Avoiding clergy burnout

Thank you to Laura Stein for her excellent opinion piece on clergy burnout and how seminaries might better prepare clergy for their own self-care in the field (“We know how to prevent Jewish clergy from burning out. Why aren’t we doing it?” March 9).

While it is important that seminaries prepare us for the field and that we as clergy advocate for our own well-being, the other key partners in this equation are the institutions and organizations that have contractual agreements with clergy. 

After living in the Bay Area for a number of years, I relocated to Los Angeles to study rabbinics, eventually returning to the Bay as an ordained rabbi. For the past 14 years, I have worked in various clergy roles. I have found my passion in my current work as a visiting rabbi to Bay Area congregations, partnering with leaders to prevent clergy burnout.

I tell congregational members that when I show up in their communities, it means that their clergy is resting, taking a break. When lay leadership understands and takes action to support these efforts, it helps to make clergy roles sustainable in our communities. Lay leadership tuning into organizations like Rest of Our Lives (restofourlives.org), which invest in the well-being of nonprofit professionals through rest and rejuvenation, could be transformative for us all. 

Our communities would greatly benefit from a broader and long-overdue conversation with lay leaders and clergy across the entire Jewish ecosystem about how to make our Jewish institutions and organizations the most desirable places to work. And, by the way, it is not just a clergy issue. We also experience a shortage of educators, executive directors and other key staff who help to make for a thriving Jewish community.

Rabbi Susan Leider | Sacramento

A better word than ‘apartheid’?

I’m writing in response to the article “Newsom staff meets with Jewish leaders after ‘apartheid’ comment about Israel” (March 6).

As reported, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently agreed with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times that Israel’s actions in the West Bank are leading Israel down the path of apartheid. Friedman is not wrong. Newsom is not wrong. Israeli settlers, supported by the IDF, are indeed terrorizing Palestinians in the West Bank and chasing them out of Palestinian villages. The IDF is demolishing Palestinian homes at an alarming rate, pushing Palestinians into geographically disconnected towns that are separated by IDF “checkpoints.” This has resulted in the creation of disjointed and economically deprived Palestinian towns — a situation that is strikingly similar to South African black townships during the apartheid era.

You may not like the word “apartheid.” But if this is not the correct word for Israel’s illegal and immoral acts in the West Bank, then what is? And no matter what word you use, does it make these acts any more palatable?

Joel Gerston | Los Altos

Letter on AIPAC was wrong 

I am responding to the totally wrong-headed letter regarding AIPAC (“Newsom highlights AIPAC failure,” letters, March 5).

I have been a member of AIPAC for over 40 years, and I can honestly attest to the fact that AIPAC has not changed its bipartisan, unbiased approach to Israel. AIPAC’s mission statement clearly states that it is bipartisan and that its only objective is to support the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Roberta Zucker | Tiburon

No ‘blood libel’ at Sonoma State

Regarding your Feb. 18 article “Holocaust and Genocide lecture series at Sonoma State adopts new subject: Israel,” I am a longtime Holocaust educator and currently serve on the board and education committee of the Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, a group which supports the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide at Sonoma State and its annual lecture series. We also provide Shoah survivor and second-generation testimony to Bay Area schools. We are proud to support the work of SSU professor Stephen Bittner, who is the director of the center. His bravery in the face of threats, harassment and cowardly doxing inspires us all.

One of your interviewees, Lev Luvishis, describes as a “blood libel” Sonoma State’s academic research into the possibility of genocide in Gaza. Reference to this medieval horror emerges whenever a critic of Israel tries to talk about the death of Palestinian children. I think instead we need to remember the voices of two young girls: Noya Dan, an Israeli killed with her grandmother on Oct. 7, 2023, and Hind Rajab, a Palestinian killed along with many in her family and the ambulance workers trying to rescue her, in the beginning of 2024. We have recordings of both of these girls’ voices shortly before they were killed. Those are the voices that can lead us back to peace and justice in this world infatuated with violence.

Jim McGarry | Pacifica

Iran campaign is justified

Regarding the March 3 article: “CA Dems slam Trump for war against Iran without congressional approval”: What if it is called an undeclared war or a military action instead of war? Is the action of the U.S. and Israel judged on the merits, or judged on hate of President Donald Trump and his supporting Republicans?

To oppose the U.S. and Israel is in effect to support Iran. Iran has been killing Americans, Israelis and oppositional Iranians for 47 years. Iran has supported the proxies of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza; both have fired thousands of rockets into Israel and are cruel, brutal terrorists.

The U.S. and Israel are trying to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons and long-range missiles that could reach the U.S. Iran now has fired at many nearby Arab nations. If the U.S. and Israel are successful, regime change could lead to a long, lasting peace for the entire Middle East. The example is the aftermath of World War II: Unconditional surrender, reconstruction and temporary control of the governments resulted in Germany and Japan becoming long-term peaceful allies of the U.S.

