Maccabiah Games Fine as Is, Criminals or Heroes?

Maccabiah Games Fine as Is
As a proud mother of a Maccabiah athlete who has won five medals in three World Maccabiah Games, I am most appreciative of Steve Soboroff’s recent interest in and support of the Maccabiah World Union (“Soboroff Raises Bar for 18th Maccabiah,” July 31). Recruiting a group of 18 to donate $50,000 each is no easy task in these economic times.

As a board member of Maccabi USA Sports for Israel, I wish to remind Mr. Soboroff and your readers that this organization has been in the trenches since the very beginning. Team USA has grown in size and success because of the dedication, hard work and fundraising skills of this group. President Toni Wortman, Chair Bob Spivak and Executive Director Jed Margolis put in countless hours to make sure all runs smoothly. Their commitment to the USA athletes and the State of Israel is second to none.

I think it is a bit presumptuous of Mr. Soboroff to assume this event needs to be professionalized to match the Olympics. To me, it is amazing that a small country like Israel comes even close to matching the grandeur of Olympic sponsorships.

Whether Israelis are involved in the games or not is insignificant because their government is and their teams are and they come to win. The significance of these games is that young Jewish athletes throughout the world find a way to relate to the State of Israel.

Aviva Sokol Monosson, Los Angeles

Criminals or Heroes?
To Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: You say we need religion and a framework to live righteously because we are human and have a mixture of good and bad (“When Rabbis Fail Their Communities,” Aug. 7), but when you choose to become a rabbi, aren’t you publicly declaring that you feel you have more to give in the “good” department?

You say they are not as guilty as Bernie Madoff, but they still did break the law, no matter how minor. When you chose to become a rabbi, did you not choose to live to a higher standard, which would include not breaking either the laws of the land or the laws of your religion?

You say how difficult it is to fund your shuls. We all have to fund our lives, pay our bills and few of us break the law to do so. Yes, some do because we are a mixture of good and bad, but when you chose to become a rabbi, did you not consider that you should be living an ethical life?

I think they chose the wrong job for their personalities.

Hilary Satz, Pacific Palisades

Jewish Values For Our State
The problems that plague California raise endless policy, budgetary and political questions. However, the sober yet stimulating analysis from Elissa Barrett and David Myers (“California Quagmire,” July 24) reminds us that our Jewish values and tradition could guide California to an ethical, sustainable budget. Their sound suggestions of property tax, corporate tax and criminal justice reform are informed by our own Jewish values of social responsibility and fairness for all. California’s problems will not solve themselves. Our representatives in Sacramento need the Jewish community — and the best of the Jewish tradition — as partners.

Sam Yebri, via e-mail

Hurray for ADL Ad
It is unusual to praise an ad in The Journal. However, the ADL full-page ad in your Aug. 7 issue addressed to the president is of the greatest importance to American Jewry. It is also addressed to those of your readers and the community at large who refuse to acknowledge that President Obama is not acting in the best interest of friendship with the greatest ally that the U.S. has. I hope this ad will spur an avalanche of letters to Obama urging him to change the direction in which he is taking our Middle East policy.

Hershey Gold, Los Angeles

Israel Must Halt Settlement Construction
The full-page ad in The Jewish Journal (Aug. 7) signed by Anti-Defamation League (ADL) National Director Abe Foxman, and National Chair Glen Lewy, damages the cause of peace for Israel. 

Telling President Obama that Arab “recognition” of Israel must come before Israel addresses expansion is counterproductive. Foxman, Lewy and the ADL ignore that Egypt and Jordan recognized Israel when they signed peace agreements with it and that the Palestinian leadership did so when it committed to peace negotiations in the early 1990s, in the context of Israel’s recognition of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.

Sure, the Palestinian leadership and the Arab states must do their part. That is not lost on President Obama, as he emphasized to Mr. Foxman, myself, and other Jewish leaders in a private meeting recently held in the White House. But Israel must do its part and adhere to its commitment to stop settlement construction. 

Debra DeLee, President and CEO Americans for Peace Now, Washington, D.C.

Criminals or Heroes?
In response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s article “When Rabbis Fail Their Communities” (Aug. 7):

The Torah doesn’t rationalize cheating, stealing or laundering money just because the “end justifies the means.” Therefore, dealing in counterfeit products or laundering money, in the name of God, as Rabbi Boteach put forward, to keep a Jewish school in business, is actually an act of Chilul Hashem (the desecration of God’s name).

If the rabbis are found guilty, to many Jews and non-Jews, there would be little difference between the shameful crimes they have committed and those of Bernard Madoff. As appalling as the sins of Bernard Madoff are, he didn’t hide behind the cloak of religion. 

Danny Bental, Tarzana

Obama’s Economic Options
Coming into office, Obama had three choices for handling the economy. First, he could have cut taxes and began talking upbeat even as the economy worsened, hoping that the market alone would sort things out. Former President Bush did this, and it didn’t work. 

