Southern Jewish Life

PUBLISHER/EDITOR

Lawrence M. Brook editor@sjlmag.com

ASSOCI ATE PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING

Lee J. Green lee@sjlmag.com

Ma claimed her piece has been taken out of its context, she wasn’t agreeing with Ye per se, but she was explaining where he was coming from. The piece is an extreme interpretation of the Christian ideal to love everyone — enemies included, and in that context it could make sense, had she not taken it to the point of absurdity.

And the part she wrote about how all people are created in the image of God, well, the Christian world got that from our teachings. It isn’t a new concept to us.

Led by the Sokol and Helds, your hard-working volunteers were wonderful. They partnered with your outstanding staff, led by Betzy Lynch, to make the 2017 JCC Maccabi games a huge hit. I want to take this opportunity as executive director of Maccabi USA to say thank you on behalf of everyone involved.

Richard Friedman

V.P SALES/MARKETING, NE W ORLEANS

Jeff Pizzo jeff@sjlmag.com

Jewish teaching is that we’re not instructed to love everyone — that is unrealistic, but we are to be civil and treat people as we would want to be treated. We can acknowledge our common humanity while still realizing that some people go far off the rails, even to the point of wanting to get rid of us.

That said, she still included antisemitic themes in her piece by stating Hollywood is controlled by Jews, erasing Jewish individualism by saying Ye is justified in attributing the sins of Jews who wronged him to “the Jews” as a group because Blacks face that all the time, and saying Jews and Nazis should be united through placement of the swastika inside the Star of David.

I had just returned from the 20th World Maccabiah games in Israel with a U.S. delegation of over 1100, who joined 10,000 Jewish athletes from 80 countries. Back in July the eyes of the entire Jewish world were on Jerusalem and the Maccabiah. This past month with 1000 athletes and coaches from around the world being in Birmingham, you became the focal point. Everyone from the Jewish community and the community at large, including a wonderful police force, are to be commended. These games will go down in history as being a seminal moment for the Jewish community as we build to the future by providing such wonderful Jewish memories.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ginger Brook ginger@sjlmag.com

SOCIAL/WEB

Emily Baldwein connect@sjlmag.com

PHOTOGRAPHER- AT-LARGE

Rabbi Barry C. Altmark deepsouthrabbi.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jed Margolis Executive Director, Maccabi USA

On Charlottesville

To lecture Jews about how to treat enemies takes particular chutzpah. Every Passover we remember the Egyptians who lost their lives in our quest for freedom. There is also the story of how the angels celebrated when the Israelites reached the other side of the Sea of Reeds and the waters closed in on the pursuing Egyptians. God rebuked the angels, asking how they could celebrate while His children

Editor’s Note: This reaction to the events in Charlottesville, written by Jeremy Newman, Master of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Theta Colony races, and religions were far from equal and far supremacists would like to see pushed back into a corner and made to feel lesser. We stand with and pray for the family of Heather Heyer, who was there standing up to the face of this hate.

College is a time for learning before hitting the “real world,” such as it is. Mistakes are made and learned from. One would hope that eventually, Ma will look back on that article, cringe and wonder what she was thinking in writing it.

Regardless, one thing must be emphasized in this sorry episode — any death threats or other threats to her physical safety are reprehensible and unjustifiable. They should be investigated and, if credible, prosecuted.

Just as antisemitism should be beyond the pale, so too are death threats. They have become an all too frequent part of public life, and it is time action is taken to reinstate a deterrence against making them.

Rivka Epstein, Louis Crawford, Tally Werthan, Stuart Derroff, Belle Freitag, Ted Gelber, E. Walter Katz, Doug Brook brookwrite.com

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We recognize the essence of the American narrative as a two-century old struggle to rid ourselves of such corners, and allow those in them the seat at the table that they so deserve. It is the struggle to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal… endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” We know our work is far from finished, but we know we will not move backwards.

And from a practical standpoint, they enable the target to play the role of victim, a martyr for freedom.

Free speech is not an absolute. Were we to make up some ghastly story about Ma’s past, we would quickly have a lawyer knocking on our office door. One also cannot incite violence. This publication can refuse a submitted article and it isn’t a “freedom of speech” issue.

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When men and women, fully armed, take to the streets in droves with swastikas and other symbols of hate, it is a reminder of how relevant the issues of racism and anti-Semitism are today. It is a wake-up call to the work that needs to be done to ensure a better, more welcoming country. But it should not come without a reflection on how far we’ve come.

The flipside to free speech is the freedom to react to said speech, and often that is done with disapproval. State an unpopular position, expect negative responses.

It is imperative that as many people as possible from varied backgrounds push back and let it be known that Ye’s views are wrong and unacceptable — and that the pushback be done in a responsible manner.

It has always been our goal to provide a large-community quality publication to all communities of the South. To that end, our commitment includes mailing to every Jewish household in the region (AL, LA, MS, NW FL), without a subscription fee

(Our coverage of both incidents can be found online at sjlmag.com)

Lawrence Brook, Publisher/Editor

America was born a slave nation. A century into our history we engaged in a war in part to ensure we would not continue as one. We found ourselves confronted by the issue of civil rights, and embarked on a mission to ensure the fair treatment of all peoples no matter their skin color. Although we’ve made great strides, it is a mission we’re still grappling with today.

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Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission from the publisher. Views expressed in SJL are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. SJL makes no claims as to the Kashrut of its advertisers, and retains the right to refuse any advertisement.

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America was also born an immigrant country. As early as the pilgrims, many groups and families found in the country the opportunity to plant stakes, chase their future, and be themselves. Few were met with open

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