New Appreciation For Dr. Seuss (I)
I had learned in college that Alice in Wonderland and also Gulliver’s Travels were examples of social commentary in the guise of children’s stories. I knew nothing about Dr. Seuss, hadn’t read his books, and didn’t even give them to my children, as I had other books for them.
I was therefore educated and enlightened by Saul Jay Singer’s “Dr. Seuss and the Jews” (front page essay, Feb. 5). I plan to do my own research on Theodor Seuss Geisel now that my appetite was stimulated by Mr. Singer’s informative article.
Lois Greene Stone
(Via E-Mail)
New Appreciation For Dr. Seuss (II)
While I have long been a fan of Dr. Seuss and his works, I was unaware of his efforts to challenge anti-Semitism and also the scope of the satire that underlay his stories.
Kudos to Saul Singer and The Jewish Press for such a delightful and important article.
Seth Glass
(Via E-Mail)
Psychiatrists Overrepresented Among BDS Doctors
Re “BDS Doctors Violate the Hippocratic Oath” (op-ed, Feb. 5):
I found a list of those seventy-one British doctors who signed the letter in support of boycotting Israel. A disproportionate number of them are psychiatrists, leading me to wonder whether mental illness is in fact a contagious disease.
Michoel Hirsch
Jerusalem
Coexistence At The Kotel (I)
Re “Kotel Prayer Decision Reflects Shifting Israel-Diaspora Paradigm” (front page news story, Feb. 5):
We might make something positive from this as R. Akiva did with the fox on the Temple Mount. We know that Hashem prefers us to be unified. We also know that we are a stiff-necked people – that means all of us, including Conservative and Reform Jews.
In my opinion, it is better to have them next door to us – separated, yes, but close nevertheless. We need to unify and teach others when they are ready to be taught. The mechitzah issue has been around for a long while, but the time is very close when all these issues will be resolved by Mashiach.
Why add division when we need unity? We are all Hashem’s children. Honey is better than vinegar. We can coexist.
Martin Cury
(Via E-Mail)
Coexistence At The Kotel (II)
I fully understand that Israeli officials were in a quandary over the clamor raised by non-Orthodox movements to pray at the Kotel their way. I suppose some non-Orthodox Jews really did feel left out, and alienating any Jew from the Jewish state is not a good thing.
However, while this particular accommodation may have been the least intrusive on our traditions given the distance of the new area from the Kotel proper, I am concerned that it may become a slippery slope by validating the idea that change brings with it its own form of legitimacy.
Women have been accorded separate places for prayer not because of political considerations but because to have it otherwise would have done violence to halacha in order to accommodate what is essentially a political movement. We must be clear that in this instance Jewish law was not bent due to political considerations but was actually within halachic parameters in terms of activities considered acceptable in close proximity to the Kotel.
Yerachmiel Brod
(Via e-Mail)
Rav Belsky
I commend The Jewish Press for its tasteful and respectful coverage of the death of HaRav Chaim Yisroel Belsky. It was a Kiddush Hashem in every sense of the word. From the page 3 news story to your moving editorial, the true nature of this Adom Gadol and what he meant to Klal Yisrael were eloquently depicted.