This is a historic time to make a choice, and opposition to the U.S. and Israel may become shameful and embarrassing for a lifetime.

Norman G. Licht | Palo Alto

Newsom highlights AIPAC failure

Concerning Gov. Newsom’s declaration regarding AIPAC (“Gavin Newsom says he never has and ‘never will’ take money from AIPAC,” Feb. 25), it can only be said that his position reflects a massive failure on the part of AIPAC when a few years ago it turned into another political action committee with a Republican slant.

For generations, AIPAC was a nonpartisan, pro-Israel advocacy organization with great influence in Washington that was respected on both sides of the aisle. That is because it informed politicians about Israel so that they could make decisions based on the facts. 

But recent leadership stole AIPAC and its legacy, perverted it, and now it is only known as another Republican political action committee.

Those in leadership at AIPAC should do teshuvah, repentance, both in terms of acknowledging their self-interested errors and in terms of changing AIPAC back to something worthwhile.

After being a supporter of AIPAC for about 50 years, even when I disagreed strongly with Israeli policies, I resigned in 2022 because I thought AIPAC’s change was wrong and because I felt that AIPAC was in fact not honest in saying that the old nonpartisan AIPAC still existed alongside the new AIPAC political action committee.

For all of those 50 years of my membership, I gave more money to AIPAC than I gave to any other public interest organization, Jewish or otherwise. That is how important I thought AIPAC was. But today, I give AIPAC nothing, which is what it deserves.

Lawrence Grossman | Benicia

J.’s Holocaust series coverage

I want to speak up for the many Sonoma County Jews who applaud the Sonoma State Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide for respecting the sentiment “Never Again” in its current context: Never again genocide for anyone.

As J.’s article details (“Holocaust and genocide lecture series at Sonoma State adopts new subject: Israel,” Feb. 18), the center has in recent years hosted international experts not only in the 20th century German mass murder of Jews, but other state-sponsored genocides, in Armenia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Americas and elsewhere. This year, we are proud the center will hear from respected Brown University genocide scholar Omer Bartov, who is one of many experts who contend that Israel is committing a Palestinian genocide.

Saying that Israel, my own people, are committing genocide, makes me distraught. But it doesn’t make me anti-Israel or antisemitic, any more than acknowledging the American genocide of Native Americans makes me anti-American. Nor does it make me ignorant of history, as those quoted in the article would have it.

In fact, the center’s detractors seem ignorant of history. J. reported that “supporters” of the series “don’t want to see the series politicized.” Yet all holocausts are political. They are designed by politicians, supported by laws and enforced by state power.

When Ussama Makdisi, chair of the UC Berkeley Palestinian and Arab Studies program, spoke at the center last year about the Palestinian genocide, he received a standing ovation from a large crowd. Surely J. could have found one person from that audience to interview.

Susan Stern | Santa Rosa

S.F. Mayor Lurie gets it wrong

I agree with Mayor Daniel Lurie that there is no place for antisemitism or hate directed at any group in San Francisco (“S.F. Mayor Daniel Lurie condemns ‘Tax the Jews’ chant heard during protest,” Feb. 26). But he made a grievous error in attributing an antisemitic chant (“Tax the Jews”) to “a group of individuals” from the Democratic Socialists of America who were chanting “Tax the rich.” The antisemitic chant came from a lone woman, who was not part of the DSA demonstration. This has been confirmed on video and by eyewitnesses, as reported in Mission Local.

Mayor Lurie may have made an honest mistake — he was apparently unable to see the demonstrators from the stage — but he needs to publicly correct his misinformed tweet about the chant. His tweet is now being spread by those who seek to smear our city and attack our democratic rights to express dissent. 

False antisemitism claims power the current attacks on free speech, democracy and diversity by the Trump administration. Universities have lost funding. People have been deported. Mayor Lurie needs to change the narrative he started.

David Spero | San Francisco

Column points to father’s articles

My family appreciated your Feb. 13 archives column “From Jamaica to India to Zimbabwe, Jewish newspapers have held us together,” which examined Jewish newspapers from the “periphery of the Jewish diaspora.” The article both enlightened and enlivened our knowledge of Jews around the world and, specifically, my family’s heritage and why Purim represents something timeless for our people. It also led us to discover articles that my father published in 1935.

The column references the Jewish Guild Journal, published in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) between 1919 and the 1930s. I deduced that my father, Chaim Gershater, who was born in Lithuania and immigrated to Bulawayo, likely published in that journal during the 1930s before assuming the role of editor of the Zionist Record in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1943.

Within minutes, our family discovered that the Jewish Guild Journal archives are accessible and searchable online. We quickly found that my father had indeed published numerous articles in this newspaper over the span of a decade, and was on the editorial board. “Why Haman? Why Purim?” was published in April 1935 and remains pertinent today.

