Jewish News Letters
Misguided Criticism Of UJIA's Efforts
Dear Sir
While your letter writer Adrian Korsner is clearly free to direct his charitable donations in whichever way he pleases, I believe he is misguided in his objections to causes supported by UJIA (Jewish News, 12 October).
In my opinion, UJIA should be commended for its attempts to back greater social justice in Israel.
Mr Korsner's assertion that "Arabs have plenty of organisations to help them" is untrue.
Many Arab villages, on both sides of the Green Line, have no running water or mains electricity. Surely all Jewish News readers agree this is a disgrace in the 21st century.
By working towards equality between Jewish and Arab citizens of the state of Israel, the UJIA is contributing towards greater cooperation between communities and a better future for all concerned.
The UJIA may well have been set up to "inspire Jewish youth and take them on trips to Israel", but any such organisation is entitled to revise its mission to account for changing circumstances, which is exactly what it has done.
I urge all Jewish News readers to continue supporting the good work of this charity.
Alan Lewis
NW4
Dear Sir
Mr Korsner is entitled to his view on UJIA's charitable programmes, and is free to express his opinion in a letter to this newspaper.
However, he is not entitled to portray himself as a current donor to UJIA when his last donation was in fact dated 2008.
He should not mislead your readers in order to make his point; one with which I and many others profoundly disagree.
James Burchell
UJIA Campaign Chairman
Radlett
A High Birth Rate Among Orthodox
Dear Sir
Oh, Mr Martin Stern and his trivial population numbers game (Jewish News, 12 October).
The fact that the "strictly Orthodox" community is now seeing their numbers grow is, as your letter writer implies, on account of reproduction. It is certainly not because mainstream Jews are joining them in droves.
Being born into an ideology and way of life is not a matter of conviction, especially when one has known nothing else.
That suggests why the "strictly Orthodox" world has to be so insulated, otherwise their children would be prone to going "off the derech" (which does happen).
In any case, despite their large families, they still constitute a minority among Jewry.
So how, according to Mr Stern, is a high birth-rate an expression of Jewish self-confidence? What confidence does it take to render one's wife a constant baby-machine?
It is not exactly unique to Jews. The Chinese and Africans, for example, have also managed to work out how it is done.
Raphael Albert
By email
Dear Sir
In this tough economic climate, many jobs are at risk. Unless people are willing to live off the state (where it is a way of life for many in Hackney), I urge readers to ignore the advice of your Ask The Rabbi column (Jewish News, 12 October) which urged one particular reader to ignore instinct and have more children. This Succot I witnessed Hatzola requesting food for two religious destitute people. It will only get worse.
M Dehaan
N14
Past Letters' pages
- Pure nostalgia cut short by criticism
- Dear Sir
Reading councillor Brian Gordon's column (The United Synagogue should stop flapping, Jewish News, 22 September), brought back happy memories of my childhood at South West London District Synagogue in the 1950s, when the honorary officers did indeed wear pin-stripe trousers and top hats.
- Thursday 6th 2011f October 2011 - Status quo is the only option left for israel
- Dear Sir
Sir Malcolm Rifkind's comments (Jewish News, 15 September) regarding the Palestinian Authority's attempt to gain UN membership status, appear to be incredibly naive and superficial - most disturbing when coming from an eminent politician who has held senior ministerial rank. - Tuesday 27th 2011f September 2011 - Divided Libya is set to repeat history - I fear Raphael Luzon ('Go Back to Libya? Why Not?', Jewish News, 25 August.) is over-optimistic in his hopes for the future of Libya. - Thursday 22nd 2011f September 2011
- Students facing a holy day clash
- Dear Sir
This summer saw a record number of students missing out on university places, in addition to a significant rise in university fees. - Thursday 15th 2011f September 2011 - Thanks For Helping Me Fight Cancer
- Dear Sir
I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphona. With no family to depend on I put an appeal for support on the Edgware community website. - Thursday 14th 2011f July 2011 - Rabbi Mirvis’s Gift of the Blarney
- Dear Sir
Your columnist Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (Jewish News, 23 June) has the gift of the blarney to claim Ireland has provided a benign environment for Jews. I write this as a non-Jewish Irishman who has lived in north-west London for more than 30 years.
During the Nazi period, the Irish Free State slammed its doors shut on Jewish refugees. According to a history of the Jews in 20th-century Ireland by Professor Dermot Keogh, fewer than 100 were all-owed to enter the "friendly Emerald Isle". Irish civil servants feared providing Jews with a safe haven would inflame the anti-Semitic prejudices of the general population.
In 1945, Eamon de Valera, the Irish President, offered condolences to the German people on the death of Hitler. I believe the Jewish people are overdue an apology for that, but am afraid there are still Irish people who believe it was an essential expression of Irish neutrality and independence.
Viewed in this context, is it surprising Ireland was the last European democracy to recognise Israel? It led the way in hailing the PLO as the "sole representative of the Palestinian people", at a time when it openly called for the Jewish state's destruction.
According to my family and friends in Dublin, and what I saw myself during my last visit, Rabbi Mirvis is sadly correct to say the urge to boycott Israel is infecting Irish civil society. But cold indifference and outright hostility to Jewish interests has been firmly established on Irish soil for many generations.
I am no self-hating Irishman and acknowledge with pride those few Irish individuals who have stood beside the Jews, particularly in times of need.
However, far from being uniquely benign, it is my view the Irish Republic offers a chilling example of how anti-Semitism can exist at the highest levels of a state without that many Jews.
C Brookes
By email - Thursday 7th 2011f July 2011 - - Thursday 30th 2011f June 2011
- - Thursday 23rd 2011f June 2011
- - Thursday 16th 2011f June 2011
