Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor
Esther has been dreaming about Jake for four years. So when he finally asked her out, she did not hesitate to say yes. It no longer mattered that he lived in Miami and did not lead an Orthodox Jewish life. Though she hated to think of leaving New York City and wanted to make sure that their future children would receive a Jewish education, \”we were going to try to work it out,\” she says. \”It\’s really hard to find someone Jewish, so if you don\’t try, then what?\”
Ehud Barak has the hardest job in Israel these days, but Itai Eiges\’ is no walk in the park, either. As director general of the ministry of tourism, Eiges is in charge of promoting an industry that has been crippled by the recent conflict. Tour operators are reporting a 50 percent cancellation rate, the U.S. State Department has instituted a travel warning on the Middle East, and Britain has levied one against Jerusalem. It is the worst drop-off in travel in decades.
With the November elections just around the corner, Jewish observers and activists are predicting that no matter who wins control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the Jewish communal agenda will encounter some of the same legislative hurdles it faced in the 106th session.
These are tense days for the Los Angeles parents of Jewish students studying at Israeli universities and yeshivas. Their sons and daughters are among some 4,000 Americans studying in Israel this year in a wide range of programs. Major universities, yeshivas, kibbutzim, the Israel Defense Force are just a few of the institutions that offer American students programs in Israel. According to the Israel Aliyah Center, there are l00 students from Los Angeles currently studying in Israel.
As the violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip enters its second month, there is a growing fear that it will escalate and embroil the entire region.
Campaign 2000\’s white noise of candidates, pundits and paid advertisements has all but drowned out one important set of facts: What\’s really at stake in this election?
My daughter turned 4 weeks old today. She has never heard of the State of Israel, the book of Deuteronomy, Albert Einstein, Shawn Green, Joe Lieberman, the Holocaust, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, the Western Wall, God, or, I suspect, her father.
In most big cities in the United States, horse-and-buggy rides are offered as tourist attractions. It is therefore not shocking to find them lined up in Philadelphia, right near Constitution Hall and the Liberty Bell.