A beneficiary of yeshiva preparation, my father was steeped in Torah, Talmud and Yiddishkeit. He also studied history, English and political science. He had a Sholem Aleichem brand of wry humor. In his article, he writes of the power of Jewish satire: “Haman owes his popularity not to his inglorious ambitions, nor to his ignoble end, He owes it to the humble and anonymous scribe who wrote an immortal satire and gave the Jews an immortal weapon wherewith to fight the enemies: the weapon of ridicule.”

Reading my father’s words from 1935 is a reminder of how Jews have survived the most antisemitic of antisemites, and persevered, through ridicule and humor. Thank you, J. and Maya Mirsky, for your journalistic curiosity.

Aryela Lee Zulman (nee Gershater) | Palo Alto 

Don’t ignore genocide experts

Israeli Consul General Marco Sermoneta says Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza and attributes base motives to those who say otherwise (“Calling the Gaza war ‘genocide’ is a false, dangerous narrative,” Feb. 4). Sermoneta ignores the definition of genocide in international law and the consensus of Holocaust and genocide experts.

The list of those concluding that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza includes the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem and multiple Jewish and Israeli Holocaust scholars.

Sermoneta is correct that genocide doesn’t just mean killing a lot of people. One also must prove that a government intended to destroy an ethnic, national or religious group “in whole or in part.” 

Israel’s actions fit both tests: Israel has killed a minimum of 70,000 Gazans, according to The Lancet. Some 3,000 Palestinian children have lost their limbs, according to UNICEF. We must also consider means of sustaining life. According to Haaretz, 70% of structures in Gaza are destroyed. Sanitation, water and electricity systems are badly damaged. Agriculture and fishing are nearly impossible. Children are still dying of malnutrition.

Nissim Vaturi, deputy speaker of the Knesset, said on X that Israel’s task was “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.” As Israeli American Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov wrote in the New York Times, Israeli “government and military officials … called for ‘total annihilation.’” 

We are both synagogue-going grandmothers, hardly antisemites or part of a “hostile network of actors,” as Sermoneta characterizes Israel’s critics. We fear that Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari was right when he worried recently that Israel will destroy Judaism.

“If Israel continues on its present trajectory,” Harari said, it will become based on the “worship of what were completely anti-Jewish values for the last two millennia… the worship of power and violence [will be] the new Judaism.”

Susan Stern | Santa Rosa 
Beverly Voloshin | Petaluma

Give Betty Yee a shot

Your coverage of the Feb. 26 gubernatorial forum on Israel and Jewish safety (“Candidates for CA governor vow to keep Jews safe and Israel ties strong,” Feb. 27) omitted a crucial fact: Betty Yee, perhaps the candidate with the deepest ties to Israel and the Jewish community, was excluded despite her recent second-place performance at the California Democratic Convention.

This decision deprived the community of hearing from a longtime ally. Betty Yee has visited Israel numerous times, chaired Israel trips for Bay Area friends, and is married to Rabbi Steven Jacobs.

As a UC Regent, she consistently supported Jewish students facing antisemitism on University of California and California State University campuses. As a former leader within the California Democratic Party, she was a steady, reasonable voice for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and against rising antisemitism. She also delivered sound fiscal policy as a two-term state controller.

Voters who care about Israel and Jewish community safety should give Betty Yee a serious look. Her record shows not just rhetoric, but years of partnership with our community.

Dan Cohen | Raanana, Israel

A thank you to Dr. Saliman

For years I’ve read Dr. Jerry Saliman’s health columns in J., and recently I find myself reading them multiple times. His clarity and honesty come through all his columns. But, more importantly, his patience and understanding — not necessarily as a medical professional, but as a caring human being — are what impact me the most. I was especially moved by his story of how playing his viola stirred a buried 30-year emotion of forgiveness that only came to light after a funeral. (“I played viola for my hospice patients as a way of saying goodbye,” Dec. 30)

His simple conclusion to remember to apologize, forgive, appreciate and love is profound. Although we are all reminded of this every single day and follow through with lip service, it is sometimes so hard to follow through with action.

Nachman Goodman | San Rafael

I’m 84 and frightened for future

In the final Sunday newsletter of 2025, editor-in-chief Chanan Tigay wrote about how he would remember the year as one in which “antisemitism accelerated its unwelcome comeback, both around the world and here at home in the Bay Area.”

I’m 84 and grew up in the Jewish neighborhood of Albany Park in Chicago. There were Holocaust survivors in my neighborhood, but I was too young to understand the magnitude of horror they must have endured. This is a frightening time to be Jewish. Today I feel afraid not so much for myself, but for the younger Jews and what the future holds for them. 

That said, I am a member of the Berkeley Moshav community, and when the building is ready for move-in sometime at the beginning of 2027, I’ll be moving into my new home. Most of the members are younger, and many are parents with young children. So I worry. Will we be safe? Or will we be a target for deranged people who want to attack us in our homes? I have no answers … just hope and prayers.