The second option would have been to design a stimulus package geared especially toward troubled industries and sectors. This would have prompted accusations that Obama was favoring traditionally Democratic strongholds and ignoring the rest of the nation.

Obama chose a third option, which was to design a stimulus package that gave a small lift to everyone, some aid to troubled sectors and some aid to economies that were not on the ropes. This option gives the president the least political payoff, because even now that the economy is improving, it’s hard to prove that the stimulus had much to do with it. The Republicans claim, without evidence, that the economy would have improved without the president’s big spending, and since we have no crystal ball to view alternative outcomes, no one can be sure.  So as the economy improves, watch for the Republicans to turn up the volume on this claim.

Lars Deerman, via e-mail

Beautiful Souls
This week’s suggestion for “better solutions” utilizing the Kolot organization is very sound (“Beautiful Souls,” July 31). In addition to bringing the secular and religious communities together for “open-minded study” as a way of better understanding each other, what is definitely desired or needed is the following: Universal mandatory military or alternative service for everyone with no religious exemption. What is greatly resented in the secular community is the claim that their sons and daughters are required to serve in the military but the Haredim by and large do not. And thus, the Haredim are often thought of as parasites. The required service in the military in Israel serves as an excellent equalizer and integrator. It helps bring about much mutual respect. 

Furthermore, this is not a religious issue, since the Mizrahi or Modern Orthodox community as well as the Chasidic proudly serve with distinction. Here I differ with Michael Oren in that I believe that the past, present and future of Israel is the holy city of Jerusalem; otherwise we would not constantly pray for “next year in Jerusalem.” Of course Tel Aviv, Be’er Sheva, Eilat and the other communities are also an integral part of Israel, including the settlements liberated since 1967. We need to recall especially after this Tisha B’Av commemoration, that the Second Temple was destroyed by “sinat chinam” or hatred without cause among the population. Our sages have taught us that to bring about unification is “ahavat chinam” or love and understanding among all. In Hebrew it is said, “Kol Yisrael aravim zeh bezeh,” translated as “all Israel depends on one another.”  May G-d bless Israel and all its people with wisdom and mutual love for each other.

Bernard Nichols, via e-mail

Open Letter to President Barack Obama
Over the past few months we are ever more frequently hearing about the U.S. State Department’s objections toward Israel building in existing settlements (even those that have been established three to four decades ago) in general and in Jerusalem as well. In particular the negative commentary given in regards to building a new house in East Jerusalem on private land owned by a private citizen who has received all the necessary municipal permits because of strange explanations to the effect that it would “upset the demographic character of the area.”

Was it not just over one year ago on June 4, 2008, that you (at the time a senator and presidential candidate) delivered an inspiring speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in which you declared to all present that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided”?

What has happened in that short time since? In addition, you and your staff from the State Department are continuously speaking about Israeli settlements as the main obstacle to peace … as if they did not exist then peace would instantly reign in this area. In your speech to AIPAC the word “settlements” was mentioned only once with your advice to Israel “to refrain from building new settlements—as agreed with the Bush administration at Annapolis.”

Personally, I can attest to having been captivated by you during your presidential campaign. Your speeches were deeply inspiring and gave a message of hope to many throughout the USA and indeed the world. “Yes We Can” is a simple statement, a hope and a belief in a better world, and our individual and collective ability as nations to bring about much needed change to the good. But implicit in “Yes We Can” is also the promise that “Yes we will do what we promised to do.” Now is the time to convert those presidential campaign promises into action, in recognition of the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Well done is better than well said.”

Your strong promotion of the idea of two states for two nations may be commendable as a purely theoretical solution; however, the reality of the situation is that today three states are needed for two nations if Hamas, which is the de facto power in the Gaza Strip, is taken into account.

Having the U.S. object to building in Jerusalem and inside existing settlements to account for natural growth is sending to our adversaries precisely the very wrong message, and it practically guarantees greater intransigence and belligerency in the future. In searching for the solution to peace in our area it is of key importance to understand the internal thinking of Islam, and in particular radical Islam from their perspective, in order to avoid repeating some of the tragic mistakes made by the West in dealing with Iran before and after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

In conclusion, I would like to recall a story about the Russian woman who asked Mr. Gorbachev, “Who invented Communism—politicians or scientists?” Mr. Gorbachev replied that he was not sure but he thought that it was politicians. The woman responded that she thought so as well, as scientists would have first experimented on mice, frogs and only then tried it out on live people.

We should learn the lessons of history here, and tread slowly and cautiously so that we do not create irreparable damage with our very good intentions.

Lev Shapiro, Herzliya, Israel

Correction
Lillian Ileto, mother of slain postal carrier Joseph Ileto, was incorrectly reported as deceased (“The Shots That Shattered Our Calm,” Aug. 7). We regret the error.