Your Letters

Terror in America

I want to thank The Jewish Journal and columnist Marlene Adler Marks for the thoughtful perspective on the recent terrorist attacks. (“Echoes of History,” Sept. 28).

I found Marks’ insightful review of the history of piracy on the high seas to be enormously helpful. The column reminded readers that terrorism is an ages-old concept, notwithstanding its new weaponry and mobility. It also clearly showed a historical precedent in which a seemingly unpredictable and uncontainable movement of terror was successfully dealt with by a community of nations committed to the notion of basic security.

Now, more than ever, perhaps, our nation needs such historical touchstones. Marks combined a keen sense of journalistic analysis with the fine Jewish tradition of appreciation for history.

J.L. Sullivan

Editor & Publisher, Los Angeles Garment & Citizen

Rabbi Arthur Waskow wants me to feel the “pain and grief of those in the Arab and Muslim worlds who feel excluded, denied, unheard, disempowered, defeated” (“The Sukkah and the World Trade Center,” Sept. 28).

He says that the pain behind the violence of the terrorists must be heard and addressed. Rabbi, this is pain and grief that I want to address first:

The pain of the child who wants to call his dead father on his cell phone.

The pain of the husband whose wife called from a high floor of one of the towers between the crash and the collapse to tearfully tell him that she loves him.

The pain of the heroic firefighters who lost colleagues.

This is the pain I want to lighten before I care about the pain of the highjackers, those who plan these egregious events and those who are celebrating them.

Janice Kenner, Rancho Palos Verdes

All religions can be used for immense good or immense evil (“Islam Hijacked,” Sept. 28). In determining what a religion really stands for, the real question is: How do the majority of its adherents behave?

Until I hear that the majority of Islamic clerics claim that Islam has been hijacked and denounce these terrorists, I will not be convinced that Islam, as currently practiced, has been hijacked.

Name withheld by request

Shawn Green

I recently took my almost 8-year-old son, Benjamin, to see the Dodgers play the Giants. We arrived early and went to the dugout area to see if we could get an autograph. Shawn Green popped his head out of the dugout at the precise moment we arrived. I don’t know who was more excited, Benjamin or myself. Shawn and Benjamin had a short conversation: we wished him a Happy New Year and told him how proud we were of him for taking off Yom Kippur. The autograph was the icing on the cake. We walked away feeling great. Shawn hit a homerun in the sixth inning, and I don’t recall seeing a brighter smile on my son’s face. Shawn, thanks for adding to an already special father-son outing at Dodger Stadium.

Larry Ackerman, Los Angeles

Frank Gehry

I was very disturbed to read the letter to the editor about Frank Gehry (Letters, Sept. 28). Complaints about actions by a public figure such as Frank Gehry are certainly valid subjects for discussion, but publishing this letter and withholding the author’s name is shameful. This anonymous character assassination policy does not belong in The Jewish Journal.

Henry David, Calabasas

Corrections

The Journal was given an incorrect title for an upcoming lecture by professor Reuven Firestone on Oct. 14 at Temple Beth Am. The title will be “Concepts of Holy War in Islam and Judaism.” Reservations are mandatory. Call (310) 652-7353 ext. 200 for details.

In the Sept. 28 Circuit’s “Montage and Homage,” the mural pictured is by Wanda Peretz.