Nancy Kron | El Cerrito

Offense is defense, Mr. Wiener

State Sen. Scott Wiener describes the war in Gaza as a genocide, yet in 2023 stated that he was opposed to Israel moving 1 million Palestinians from northern Gaza to the south. Israel took that extraordinary step to protect civilians in Gaza. If Israel was intent on committing genocide, it would have not have moved civilians away from a war zone. In contrast, Hamas refused to allow Gazans to take shelter in over 500 kilometers of underground tunnels. Israel went to greater lengths to protect civilians than did Hamas.

The use of the term genocide for the war in Gaza is propaganda, deliberately used to compare Israel to the Nazis, and diminishes the horrors of the millions of people who were murdered in the Holocaust. 

Mr. Wiener stated that he supports funding Israel for defensive weapons, but not offensive weapons (“Wiener, in J. interview, elaborates on why he now calls Israel’s war a ‘genocide,’” Jan. 13). On Oct. 7 alone, 5,000 missiles were launched into Israel from Gaza. Hezbollah began to launch missiles into northern Israel, and for well over a year Israelis there could not live in their homes. Yemen and Iran have launched drones and missiles at Israel, resulting in severe damage to apartments and medical centers.

That Israel has not suffered tens of thousands of casualties is a tribute to its government developing defensive systems and bomb shelters. Yet Mr. Wiener apparently thinks that Israel should have to sustain attacks without fighting back. In denying Israel’s right to defend itself with offensive weapons, Wiener is really saying that he does not think Israel has the right to exist.

Robert Edelman | Oakland

Pogroms in the West Bank

The story “Israeli rabbi sounds alarm about settler violence in the West Bank during S.F. talk” (Jan. 30) should alert all of us to the pogroms against West Bank Palestinians. These outrageous acts are done in the name of Zionism, which leads to anti-Israel feelings and, unfortunately, antisemitism. Our leadership needs to strongly condemn these acts.

Barry Chauser | San Francisco

March with others, but defend Israel

Jews were at the forefront of demonstrations against ICE in Minneapolis last month (“In Minnesota, Bay Area rabbis say ICE crisis demands unity, action,” Jan. 28). Many rabbis and others who march for justice correctly cite our Jewish values, our responsibility to protect the oppressed. In doing so, we turn a blind eye to overtly anti-Zionist marchers, some holding Palestinian flags and signs attacking Israel, as just happened in New York City. We are in common cause with our detractors because of a presumably higher value.

While Jews march in opposition to countless injustices, it seems we are hesitant to march or speak in defense of Israel. And when we do, many feel the need to add “imperfect as Israel is…” or “though I disagree with much going on in Israel…”

Outspoken politicians, pundits and rabbis, often citing Torah, repeat the inflammatory and false claim of “genocide” on the part of Israel. What we rarely see from such leaders are condemnations of explicit, unrelenting calls for actual genocide — the elimination of the Jewish state and the murder of Jews — by Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, Students for Justice in Palestine and so many others. It is as if Oct. 7, and Hamas saying it would return to attack civilians in Israel, did not happen. 

I would not abandon support for countless causes that demand our attention. I do, however, suggest that we devote much more of our time and resources to confronting antisemites, who daily attack us, and to enemies who vilify Israel for defending itself.

Michael Gilfix | Palo Alto

Stop trying to make friends

Regarding the Feb. 3 JTA story “In 92NY talk, Bret Stephens urges ‘dismantling’ ADL and investing more in Jewish identity,” Stephens suggests taking resources used to fight antisemitism and redirecting them to Jewish education.

There are three baskets in our current system: enabling Jewish education, fighting antisemitism and reaching out to other communities. The first two are beneficial. It’s the last one that perpetually fails — Oct. 7 demonstrated that they will never be our friends.

Especially here in the Bay Area, much money and time and effort is spent on interfaith this and public benefit that. Decades and decades prove that it doesn’t help, and in fact it sadly reinforces the unfair belief that Jews have a lot of money.

Jews should turn inward and spend their money and time and effort on their own community. As Stephens says, invest in Jewish identity. Make sure Jewish kids get a Jewish education, provide ongoing Jewish education for adults, and lift up other Jews professionally. 

Jason Jungreis | San Francisco

A queer lens on Wiener’s comments

For many queer Jews, shock and disagreement with state Sen. Scott Wiener’s comments about genocide are not an abstract political disagreement. They represent a lived rupture. (“Wiener, in J. interview, elaborates on why he now calls Israel’s war a ‘genocide,’” Jan. 13)

Since Oct. 7, 2023, queer spaces that once functioned as sanctuary have increasingly become sites of exclusion. Jews who refuse to denounce Israel, or who are simply visible as Jewish, have been pushed out, silenced or treated as morally suspect. This is not happening at the margins of queer life, but in social spaces, dating platforms, activist organizations and political discourse.

The data reflect what many already know. A recent study found that 82 percent of LGBTQ+ Jews experienced harassment or exclusion in online queer spaces, and two-thirds reported heightened antisemitism when wearing visibly Jewish symbols. This is not a fringe experience. It is a pattern.

