Letters to the Editor
The Interfaith Alliance
I read with interest your interview with Rabbi
Jack Moline, Chairman of the Board of the Interfaith Alliance. As he noted,
the Interfaith Alliance "addresses the relationship between religious faith,
government and politics," and is dedicated to keeping the realms of religion and
politics healthy and separate from each other. In the case of The Interfaith
Alliance of Pennsylvania, the statewide Pennsylvania affiliate, we are
particularly interested in networking people throughout the state to protect the
realms of religion and politics from being used to manipulate each other. Our
specific focus is on localized or statewide issues in Pennsylvania, or on
national issues where Pennsylvania may make a difference.
It must say something about the sensitivity of our Jewish community to these
issues that the board of The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania is also chaired
by a rabbi. I am a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College outside
of Philadelphia. After several years of being a rabbi in the Harrisburg area I
helped to establish a statewide affiliate of the national movement.
As your interview brought forth, we are centered in Harrisburg where so much in
the world of Pennsylvania politics is centered. We have a growing network of
members across the state, from Pittsburgh to the Poconos and from Erie to
Philadelphia. The question was asked but not answered as to how people in the
Philadelphia area could become more involved. We are now beginning to identify
geographic clusters of members that we can connect with each other so they can
get to know each other and speak out when needed. Local membership clusters
could coordinate with us in Harrisburg and others across the state, but would
not have to create or sustain a separate organization. Any of your readers
interested in connecting with us could
contact me.
-- Rabbi Carl Choper, President, The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, PA
Excommunication of Bishop Williamson
As a Catholic Christian, the lifting of the excommunication of Bishop Williamson,
the Holocaust denier, greatly saddened me, though I was very glad to see the
widespread moral outrage against the Pope’s decision especially in Germany. The
answer is clear. Official church teaching condemns anti-Semitism (Nostra Aetate
4). The Pope must see to the rehabilitation of Williamson, or alternatively,
condemn, silence, or again excommunicate the bishop. Certainly an apology to the
Jews, our fellow Catholics and every caring and knowledgeable person is in
order.
-- John Adams, Swarthmore, PA
I don't know if Pope Benedict XVI is anti-Semitic because I have never met him
and discussed his political and religious views. But when a former member of the
Hitler Youth welcomes an excommunicated Holocaust deniar back into the church it
certainly doesn't make him look "pro-Semitic".
-- Chuck Mann, Greensboro, NC
In Favor of Vegetarianism
Thank you for publishing Gabrielle Loeb's
compelling piece about the importance -- and
ease -- of vegetarian diets. Jews across America and across the world are
realizing that choosing vegetarian foods reduces the suffering of farmed
animals, alleviates human health problems, and is better for the environment.
Proverbs 12:10 teaches that "The righteous person regards the life of his
animal." In today's world, the overwhelming majority of animals raised for food
are confined on massive factory farms where they're subjected to miserable
conditions and unbelievable cruelties.
As humans, we have a special obligation to protect the rights of those who cannot
speak for themselves. As a Jew -- a member of an historically persecuted
religious minority -- I feel that obligation especially strongly every day.
There's no better way to defend animals than to leave them off our dinner
plates.
-- Max Fischlowitz-Roberts, Waltham, MA
Bravo to Teen Voice writer Gabrielle J. Loeb
for pointing out why an ever-growing number of people are going vegetarian (Why
You Should Become A Vegetarian, February). Jewish law mandates that animals be
treated with compassion and respect, yet there is nothing kind or merciful about
the treatment of animals in kosher slaughterhouses. In fact, an undercover
investigator from PETA recently caught workers at Agriprocessors—the world’s
largest kosher slaughterhouse—illegally hacking out the tracheas of conscious
cattle. See www.HumaneKosher.com to
watch PETA’s footage from Agriprocessors and other kosher slaughterhouses, and
for information on great-tasting, kosher-certified mock meats and other
vegetarian foods.
-- Philip Schein, Senior Researcher, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
Norfolk, VA
Praise for Asher Lev
The Arden Theater production of Aaron Posner's play
"My Name is Asher Lev" is a magnificent experience. My wife and I enjoyed
the production with friends this past February 14. With a stripped down cast,
that represents an entire community of characters with three actors, the
audience is expected to do as much work to introduce the characters as the
actors. Reader's of Chaim Potok's novel who expect to passively re-experience
the multiple refractions of Potok's adult narrator recalling his childhood
points of view, and reflecting on them with his adult perspective, will find
that they will have to supply some of their own context. The play seems more
designed to pique the interest of its audience to go out and buy the book.
The repertory theater approach which the Arden takes to the story has Adam Heller
playing multiple characters: Asher's father, Aryeh Lev; Asher's spiritual
leader, the Ladover Rebbe; and Asher's art master, Jacob Kahn. In the script,
Heller is identified simply as "Man." This -- even in the program -- is a
simplification of the adult males in Asher's world. Important people like Yudel
Krinsky, whom I was dying to see materialize, or Asher's school principal (the
mashpia), never appear. While we sense the social conflicts between Asher's
community culture and his artistic culture in the play, it was simply impossible
to represent the full intellectual, artistic, and religious conflicts in 90
minutes of one-act theater, spanning almost twenty years. Heller's acting is a
tour de force.
Equally hard work is the repertory approach which Gabra Zackman must master to
represent her collage of characters (Woman): she must act both as Asher's chaste
Hasidic mother, and as a passive nude model in Jacob Kahn's studio; she must act
as the secular gallery-owner Schaeffer, with a more aggressive point of view,
and more confrontational relationship to the artist. The quick contrasts only
suggest the more forceful conflicts which Asher the book narrator can
discursively imagine for the reader in more serious detail. Zackman's acting is
equally multifaceted and worthwhile.
Karl Miller's part as Asher drifts in and out of his role as narrator, a
difficult feat of representation. Beginning as a small pre-school child, but
played as an adult, Miller must squat to represent his diminutive size. It is a
difficult role, reminding me of Salinger's "The Laughing Man," moving back and
forth across the Paris-Chinese border. Miller allows us to see the artist grow
as an intellect, and from boy into man, even if we cannot see the depths and
complexity of Asher's conflicts, that Potok is able to portray in the full
novel.
My advice: see the play,
then read the
book.
Enjoy.
-- Ben Burrows, Elkins Park, PA
The Philadelphia Jewish Voice welcomes the
submission
of articles and letters to the editor
letters @ pjvoice.com. Please include name, address
and phone number for identification purposes. We cannot publish every submission
we receive. We also reserve the right to edit submissions for length, clarity,
grammar, accuracy, and style, though we will never intentionally distort the
author's intent.
Acting Editor-in-chief Daniel Loeb
publisher @ pjvoice.com.
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