Israel Parade Is For All Of Us
Reader Avi Goldstein continues to pursue his unhelpful campaign of divisiveness by attempting to exclude groups from the Celebrate Israel parade that offend some Orthodox Jews (Letters, May 9). Once again, fighting a culture war is more important to him than celebrating Israel.
Goldstein’s campaign is wrongheaded for many reasons. In addition to being needlessly divisive when there is already too much division in the Jewish community, it is illogical. Goldstein claims that by marching alongside LGBT groups, Orthodox groups “legitimize” their behavior.
This is nonsense. The Celebrate Israel parade is not the Orthodox Parade, the Conservative Parade, the Gay Parade, or even the Jewish parade. It is the Israel parade. We attend to celebrate Israel. When Avi Goldstein marches alongside the group from the Jewish Theological Seminary, he is not “legitimizing” egalitarianism. When he marches alongside a Reform congregation, he is not “legitimizing” patrilineal descent. When I march alongside a right-wing yeshiva, I am not “legitimizing” their practices of gender separation or their views on non-haredi Jews. I’m celebrating our common love of Israel.
Frankly, it’s deeply ironic for a person who claims to love Israel to attempt to exclude groups whose practices differ from what the religious world considers Torah-true values. Israel is a country with one of the most vibrant gay communities in the world. Israel itself promotes that community as a sign of Israeli openness and tolerance, in contrast with Israel’s neighbors.
So perhaps Goldstein should call for the exclusion of the Israeli Consulate and Israeli Mission as well, since both promote a lifestyle practice he disagrees with.
Michael Brenner
Brooklyn, NY
Depriving A Girl Of Her Jewish Education
A few weeks ago my father-in-law gave a talk to a group of high school students about his experiences in the Holocaust. This was not an unusual event; he has spoken to many groups over the years, in yeshivot and other religious institutions. What made this particular speech different is that this time he was addressing a group of public school students.
Afterward, many students raised their hands to ask questions. One student asked him, “After all the terrible things that happened to you, how were you still able to believe in God?” His answer was beautiful and poignant. He replied that through all the atrocities he witnessed and experienced, he felt God was with him. He described more than one instance where it seemed certain he would be killed, yet he was not.
He added that he believes God had a plan for him, and he proudly announced that his five children and sixteen grandchildren are his testament that Hitler could never extinguish the Jewish people.
The irony of this story is that the student who asked this question was my daughter – his own granddaughter. After attending yeshiva from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, she is now in public school. She was not accepted by her home school, and the other area schools followed suit and would not accept her either – a situation I detailed last year in a Jewish Press op-ed article (“Rabbis Denied My Daughter a Jewish Education,” Aug. 16, 2013).
She spent this year in a place where she found herself socially isolated, in exile from her peers and the atmosphere she belongs in. In spite of this, she managed to improve her grades, and at this point she is in a much different place both academically and emotionally. Sadly, when she tried applying to another school for next year, the response was the same: sorry, but you are not welcome here either.
My daughter’s question to her grandfather was from her heart. How is a young girl able to continue believing in God when the very people who are meant to promote Jewish learning are excluding her from receiving a Jewish education? How can this be part of God’s plan for a young Jewish girl? How is it possible that, even after working hard to improve herself, the people in control don’t seem to care who she is now, looking only at the issues she had then?