As a psychologist and psychoanalyst working with queer Jewish communities in the aftermath of Oct. 7, I have seen the toll. Queer Jews whose friendships vanished overnight. People pressured to perform public denunciations to regain basic social recognition. Others who have left cities or the country entirely, convinced there is no place where they can be fully queer and fully Jewish. Clinically, this is traumatic invalidation, the systematic delegitimization of one’s identity and emotional reality.

This is the context in which many queer Jews read Sen. Wiener’s statements, not as isolated remarks but as part of a broader cultural shift that increasingly asks Jews to be quiet, apologetic and grateful for conditional acceptance. That is a ritual queer people know well. If queer liberation is to mean more than slogans and symbols, it must include queer Jews who refuse to fragment themselves for conditional belonging.

Joshua Simmons | San Francisco

Wiener conceded to Israel haters

I read state Sen. Scott Wiener’s justification for labeling Israel’s war in Gaza as “genocide” with great disappointment. While Jews and non-Jews alike are entitled to criticize Israel, some words carry precise legal and moral weight. Applying this label reflects a capitulation to pressure and a troubling disregard for context rather than moral clarity.

Like many critics who claim to support Israel while opposing its military response, Wiener offers no viable alternative for Israel’s self-defense following the Oct. 7 massacre. He seems to validate his recent embrace of the word “genocide” by his own early criticism of Israel. Yet, it is the speed with which “genocide” rhetoric emerged — and the haste with which South Africa filed charges at the International Court of Justice, just two months after Oct. 7, 2023 — that suggests a predisposition toward the accusation, rather than a sober legal assessment.  

Ironically, the only actors with stated genocidal intent are Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Hamas has documented its own crimes, including intentionally placing Gazan civilians in harm’s way in order to boost global pressure on Israel along with hijacking food supplies. These realities receive little attention from those eager to affix the most extreme moral charges to Israel’s response.

War is horrific, and we should feel deep discomfort at civilian suffering. However, when I reflect on the Bibas family, and the faces of the mother and her boys as they were being dragged into Gaza, I must ask: What response was Israel expected to choose? By adopting this language now, Sen. Wiener has not advanced peace or justice; he has simply handed Israel haters another victory.

Alan Zorfas | Foster City

Applauding Wiener’s bravery

I want to express my deep respect for state Sen. Scott Wiener’s bravery in describing Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide. As someone who has lived in Israel and is deeply connected to that country, I too was very resistant to the word, until my son helped me understand how younger Jews who are proud of their heritage are responding to Israel’s war.

The Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area’s characterization of his statement as lacking “moral clarity” is both disappointing and further reflects how out of touch the organization is with the sentiments of many young, unaffiliated Jews. 

Richard Weiner | Oakland

I hesitated to call it ‘genocide’

Thank you, state Sen. Scott Wiener, for your insights and J. for your coverage of it. Your perspectives have helped clarify my own understanding.

Like Wiener, I initially hesitated to use the term “genocide” and have often removed myself from debates about the issue. However, the situation transcends mere terminology.

It does not contradict our Jewish support for Israel, even if that may seem contradictory to some. The complexity lies in our ability to support our homeland while simultaneously rejecting the consequences of current policies, which undeniably amount to genocide. 

The devastating impact — evidenced by the loss of lives, mass displacement, severe trauma and injuries, and the catastrophic results for an ethnic group — clearly corresponds to the definition of genocide.

I learned long ago that intent does not equal impact. We must be held accountable for the effects of our actions, just as the government of Israel is accountable for its policies. This must be our guiding truth, and it is imperative that we strive for a humane, constructive solution, as difficult as that may be. Personally, I believe that the soul of Israel is at stake.

Laurie B. Lippin | Guerneville

Wiener knows what’s good for Israel?

You published three recent letters attacking state Sen. Scott Wiener for his use of the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s behavior toward the Palestinians, and not one that supported his position or acknowledged the moral courage it took to embrace it.

In a debate, Sen. Wiener initially hesitated to describe Israel’s war as a genocide, but after further reflection and painful struggle, and after extensive consultation with colleagues, friends and Jewish leadership, he decided that the horrors inflicted on the Palestians did constitute genocide.

This was his painful, truthful conclusion. But his detractors’ conclusion is that Sen. Wiener is “shameful” and “obsequious.” For them, there is only one question to ask: “Is it good for Israel?”

Maximum respect to Sen. Wiener for acknowledging that the other side of the good-for-Israel coin is the immense suffering of the Palestinians. I believe that as time evolves, Sen. Wiener will prove to know better than the rest what is best for Israel.

John Lovejoy | San Rafael

Not all conflict is ‘genocide’

As another International Holocaust Remembrance Day passes, I am troubled by a persistent lack of knowledge and teaching of the Holocaust, by the repeated Holocaust inversions that are casually accepted by our political leaders, and by the willingness of so many to redefine the word “genocide” downward to encompass any large-scale conflict.

