Letters

I found your article “Weathering the Crisis”(March 13) little more than loshonhora (gossip). I have been in a fewmedical institutions in my 20 years as a registered nurse, but nonesuch as the City of Hope, until seven years ago when I was diagnosedwith acute leukemia and required a bone marrow transplant. I met Dr.Sanford Shapiro briefly when he welcomed me and my family personallyto the City of Hope.

You mention in your article that Dr. StephenForman said that “his staff was insulated from the legal battles.”Until your article, I had no idea of any of this, because the focusof the City of Hope is on its patients.

Perhaps you could have written an article on howmany people don’t hear of City of Hope until they need its services,or you could have written an article about all of the diseases Cityof Hope attempts to find cures for, or an article on the dedicatedstaff.

Where else can you find a hospital whose staffinvites you to stay at their homes when you come for check-ups fromout of town (and even give you their car keys), or nurses who drivefrom San Diego because of their desire to work at the City of Hope,or physicians so caring and sensitive who know that sometimes theirhardest job is getting the patient to realize that they are animportant part of the team.

Better yet, why not an article on the manywonderful transplant donors, some who even donate anonymously, or onthe survivors themselves? Come to the transplant survivors partywhich usually takes place in June or July under a circus-style tentwith upwards of 1,000 people in attendance; now that would make agreat story!

The City of Hope helps many miracles to happen,allowing families to continue their lives together. Their reputationis too marvelous to tarnish.

Yocheved Rosenthal

Los Angeles

Labor’s Love is Lost

J.J. Goldberg’s recent article quotes me correctlysaying, “Most of the Jews in the labor movement don’t think about theconnection between Judaism and labor.” (“Labor’s Love is Lost,” Mar.6) However, I write to say that he used the quote completely out ofcontext.

I used those words to begin telling of myobservations gleaned over more than a quarter of a century duringwhich I have been affiliated with the labor movement. What he did notsay anywhere in the piece was that I was impressed at seeing a numberof labor activists here in Washington making that “connection” andbeing quite excited about it.

To show him the strength of the relationshipbetween the D.C. Jewish community and organized labor, I cited anumber of specific examples and also gave him names of laboractivists holding official positions in their respectivesynagogues.

Nowhere in Mr. Goldberg’s piece did I see that hespoke to any of these people. Instead of using my words in thecontext I spoke them, he used them to buttress his thesis: that theconnection between the labor movement and the Jewish community nolonger exists.

I also told Mr. Goldberg that I was co-teaching afour-session course on the Jewish labor movement at the D.C. JewishCommunity Center, a course co-sponsored by the Jewish Study Centerand the D.C. Jewish Labor Committee. I also told him how encouraged Iwas with what I was seeing: 30 people, most in their 30s and 40s,coming to class each week, all of whom would consistently remain wellbeyond the one-and-a-quarter hours allotted to continuediscussion.

We are planning a spring panel discussion focusingon income inequality; exploring its moral, social and economicimplications; the Jewish view; how to reverse the trend and what rolewe can play as Jews and as labor activists in solving theproblem.

Mr. Goldberg chooses to ignore a reality obviousto many of us working in, with, and for unions. Despite demographicchanges in our community and our people’s general advance here inAmerica into the ranks of the middle and upper income brackets, Jewsremain disproportionately represented in the ranks of laboractivists. Their commitment to social and economic justice transcendsthe economic realities of Jewish Americans.

Carolyn J. Jacobson

Co-chair

Jewish Labor Committee

Washington, D.C.

Making Marriage Work

We enjoyed the article “A Belated Wedding Present”(March 13) and have great respect for our friends, Rabbi Alvin Marsand Lloyd and Margit Cotsen who had the vision and commitment todevelop and promote the Cotsen Institute for Newly Married Couples atThe Brandeis Bardin Institute.

We were thrilled that the author, Nancy Steiner,mentioned the “Making Marriage Work” program that she took with herhusband, Neal.

Originally founded and developed by Rabbi AaronWise and Dr. Sylvia Weishaus, “Making Marriage Work,” which is underthe auspices of the University of Judaism, is an “early engagementpresent” for all couples who are engaged or even consideringmarriage. A more useful gift could not be found!

In addition to the basic seminar, Making MarriageWork also offers “Challenge of Growth,” for couples married more thantwo years, “Interfaith,” for couples with a non-Jewish partner whoare considering marriage, engaged or recently married, “Success inYour Second Marriage,” for couples who have children from a previousmarriage and “Turning Silver Into Gold,” for couples who have beenmarried 25 years of more.

Through interactive sessions with licensedmarriage and family counselors, rabbis, financial and legal advisors,couples explore such topics as: the meaning of love and commitment,the art of communication, conflict resolution, sexuality, children,parents, in-laws, careers, money management and more.

Our goal is to give couples the tools that theyneed to make their marriages happy, fulfilling and longlasting.

We welcome inquires at (310) 440-1233.

Sharon Glaser

Shelley Whizin

Co-chairs, Making MarriageWork

University of Judaism

Los Angeles

Jews and Hollywood

Reviewing the new A&E television documentary,”Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies & the American Dream,” NaomiPfefferman writes, “The Jewish moguls so wanted to ‘pass’ as non-Jewsthat they did not produce a single anti-Nazi film before World WarII.”(“Jews, Movies and the American Dream,” March 20)

I don’t know if this is an error on the part ofPfefferman or writer-director-producer Simcha Jacobovici, but if theghosts of Jack Warner and his brothers rise up to wreak vengeance onone or both, I for one will champion them!

“Confessions of a Nazi Spy,” one of the mosthard-hitting anti-Nazi films, was released in May 1939, three and ahalf months before the war began and over two and a half years beforewe entered the conflict!

Will Hays and Joe Breen, Hollywood’s censorshipczars, attempted to block its production and release, just as theymutilated other even slightly anti-Fascist films such as MGM’s”Idiot’s Delight.” To their credit, Warners resisted the sleazytactics. The picture riled a lot of feathersin Berlin, as well asHollywood. Right-winger Breen was also a known anti-Semite.

On that score, let’s not condemn the Jewish mogulsentirely by playing Monday morning quarterbacks.

David R. Moss

Los Angeles

On Anti-Semitism

Regarding the news of the decline of anti-Semiticincidents (“ADL: Anti-Semitic Incidents in U.S. Decline for ThirdYear,” March 20):

We should not forget the Internet and Argentina.Argentina is a haven for Nazi criminals and terrorists. Their newguest is Abdalah Bucaran, an Arab fugitive ex-president ofEcuador.

I was in Quito visiting my mother and brother whenAbdalah was elected in 1996. The joy and celebration of all ourenemies in the Middle East, made front page news in El Comercio, themain local newspaper. People danced in the streets, while all Jewishfamilies (150 total in Quito) had their bags ready and one foot outthe door. Passports and documents always in order, “just incase.”

In a short time, this corrupt, sadisticmeshuge drownedthe country in a chaos of unequal dimension, leaving the poor,poorer, and the rich, stupidly dazed. He was deposed andescaped.

He was welcomed in Panama where he probablyemptied the Ecuadorian coffers into their economy while benefitinghimself of immeasurable wealth.

Now, Abdalah is in Argentina, planning a