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Bigger than denominations

I sat in synagogue this Shabbat morning and read in my synagogue bulletin about a "community" prayer service being held at the RPRY Day School of Edison. "All" synagogues were sponsoring a recital of Tehillim (Psalms). I noticed that the Highland Park Conservative Temple was not listed. Recently, at a volunteer meeting for the Scholarship Breakfast of RPRY, when the committee to raise funds was reviewing donor lists sorted by synagogue, the Conservative Temple was included. Do our Conservative Jewish neighbors count only when they can contribute money? I am saddened that the welfare of our young Israeli soldiers, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, cannot break the walls of local politics. Tragically, a generation ago, our enemies weren't so discriminating. What have we learned?

Jeffrey Korbman
Highland Park

Perth Amboy roots

I, like the others who wrote to you about their Perth Amboy roots, feel my life-long dedication to Jewish education and music is a direct result of my childhood there. I was born next door to Cantor Chazin, but grew up in Cantor Ephros' congregation. He allowed me to be the only girl in Hebrew School and to sing in his choir. He and Rabbi Davidson performed my wedding.

While we lived in Miami, I taught religious school, but after moving back to New Jersey my emphasis became adult education. As part of a successful program at Temple Sholom in Plainfield (now Scotch Plains) I brought new musical Sabbath Services and compositions to the community. In addition, we performed the first Jewish opera and many choral and professional classical concerts.

Cantor Ephros' extraordinary contribution to the world of Jewish music will probably never be duplicated. I believe he inspired my love for Jewish learning and my work in this beautiful medium in which he excelled.

Lucille Taub
Somerset

Unfair characterizations of Israel

It was fascinating to read Dean Schulman's take on her visit to Israel ("Former R.U. Dean Schulman advocates for Palestinian rights," Jan. 2). Who would have guessed that she was a "life-long Zionist" had she not made a point of mentioning it? She found it so painful to see the problems Arabs faced at checkpoints when traveling from the territories into Israel. Didn't she know that terrorist attacks killed more than 850 people and wounded thousands more since September 2000, prior to construction of the security fence? Had she known, would she have cared enough to even mention that fact? I think not. Rather, like the rest of the world, this "life-long Zionist" feels for the Arab worker who would be martyred for killing Jews, but has nothing to report about his victims.

However, as upsetting as the checkpoints proved to be, the dean's "worst image" was in Hebron when she saw "the Magen David sprayed on the bolted door of each Arab house". (I assume she was speaking of the Jewish homes still standing after the 1929 Hebron Massacre, when Arab rioters murdered 67 Jews and wounded scores more while ransacking their homes and synagogues). She goes on to describe that scene as "horrendous because all I could think of was Kristallnacht". The stars were "proposing a different way of being a Jew; you wear a kippah so people will fear you, you have a Jewish star so people will fear you. It was a terrible sight."

I have a flash for the dean. The SS in Auschwitz did not "fear" the Magen David; nor did the Jordanians when they captured Jerusalem in '48, destroyed 58 synagogues, and systematically desecrated the cemetery in which Jews had been buried for 2,500 years. And who can believe that the Muslim rioters in New York, Paris, and London "fear" the kippah when they scream, "Stop the occupation from the Mediterranean to the Jordan!" or, as they did in Fort Lauderdale the other day, "Bring back the ovens!"

Aside from the unfairness of Dean Schulman's characterizations, it is striking how unconcerned she is about the impact words have in undermining Israel, while enabling her detractors. It is as if her aim were to give aid and comfort to Israel's enemies.

Surely, only those who are distraught over the horrors committed against Israel, have the right to criticize her response, particularly when she acts to defend her very existence.

Hadassah Linfield
Monroe

'Anti-Zionist' is code for 'anti-Jewish'

Anti-Semitism has raised its ugly head throughout the world. The pictures and commentary disseminated by the media regarding the current conflict in Gaza have strengthened the will of those who wish to destroy Israel.

The term anti-Zionist has become a code word for anti-Jewish. Throughout my 35 years as a rabbi and writer I have urged people to never forget the Holocaust. There are those who criticized me for speaking too much about the Holocaust and urged me to "go on with my life." Many of the comments I am hearing now regarding the Jewish people are similar to those my parents, of blessed memory, survivors of the Holocaust, heard in Poland before the Nazi invasion. The truth is, if we do not learn from history, history will repeat itself.

Hamas is an Iranian-backed terrorist organization that aims to destroy Israel through Jihad, holy war. The president of Iran tells the world that the Holocaust never happened. If the Holocaust has taught the Jewish people any lesson it is that we must speak out when we are threatened with destruction. Most of the world, and particularly the United Nations, remained silent as more than 6,400 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel since the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. War is terrible; innocent people die on both sides. The world stood silent as six million Jews perished, including one and a half million children.

If a strong Israel had existed 70 years ago, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings would not have burned in the crematoriums of Europe.

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Rabbi, Cong. Beth El, Edison; Professor, Yeshiva Univ., N.Y.

Give the Vaad deserved benefit of doubt

I must share my dismay at reading Mark Epstein's letter (Jan. 2, 2009) in which he publicly and without shame points a finger at the Vaad HaRabbonim. The rabbis on the Vaad are our rabbis — the spiritual leaders of our synagogues, our teachers, counselors, and consolers. Each and every one of them serves this entire community selflessly, sacrificing untold hours working for our benefit beyond the immediate responsibilities of their own congregations. I can say from personal experience that every one of our communal rabbonim are Torah scholars of the highest caliber who are willing in an instant to lend a hand, answer a question, or assist someone in need regardless of synagogue affiliation or personal hashgafah (religious attitude). To accuse them of personal agendas, poor judgment, and worse is just inexcusable.

Let's be clear: the members of the Vaad are incredibly sensitive to protecting the unity of our community. Where else do rabbis walk across town on Shavuot night to lecture in other's synagogues? The Vaad's kashrus supervision is not done for financial gain or profit. It is for the community's benefit, and the rabbis take no compensation for it. Can you contemplate how many hours of uncompensated time are selflessly committed to provide this service?

The Vaad as a whole has decided not to certify Shushan Grill and I guarantee that the rabbonim have more knowledge of halakha, kashrus supervision, and the facts surrounding this decision than those who criticize them. The fact is that different kashrus agencies have different policies and requirements. Mr. Epstein does not consider that each rav is the mora d'asra (legal decisor) for his synagogue, and sets the kashrus policy for his synagogue. To say that rabbonim who do not allow Shushan Grill to cater in the synagogue "essentially labels it and Rabbi Blech's supervision trief" is an astounding twist of logic. Is Kof K Carvel ice cream treif because it is cholov stam and would not be allowed in the Agudath Israel? Would a Hassidic rabbi label Empire chicken treif if he required chassidishe shechita for his shtieble? God forbid that a person could even think this way!

The cavalier attitude of denigrating Torah scholars is simply astounding. The accusations of those who criticize the Vaad are a painful reminder of similar accusations and rumors that circulated years ago when the eruv was under repair. Woe to us that we have not learned our lesson! It is not the Vaad, God forbid, that causes disunity in the community. Rather, it is an unwillingness of some in our community to give the Vaad the benefit of doubt that it rightly deserves.

Dr. Eliot Kusnetz
Highland Park