It is true that, over time, many words have their meanings altered. But allowing this term to be expanded so far that it loses its original definition of something well and beyond what happens in war is not an acceptable way to let language grow. Ultimately, if all conflict is genocide, then nothing is. Rather than allow — and even encourage — this inaccuracy, I believe that we have to demand adherence to the concept, definition and historical examples that are no longer in the immediate view of most individuals.

We have an obligation to those who came before us — to those who perished and to those who lived. Personally, I feel a responsibility to Sigi (z”l), the Holocaust survivor I met as a high school senior on March of the Living in 1996, and with whom I literally walked into the former Auschwitz camp. It is our responsibility to help younger generations understand that it’s possible to acknowledge tremendous loss, to question operational tactics and to criticize the words and choices of national leadership, while also maintaining the inviolability of defining actual genocide.

Danielle Feldman | Santa Rosa

Students knew what day it was

Of course the students from Berkeley High School knew the date when they walked out in support of Palestinians on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. If the students did not know, they could have apologized later. (“Berkeley High students stage pro-Palestinian walkout on Holocaust Remembrance Day,” Jan. 27)

Perhaps fewer of these types of articles would be better. Decreased attention on the teenagers would probably result in fewer of these events.

Karen Levi | Potomac, Maryland

‘Never again for anyone’

Your story on the Berkeley High teach-out includes quotes by people suggesting that having the event on International Holocaust Remembrance Day somehow insulted the memory of the Holocaust.

I was one of the adults who attended the teach-out at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. The focus of the event was to protest the genocide in Gaza and the recent attempts to censor Palestine-related education, as exemplified by AB 715. When the topic of the Holocaust arose, it was treated with respectfulness and solemnity. At least two of the speakers traced their own roots back to the Holocaust.

In many cases, Zionists have used the Holocaust as a justification for Israel’s genocidal behavior toward Palestine. As a Jew, I believe we should work to prevent all genocides. The Berkeley students echoed this sentiment. “Never again” must mean “never again for anyone.”

Larry Hendel | Berkeley

Remember Palestinian prisoners

Regarding “Jewish world marks first day with no hostages in Gaza” (Jan. 27) — Mazel tov! Now let’s focus on the Palestinian hostages being held in dire conditions, without charges, in Israeli prisons. And let’s remember and mourn those dead Palestinian “prisoners” who were exchanged — without identification, many mutilated — for deceased hostages (Israeli and other) returned by Hamas. They were all humans, too, with names we will never hear.

Avi Black | Berkeley

An open letter to Scott Wiener

State Sen. Scott Wiener, I write to you as a Californian, a Jew and someone who has long regarded you as a role model. Your leadership as a co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus and your willingness over the years to confront antisemitism clearly and publicly have earned respect across a broad spectrum of the Jewish community. You understood that leadership sometimes requires standing firm when it would be easier to remain silent.

It is because of that record that your recent post declaring that Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza is so troubling (“Wiener explains his ‘painful’ decision to call Israel’s war a genocide,” Jan. 12, and “Wiener, in J. interview, elaborates on why he now calls Israel’s war a ‘genocide’” Jan. 13).

Only days earlier, you declined to answer that very question in a debate, intuitively recognizing that the word “genocide” is not a policy critique but an accusation of ultimate evil. That hesitation reflected prudent judgment. Your subsequent reversal — under obvious political pressure — reflects the absence of judgment.

Today,  accusations of “genocide” have become a central weapon used by movements that seek not only to critique Israeli policy but to delegitimize the Jewish state itself and, increasingly, to justify hostility toward Jews everywhere.

Criticism of Israeli policy is acceptable.  The pursuit of peace is honorable. Advocacy for humanitarian protection is what it means to be a Jew. But accusing Israel of genocide is none of these things. It is a shameful act of political convenience that collapses moral distinctions, trivializes the Holocaust and empowers those who have already shown that their rage does not stop at Israel’s borders.

At a time when antisemitism is surging globally — on campuses, in cities, and in public discourse — Jewish leaders do not have the luxury of rhetorical recklessness.

Your reversal does not advance peace. It does not save lives. It does not protect Palestinians or Israelis. Rather, it emboldens those who weaponize language to vilify Israel and, in doing so, place Jewish communities everywhere at greater risk.

I’m sorry, senator, that is not moral clarity. It is moral surrender.

Rabbi Reuven Taff | Sacramento

Wiener is pandering to his base

Scott Wiener chose to gratuitously echo the slander of genocide against Israel to succor his progressive base. He cites the moonscape of Gaza and photos of innocents killed as proof of genocide, along with statements by cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. He is pandering, and he knows it. 

As a member of Congress, he could lead congressional hearings to determine from experts and officials whether Israel has committed genocide in a way that differs from American actions in Mosul, Raqqa, Fallujah and other battles against insurgents in Iraq. 

