opinions & letters
Reflections two years later
Mike Weiss via Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
By Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers AS LONG AS WE LIVE we will never forget the lives of those we lost in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life * Or L'Simcha building on Oct. 27, 2018. We will never forget who we were with and what we were doing, how we responded and what we have done to honor these beloved martyrs of our community. As we commemorate one of the most significant events of our lives, we still grieve, we still remember, we still survive in a time that continues to challenge us in ways we never imagined. Despite these challenges, we will continue to reach out to teach each other about hope, love and community. Are we better as a nation two years later? While I cannot lessen the impact of more than 200,000 COVID-related deaths in the United States alone, I have learned that during times of trauma, people’s authenticity inevitably rises to the surface. If you are innately a good person, you will find ways to utilize your goodness to help better the lives of others. In the days and weeks following the Oct. 27 attack that killed 11 worshippers from three congregations, strangers from across the globe offered condolences, prayers, encouragement and even lengthy, handwritten letters pouring out their tears. As we approach the second year commemoration, good people once again reach out,
offering continued support, reminding us that they have not forgotten. I still believe that deep down the vast majority of humanity is composed of good people. They reject all forms of “H” (that word is eliminated from my vocabulary), bigotry, racism, and the all too frequent violent acts that often accompany these words. Perhaps during periods of great stress, who we really are is seen in full view, stripped of all pretense and protective gear. Studies have shown that during great stressors throughout history, antiSemitism rises. When coupled with so much else occurring in America at this time, some might suggest that it’s no surprise that the proverbial pot is boiling over. Social unrest. Pandemic. Political upheaval. Economic stress. Serious divisiveness. All at once we find ourselves coping with these entrenched daily travails on top of the indelible mark that Oct. 27 left on each of us. Despite it all, we remain resilient and resolute in moving forward with our lives, with plans to rebuild our synagogue as well as our dreams. There are plenty of helpers out there and we should look to them, in a reference to the famous advice Mister Rogers’ mother gave him as a child when things were upsetting. We, too, must be Please see Reflections, page 26
What’s really not accurate
As a patriotic, freedom-loving American Jew, I was outraged and deeply offended by Sonny Taragin’s (“Not accurate,” Oct. 2) characterization of the Charlottesville Unite the Right “Jews Will Not Replace Us” rally as just being about the removal or retention of “statues of controversial American heroes of the past.” “Heroes”? Chob mir a break. These individuals, as Clifford Fishman noted (same issue, “After the Confederate statues, are Washington and Jefferson next?”), were traitors who took up arms against their country in the interests of preserving slavery. Of course, President Trump would claim that there were “good people on both sides.” What do you expect from an individual who cheats when it comes to tzedakah? This consideration alone should be dispositive as to why no Jew with a conscience could support his reelection. As to President Trump’s so-called pro-Israel bent: Keep in mind, as has been publicly acknowledged (Aug. 18, Times of Israel), the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was a ploy intended to appeal to his evangelical Christian base, rather than, say, being done out of any love for Jewish people. Brad Shaw Clarksville
Is the Talmud next?
There is a Jewish angle to Clifford Fishman’s cogent analysis of “After the Confederate Statues, are Washington and Jefferson next?” (Oct 2). 1. Jews fared better in the Confederacy than they did in the Union. Judah B. Benjamin rose to become a very high-ranking official in Jefferson Davis' cabinet, and it was Union General Ulysses Grant who issued the infamous Order No. 11. 2. There were rabbis in the Talmud who were slave owners, and the Tanach accepts slavery as a valid social institution (although, to be sure, “slavery” in the Tanach is not a monolithic enterprise, and the slavery of the Bible is more comparable to indentured servitude than the chattel slavery of the antebellum American South). As a matter of moral consistency: If slave-holding is an automatic disqualifier in the Black Lives Matter era, what should be done about the Talmud? Tear out the pages where the rabbinic slavers are featured? Declare null and void the halachic rulings in which they participated? Of course not. Like Presidents Washington and Jefferson, in Fishman’s words, “we should celebrate their accomplishments” while acknowledging “their sins and their flaws, their mistakes and weaknesses and moral blindness.” Roy Amadeus Annapolis Letters should be related to articles that have run in the print or online editions of the JT, and may be edited for space and clarity prior to publication. Please include your first and last name, as well your town/neighborhood of residence. Send letters to editor@jewishtimes.com or Baltimore Jewish Times, 11459 Cronhill Drive, Suite A, Owings Mills, MD 21117, or submit them online at jewishtimes.com/letters-to-the-editor.
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