Protecting Children
I would like to commend Susan Alter-Klapperman for her very timely Dec. 20 op-ed article, “Protecting Our Children from Terrorists.”
This is a topic that concerns me greatly. I recently wrote a 40-page guide, “Keep Your School Safe,” which outlines safety and security procedures for schools. More than 10,000 copies were distributed all over North America. It can be downloaded for free at keepyourschoolsafe.com.
To receive a hard copy, e-mail [email protected].
Frank Storch
(Via E-Mail)
Vetting Candidates
Re Dennis Prager’s excellent op-ed article “The Most Damaging President We’ve Ever Had” (Dec. 20):
Why did anyone think Barack Obama would make a good president in the first place? Would anyone hire an engineer without engineering experience, an accountant without accounting experience or a programmer without programming experience? Of course not. Then why would anyone think someone with experience in practically nothing would make a good president?
Ironically, many of the same people who voted for Obama thought Sarah Palin would not make a good vice president. If being governor of a state does not qualify one to become vice president, what in Obama’s background qualified him to become president?
With Obama’s lack of experience and radical background he probably couldn’t get a high-level job or security clearance in many corporations. That he had no problem becoming president tells us we need a vetting process for presidential candidates that goes beyond merely citizenship, age and residency.
Josh Greenberger
Brooklyn, NY
Academic Hypocrisy
The blatant hypocrisy of an academic group voting to approve a boycott of Israeli universities is the ultimate betrayal of what academic discourse should be promoting – namely, freedom of expression and liaison (“American Studies Association to Boycott Israel,” news story, Dec. 20).
When challenged that there are countries whose human rights records are far more deserving of the opprobrium heaped on Israel, the president of the ASA, Curtis Marez, offered the inane excuse that “we had to start somewhere.”
It behooves more universities to join the handful that already have refused to be party to such a reprehensible action by an academic consortium.
Fay Dicker
Lakewood, NJ
Two Messages
Rabbis Yehuda Oppenheimer and Aaaron Reichel (Letters, Dec. 20) write approvingly of Nelson Mandela’s belief in forgiveness and reconciliation.
This clashes with King David’s deathbed order to his son, Solomon, to exact retribution against Joab and Shimi for the wrongs they perpetrated against David, and to reward the sons of Barzilai for the good he did to him (1 Melachim 2:5-9).
Which message is superior?
While Mandela’s approach sounds like the New Testament precept to love thy enemy – as if Christians actually practice it – King David’s directive conforms with the distinction between good and evil found in the Hebrew Bible. Would Mandela have forgiven savages who dispatch suicide bombers to slaughter civilians? Doing so makes a mockery of the principle of justice.
On the other hand, Jews believe in hakarat hatov, the duty to recognize the good someone does to you. It is the principle upon which Yad Vashem in Jerusalem honors those deemed Righteous Among the Nations during the Holocaust era.
It is important to comprehend and publicize the authenticity of the Torah’s message of good and evil because we live in a hypocritical, immoral world where the benevolence of Israel is denied while it has become the scapegoat for the world’s evils.
Jacob Mendlovic
Toronto, Canada
Jewish Passivity
Thanks to columnist Sara Lehmann for directing our attention to the critically important issue of Jewish community’s passivity and inertia regarding issues vital to Israel and America (The Right Angle, Dec. 13).
We at Americans for a Safe Israel are well aware that silence is capitulation. We have been going out on the streets for years, carrying our signs and raising our voices, to protest against dangers to Israel and America.