Rather than parroting slander, he can join with others who seek the truth and are open to giving Israel a fair hearing.

Israel is now facing fanatic jihadists who refuse to disarm in Gaza. What are Wiener’s policy prescriptions for removing the Hamas threat from Israel? Will he shrink from that in his obsequious equivocations?

Jeff Saperstein | Mill Valley

Where is Wiener’s backbone?

If Scott Wiener had a shred of honesty in his soul, here is what he should have said: “Dear fellow Jews and lovers of Israel: I am going to label Israel’s war of survival against Hamas as ‘genocide.’ I do this because to get elected, I need the votes of radical Israel-hating leftists. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I happen to have no backbone. I happen to be a moral coward.” 

Scott Abramson | San Mateo 

Thanks for the ‘good work’

Thank you for the Jan. 6 article “SJSU professor fired over pro-Palestinian activism wants her job back.” It was illuminating and disturbing. Despite the faculty committee agreeing that she had violated university standards and had no remorse nor felt she’d done anything wrong, they seemed to feel no more action than the slap on the wrist of a paid suspension was warranted. That says a lot more about what they think of university standards than it does about the fired professor.

Keep up the good work.

Mitch Richman | Berkeley

Mayor Martinez is good for Richmond

I am a resident of Richmond, California. I see there have been people who do not live in Richmond chiming in on Mayor Eduardo Martinez (“Richmond mayor’s supporters, opponents speak out at meeting after antisemitic posts,” Jan. 7). I am Jewish. My mother was a Holocaust survivor. I support Israel, but I am opposed to what the current Israeli government is doing in Gaza.

Mayor Martinez has done a fabulous job as mayor of Richmond. He has turned things around so that it is a much safer and more welcoming city. He has held Chevron’s (and other polluters’) feet to the fire for their pollution and the illnesses their pollution causes in Richmond. In my mind, Mayor Martinez is not antisemitic. What he did is quite naive, and he should have consulted with the Jewish community to discuss how he felt about Israel and Gaza. He has sincerely apologized and plans to meet with the Jewish community and discuss how he can make amends and become more enlightened. 

Jeannette Kortz | Richmond

AB 715 not a free speech issue

I’m greatly relieved that a sensible judge was able to understand and rule in favor of AB 715 for the state’s K-12 schools. (“Federal judge allows AB 715, California’s K-12 antisemitism law, to take effect Jan. 1,” online Dec. 31)

This is not a free-speech issue, as sometimes portrayed by opponents: Teachers cannot teach lies to small children and call those lies “free speech.” They can’t teach their own warped antisemitic agendas and call those agendas “critical thinking.”

Simply amazing that 80 years after the Holocaust we need to pass a law against antisemitism. This decision is a much-needed triumph of common sense.

Gerry Feldman | Sacramento

Richmond mayor’s calumnies

The article titled “Jewish orgs condemn Richmond mayor’s ‘conspiracy’ posts on Bondi massacre” (Dec. 18) claims that Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez “routinely posts criticisms of Israel on LinkedIn.”

No, Mayor Martinez does not post mere “criticisms” of Israel. He posts calumnies, fabrications, conspiracy theories and false and defamatory statements while asserting they are true. 

A criticism is a statement of opinion or judgment about perceived flaws. Maligning is the malicious dissemination of false and defamatory claims. The mayor’s claim that Israel shot and killed 15 people on an Australian beach is malicious, false and defamatory. In other words, it is maligning, not criticism. Do not characterize his hateful bilge as mere criticism.

Seth Watkins | Redwood City

What do Richmond voters want?

Whether Mayor Eduardo Martinez resigns or not is an issue for the people of Richmond  (“As Richmond mayor faces calls to resign, more posts surface with antisemitic tropes,” Dec. 23). Do they want to be represented by someone who makes overt antisemitic comments and has a history of supporting terrorism against Jews? If so, they should do nothing and then face the consequences.

On the other hand, if they realize that their mayor has brought disgrace to Richmond and does not represent their values, they should demand that he resigns. If he refuses, then recall petitions are the next option.

Let’s see what they do. I hope they decide they deserve a better person to lead their city.

Gil Stein | Aptos

Gluten-free doughnuts… or muffins

Re: “Make these gluten-free Hanukkah doughnuts in 30 minutes” by food writer Micah Siva (Dec. 3), I don’t have a doughnut pan, so I used a mini muffin pan to make the gluten-free sufganiyot. I left them in the oven a little longer and I (and my gluten-free friends) think they came out really well. We’re calling them “muffganiyot.” I thank you for the recipe.

Shari Samuel | San Francisco

Where are their parents?

I was a single parent of three under 5 years old. My children became caring, sensitive and moral adults with strong values, which I want to believe came directly from my parenting.

