheik Jarrah,” Aug. 27), is dangerously shortsighted. For Israeli Jewish settlers to “reclaim” ownership in this manner is a two-edged sword, as the Arabs who were evicted and thousands others could put forth similar claims in Israeli West Jerusalem and throughout Israel. Rather than interpreting and applying the law selectively to benefit the inciting aims of a very small segment of Israeli society, it would be prudent for the Israeli authorities to prevent such instigation altogether for the sake of the majority of its citizens and for its larger strategic interests. Reclaiming lands owned by Jews in East Jerusalem may be technically legal but is unwise in the extreme as it poses a grave threat to the two-state solution and the viability of the Zionist enterprise.
Luis Lainer
Los Angeles
Not (Exactly) Your Grandfather’s Services
The placement of “…boring services with 30-minute sermons,” said Ben Vorspan, the son of Rabbi David Vorspan and grandson of Rabbi Max Vorspan, seemed to insinuate that Ben must have had to sit through “boring services” with his father and grandfather (“Synagogues Gear Services to Young Professionals,” Sept. 3). On the contrary, anyone having participated in services led by Rabbi Max would tell you he was anything but boring! His sermons were filled with humor and wonderful anecdotes! Rabbi David follows in his father’s footsteps with interesting sermons and his creative twist to Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat services include guitar (led by Rabbi David) and full congregational participatory singing of the prayers. Ben’s guitar-led service and creative ideas don’t fall far from the tree.
Bonnie Vorspan
Woodland Hills
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