Lamb Stew Not Kosher
The Jewish Journal recipe for lamb stew (“Our Dad’s Lamb Stew,” March 27) clearly mixed milk and meat. Not only was this a poor selection for a Passover recipe, it is just flat-out not kosher. The garbanzo beans would also only be for the Sephardic. Hopefully this was an unintentional oversight.
Les Feldman, Calabasas
Editor’s note: Our policy is not to print non-kosher recipes in the Jewish Journal. Due to an editorial oversight, we ran a version of a lamb stew recipe in the Passover issue (March 27) that includes yogurt — the non-yogurt version works equally well. As for the garbanzo beans, we print both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Passover recipes and let readers follow their own traditions.
Behind the Lens of Horror
I was very young when I saw the newsreels [of the concentration camps] in theaters (“He Witnessed — and Filmed — the Horror,” April 17). Seeing the children my age starved and showing the numbers on their arms made a huge impression on the children here in the U.S. Showing these scenes of the horrors and also seeing and hearing the survivors’ stories are important to every generation of children here in the U.S. It needs to be kept an important part of our history! Knowing our history is to keep us from repeating it.
Betty Peters via jewishjournal.com
Deal or No Deal?
Barack Obama has to answer a tough, fundamental question when considering Iran and nuclear weapons: Is he willing to lead the United States to war in order to stop Iran from getting the bomb? (“The Panic Gap,” April 17.) Not a sterile war with drones or a limited strike, but a full-blown war with all the suffering and horror war entails.
Although Obama has stated at various times that “all options are on the table,” his actions belie his words.
Obama’s actions already have blown any chance he might have had of forcing the Iranians to confront their fundamental questions. Words alone are worthless. Our leadership also must act accordingly and radiate strength. Obama won’t or can’t do so. We may just have enough time for the next president, who will, hopefully, understand and have the courage to keep Iran from getting the bomb.
Christopher Arend via jewishjournal.com
Playing God
I don’t usually comment on articles but had to praise David Suissa for this one (“My Passover Lesson: Don’t Wait for God,” April 10). I had always believed that we should not wait for, nor rely on, divine intervention in any religion. We should try to help ourselves, and more importantly, each other.
This was the most meaningful article I have read in a long time. I am completely in agreement with your beliefs.
Gloria Smith Seiden, Marblehead, Mass.
Senior Security
It’s a shame that Abigail Shrier feels the need to add some color to her article, “Should Jews Feel Safe in America?” (April 17) by adding gratuitous and negative comments about the elderly.
What do we learn by her comments describing the “security” at the synagogues where she grew up as being “dowager-humped, hip-high, octogenarian greeters. Liver-spotted ladies with thick glasses and cotton ball hair …”?
Ms. Shrier, we get it: An 80-year-old person may not be the best defense against an anti-Semitic young person determined to do harm within a synagogue.
I am not yet of that age, but if I’m lucky enough to get there, I suspect I’ll also have liver spots, and will probably have shrunk from my 6-foot frame as well. And so will Ms. Shrier.
Eric Taub, Westlake Village
Humane Humor
Despite being a Jew, I never had the inclination to watch “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” or, for that matter, Jon Stewart (“How ‘The Daily Show’ Helped Jews Grow Up,” April 10). When the president of Community Advocates decides to proclaim “‘The Daily Show’ helped Jews grow up,” exactly which Jews is he referring to?
His lack of understanding of the conditions Jews face daily I will charitably describe as cavalier.
Jerry Daniels, Marina Del Rey
correction
A photo caption accompanying the article “ ‘The Last Girl at Victoria Station’ a Kindertransport Story” (April 17) indicated the photo had been taken recently. The photo is from 2008, and one of the photo’s subjects, Anne Forchheimer, died in 2009.
