(Via E-Mail)
Netanyahu’s Modest Proposal (II)
Shlomo Greenwald’s op-ed was an articulate, well-written article that made me think – and consequently agree.
Well done!
Dodi Lee Lamm
(Via JewishPress.com)
Netanyahu’s Modest Proposal (III)
It is my fervent belief that until the Arabs agree to allow Jews to live in this proposed new state there can be no peace. This agreement would be evidence of a true wish for peace.
William Lewis (Zev) Wexler
(Via JewishPress.com)
All Things In Moderation
Re Sara Lehmann’s Feb. 14 “Right Angle” column (“Conservatives Not Welcome in New York?”):
While understanding many of Ms. Lehmann’s problems with New York City’s liberal agenda, I take offense to her objection to what she describes as “the draconian gun-control bill rammed through the New York legislature soon after the Newton massacre.”
As a psychologist working at a corrections facility, I see first hand the devastating effects of the easy accessibility to firearms, especially among the juvenile population. This access is rampant in many inner city neighborhoods where guns and drugs seem to go hand in hand as both accepted and expected possessions.
What I also find revolting is when mentally unstable individuals somehow are given access to guns and other lethal weapons with which, not surprisingly, they commit the vilest criminal acts.
That is why I am a very strong advocate of strict gun control laws and personally believe that only those who work in law enforcement or other security-related jobs or live in rural areas populated by wild animals should be permitted to bear arms. For everyone else, easy access to firearms – especially without proper training and regardless of mental stability and appropriateness – is a prescription for the kind of disaster we have witnessed on all too many occasions.
For these reasons I am dismayed with Ms. Lehman’s embrace of the “right to bear arms,” which she ironically seems to juxtapose with the “right to life” (which to me is the direct opposite).
But what I find most disturbing about people like Ms. Lehmann is that, in their eagerness to subscribe to a particular agenda, they become ideologues who filter out whatever aspects of their agenda may not be so appropriate.
As a true independent (not to mention a Torah-abiding Jew), she should realize that not everything endorsed by conservatives is so appealing, just as not everything subscribed to by liberals is so repulsive. Other examples, besides our much-too-lax gun control laws, include the conservatives’ position on environmental issues and their lack of sensitivity to the underprivileged. I feel the so-called liberal agenda in these areas are more compatible with our Torah values.
Unfortunately, in our current extremely polarized environment everything is viewed as black and white and there is little room for more nuanced thinking. For these reasons I do not subscribe to either the conservative or the liberal agenda but feel there is a need for a more moderate agenda that combines the best of conservatism and liberalism.
That would include being very pro-Israel in foreign policy but, on the domestic front, taking a rational approach to guns, the environment, and certain social issues including compassion to those less privileged. This is the agenda I would embrace.
Tzvi Hershkowitz
(Via E-Mail)