Letters to the Editor, February 7, 2024: Business as usual

Business as usual

Regarding “Gaza doctor describes his ordeal of being detained by the IDF” (February 5): Cry me a river! If this doctor from Gaza was detained by the IDF, it was for a good reason. I don’t feel sorry for him one bit. I do feel sorry for the 136 hostages still being kept prisoner by Hamas, assaulted and tortured daily, forcibly kept away from their families and loved ones.

Those people might not ever see the light of day again. But for Dr. Maarouf, as the accompanying photo clearly illustrates, he is back at work, business as usual, looking pretty healthy to me. Doc, don’t expect any sympathy from us.

CHANA PINTO

Tel Mond

Keep our wits

Regarding “Talk of Palestinian state so soon after Oct. 7 is surreal” (February 5): In 1947, the UN voted on the partition of the geographical area known as Palestine. Israel accepted what was a very unfavorable offer, and the other side rejected a much more generous one and have done so consistently ever since.

Einstein is said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So, please, let us keep our wits about us and not be influenced by the insanity of others, who are not directly affected by the outcome.

FANNY MYERS

Beit Zayit

Unity is crucial

Regarding “Resettlement dream or reckless damage” (February 4): Daniel Goldman makes an excellent argument that the cries for resettling Gaza at this time is untimely, as it causes fissures among our people during the war. The majority of Israelis oppose this idea and unity is crucial as we continue to make progress in eliminating Hamas as the controlling force in Gaza.

However the same argument should be made regarding a political change of government and calling for Prime Minister Netanyahu to resign at this time. That is true for the protesters as well as this newspaper, which featured this subject on the cover of its weekly magazine. There will be time enough to assign blame and discussions of changes in government, but this should not take place until the two goals of replacing the Hamas rule and returning the hostages have been achieved. Until then, “together we will win” should be the banner that conducts our behavior.

FRED EHRMAN

Ra’anana

Nothing better to do

It is quite unbelievable that the great United States of America, with its multifarious complicated diplomatic problems in Iraq, Iran, Taiwan, North Korea, Afghanistan, and of course the Soviet Union and China, has nothing better to do than to place economic sanctions on four young residents of Judea and Samaria whose sole aim is to bring about the cessation of the regular murderous attacks on Jewish civilians by bands of terrorists (“Far-right politicians slam: Banks heed US anti-settler sanctions move,” February 6).

Wielding its enormous financial power, the US administration has also cowered our local banks into submission so that these four individuals have had their access denied to any money, savings, or investments which they may have accumulated to provide for the future of their families. There was no discussion, no legal hearings, no court procedure, no right of self-defense – just plain and simple unilateral deprivation of their financial rights in their own country.

(I wonder if the bank has also canceled their mortgages.)

Shame on Bank Leumi for its spineless cowardice. I hope that there will be a wide response by all account holders, who may be moved to rethink and reorganize their banking relationships.

LAURENCE BECKER

Jerusalem

Valuable lesson

As president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism, I want to strongly commend Alan Freishtat, director of the Wellness Clinic, for his honesty in discussing his recent heart attack (“The coach’s heart attack: Part 2,” January 30). One might justifiably wonder how one who promises that following his advice will add years to our lives can have a heart  attack.

Freishtat is frank in discussing the reasons. He writes that for “the first 33 years of my life I was a pretty terrible eater.” He grew up “eating the standard American diet (SAD)... [and] animal proteins like meat and chicken were daily fare.” When he shifted to a far better diet, he initially cheated: “I still ate pizza, occasional meat, way too much chicken, and loved cheesy things in general.” Unfortunately, Freishtat’s shift to a whole foods plant-based diet, free from meat and with a minimum of processed foods, and adequate exercise, was not enough to prevent his heart attack, but it likely resulted in it being relatively mild.

Freishtat’s experience can be a valuable lesson to all of us. Please don’t wait until it is too late. Shift now to a mainly and preferably completely plant-based diet and get adequate exercise. Many peer-reviewed, respected medical studies reinforce this recommendation.

Of course, besides reducing your risks of suffering from life-threatening diseases, the recommended changes to a plant-based diet would also reduce animal suffering, climate change, and other environmental threats, the wasteful use of energy, water, land, and other resources, widespread hunger, and the potential for future pandemics.

RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ

Shoresh

Effective leadership

In reporting on the historic reconciliation opportunity the Reform Movement’s leaders recognized at their December conference in Washington (“Reform Judaism’s historic opportunity,” February 2), Zvika Klein notes that “sensitivity, humility, and honesty from all sides, within the American Jewish community and between Israeli Jews and American Jews” is required.

Just as Israel needs to fulfill its long overdue commitment to have a constitution, the Reform Movement needs to update its organic documents and principles; its 1937 Columbus Platform, which specifically touts itself as “a guide for the progressive elements of Jewry,” can no longer give effective guidance to an organization that has begun to awaken to the hostility and deceit of current progressive thought and action.

More dauntingly, just as Israel now needs new individuals to step into the shoes of its failed leaders, the Reform Movement, whose leaders have shunned, ostracized, and denigrated their own who have not towed the progressive line, also needs new leadership. This is problematic on both sides because individuals in leadership positions typically resist stepping aside when they can no longer give effective leadership.

There are many, myself included, who fear that the cognitive dissonance now experienced by the progressives in the Reform Movement might eventually give way to their deep-seated self-perceived needs to “be accepted” by those who have turned upon them.

I nevertheless hope that all sides will work toward seizing the opportunity now before us.

KALMAN H. RYESKY 

Petah Tikva