Category Archives: Letters to the Editor

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE ATTENDEES OF THE 2023 GENERAL ASSEMBLY by UnXeptable

Articles, Letters to the Editor

To the Jewish Federations of North America and the 2023 General Assembly Attendees,

It is with both deep pain and tremendous hope that we write this letter.
The actions taken since January by the current Israeli government and its plans, should they come to fruition, would lead to the end of Israel as a democratic state and as a homeland for all Jews. While never a perfect democracy, Israel has always maintained a strong judicial branch with a democratic structure and checks and balances that have provided equality and protection to all of its citizens. Painfully, we see how Netanyahu’s government, without broad consensus, is attempting to void the power of the judicial branch in order to promote legislation that would jeopardize civil and human rights. This legislation would put at risk women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, religious and ethnic minority rights within Israel, the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories, the right to pray as non-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem’s holiest site, and even the right to make Aliyah. read more

A Letter in Support of Ben & Jerry’s by Ron Skolnik

Letters to the Editor

As a Jewish American as well as a dual citizen of Israel and the United States, I was deeply disappointed that Newsday did not see fit to include a single voice supportive of Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop doing business in the occupied territories (“Hempstead Town officials vow to boycott Ben & Jerry’s,” July 23, 2021). Sadly, the report also fails to stress that Ben & Jerry’s has explicitly committed to continuing doing business in Israel itself, within the country’s legal borders; its boycott is only of those areas that have been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, where Palestinians are denied equal human rights. read more

A Response to Peter Eisenstadt by Richard Rosen

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor


Israel can get away with a disproportionate and inhumane reaction to the Palestinian assault on the border  in Gaza because of the US-Israeli mutual defense agreement, the same one that enabled Israel to come out the winner in 1967. Had they not known they can always count on us for arms and support, they might have used the past few months (where there was foreknowledge of an uprising) to come up with something smarter than shooting hundreds, including children, in the legs.

If you agree that US support is part and parcel of Israel’s aggressive reaction to this protest, then doesn’t that mean that we, Reform Jews who still believe a two state solution is the only long term answer to this age old battle for the land of Israel, are part of the problem unless we stand up and make our viewpoint clear? Any of us have ideas to share? read more

Response to The Current Crisis and the Electoral College by Joe Aronson

Articles, Letters to the Editor
An Open Letter
An Open Letter

In The Current Crisis and the Electoral College, Jewish Pluralist, December 16, 2016, the author, Peter Eisenstadt asks: “What would be worse? Allowing Trump to become president, and then watching him violate the rules, principles, and foundations of America’s democracy, or trying, democratically if possible, but extra-democratically [italics mine] if necessary, to prevent him from becoming president?”

His answer, yes: “But in the end, if you ask me, am I willing to do anything, including putting American democracy in peril now [my bold], to prevent a potentially greater peril to American democracy later, I reluctantly must conclude, yes.” read more

Heaven on Earth– by Molly McDonald

Letters to the Editor
letter to the editor
letter to the editor

In your article, Keeping the Marriage and Splitting the Vote, you could not have hit it more on the head, if your pen so to speak, was a hammer!

Is there a biological imperative that demands this sort of power play we see between men and women, where men have to be in control? Yet, I do know personally a few, who call themselves feminists; I know them, and not all of them are gay. They see a natural equality and seem to be not at all interested in power and control but are interested in understanding and making the world a better place. Maybe they had better relationships with their mothers I don’t know. read more

Letter to the Editor: White Privilege, Women Rabbis and Larger Issues of Equality—by Cathy Harris

Letters to the Editor

th-1The recent Forward article, “Disturbing Sexist Trend in Interfaith Work” is not surprising, just disappointing. Our progressive congregations continue to push equality and respect across genders and racial and ethnic boundaries, but the many invisible privileges of white men can be an elusive target, so deeply woven as they are into our culture.

For a more concrete grasp of what this means, check out the full text of the classic essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh below. It’s a tough challenge. read more

On “A Jewish position on Trump’s Indecent Immigration Plans”–A Letter to the Editor by Deborah Kornfeld

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

I would like to thank you for publishing the article entitled “A Jewish position on Trump’s Indecent Immigration Plans.”

How quickly we forget. How many lives would have been saved if the United States had had a more flexible and moral immigration policy in 1938? How different Jewish History would be if we hadn’t needed to frequently pack up our bags and leave one nation or another. Not only as Jews, but as Americans we shouldn’t turn our backs on one of our nation’s basic tenets. read more

Response to Pastor Ludwig—by Richard Rosen

Articles, Letters to the Editor

Response to Pastor Ludwig
Richard Rosen

I found the Presbyterian statement and the letter from Drew Ludwig appropriate and I am glad they took this step. Rabbi Jacobs really was responding to other Presbyterians: the unfair label of apartheid and underlying antisemitism. While I deplore accusations that are not well founded and do indeed suggest an anti-Semitic agenda, I support their actual action: divestment of stock in the US corporations that trade with Israel

for the specific purposes of using their products in the execution of West Bank actions against Palestinians, which I believe to be impediments to progress toward a negotiated two-state solution. Although the label of apartheid is unfair, (if we accept South African apartheid as the definition of that word), it cannot be denied that tools such as divestment and boycott were effective in persuading the South African government to peaceably work toward a democratic pluralistic state, however flawed the end product may be. read more

A Letter to the Jewish Pluralist

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor Israel’s Uncertain Future
Jacob Jorne
Rochester, New York
April 19, 2014

The future starts to take shape in my mind: there will be no two state solution, no involvement of the US and as the region becomes less important, the world will care less about this insane conflict. These events will lead to an apartheid state, which will become increasingly out of line with international norms. In this apartheid condition, Israel will become a religious state; cruel isolated and condemned.

It will be increasingly difficult for liberal and progressive people to live in Israel, and at the first major crisis people will “cash in on” their dual passports and leave. Israelis want dual passports with good reason, and it is not about economics. Young Palestinians do not want a state without opportunity; they want, instead, a bi-national state and they want equal rights, jobs, housing and education. Adding the unstable forces of fundamental Islam to these gloomy predictions creates an unimaginable future. read more