My question is, where are the parents of the eight teens who created a swastika with their bodies, then posted it on social media? Are the parents outraged, approving, ashamed or embarrassed of this heinous display? (“‘Human swastika’ at San Jose high school prompts investigation,” Dec. 5)

Either way, they have my wishes to do better and pay more attention to their teens’ lives. Get involved with them, sit and discuss this event with them. If this is not a big deal with the parents, I see a rocky road ahead.

Dini Freeman | San Rafael

Thanks to grief program partners

Thank you to Rahel Knight for her coverage of the community partnership to bring back Grief and Growing, originally a program of the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center (“‘Grief and Growing’ retreat at Camp Newman to offer support in Jewish setting,” Dec. 9). I am honored to be the program director along with Yael Galinson who is serving as the assistant director. What makes this relaunching of the residential retreat at URJ Camp Newman is the collaboration and partnership with community organizations, including previous staff and participants.

Many thanks to Abra Greenspan of A Healing Legacy, Rabbi Dan and Zoë Goldblatt of AriYael Jewish Healing Center and Liz Orlin of Sinai Memorial Chapel. URJ Camp Newman’s leadership and dedicated staff are working to make this a reality. We are so grateful to all the organizations and fabulous people involved.

Liora Brosbe | Berkeley

Grief and Growing keeps growing 

The article about the Grief and Growing program was very good but didn’t mention the founders: Lee Pollak from Sinai Memorial Chapel, who became the program’s clinical director, Rabbi Eric Weiss of Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, who became the spiritual director, and the late Ann Gonski of Camp Tawonga, who became the administrative director. (“‘Grief and Growing’ retreat at Camp Newman to offer support in Jewish setting,” Dec. 9).

This group came together in a collaborative effort 28 years ago (and won a Jewish Federation award for creating this successful collaboration of three agencies). This Jewish response to community mourners has provided a safe and healing clinical environment to support those experiencing grief. It has had a huge impact on hundreds of children and adults, and thankfully will continue today.

Connie Shapiro | San Francisco

Editor’s Note: In a recent installment of our Sunday morning email newsletter, editor-in-chief Chanan Tigay asked readers for their input on antisemitism: “​​What should we do as individuals and as a community about rising antisemitism? How can we address it? What can we do to stop it? Think big.” Here are some of your answers.

Hate can be louder than love

The hate that you wrote of in a recent newsletter is not as prevalent as love, but hate can be louder than love. Hate hits hard and doesn’t offer an easy path forward for Bay Area Jews. J. has covered this depressing phenomenon all too effectively, alas. 

So what can we local Jews do to address antisemitism? 

First, let’s remember to identify the positive — friends, family, community, etc. — that enhances our lives with love. 

But we can’t naively look away and ignore those who would cause us harm. Progressive Jews need to accept the fact that a pro-Palestinian narrative doesn’t necessarily lead to peace without the destruction of Israel. No amount of persuasion is going to change the cultural and religious chasm that separates so many Jews and Arabs at this time. 

Education would help. But I’m not overly optimistic as we witness clichéd slogans replace thoughtful historical context by youthful critics, many of whom don’t know exactly where the Jordan River lies, or that the name Palestine was coined nearly 2,000 years ago by Romans occupying Judea, now Israel. 

I grew up in New York City in what was then a rough neighborhood. We needed to be vigilant about our surroundings and anticipate trouble to protect ourselves. It’s the same for Jews today. Stay alert, stay informed, and don’t expect antisemites to become colleagues and friends. It’s just not going to happen. 

My crystal ball for 2026 doesn’t give exact predictions. But let’s hope for a strong Israel to prevail against the antisemitism and enemies surrounding it. I can assure you that without Israel, Jews in the Bay Area and worldwide are doomed to a fate consistent with the Holocaust and the many pogroms that preceded it. 

Jeff Morgan | Berkeley

Fewer Holocaust museums

Build fewer Holocaust museums and other institutions that commemorate Jewish pain and victimhood; build more Jewish cultural centers that celebrate Jewish life and joy.

Neal Ross Attinson | Sonoma

Stay proud and practice resistance

Rising antisemitism isn’t new to me. I felt it as a child in Missouri, where being a Finkelstein made us instantly recognizable as Jewish — and vulnerable. When the KKK burned down my father’s first store solely because he was Jewish, I learned two truths at once: the depth of hatred in this country, and the depth of courage required to stand tall in its face.

And still — he rebuilt. I was about 8 when I heard my father shout back at a customer who threatened to turn our “Jew skin into soap.” Yet we stayed. We lived loudly and without apology, surrounded by security alarms, upheld by a determined Jewish community and fueled by stubborn hope.

My beloved father, of blessed memory, taught my brothers and me to live proudly — whoever we became — and to never forget that part of us will always be seen as Jewish. And he taught us: “A Jew should never be without a passport. You don’t need to ask a Jewish person twice to leave — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t fight for your humanity.” These words shaped me. They are why being aware and awake is not optional — it is essential.

Being awake doesn’t mean anxious; it means alert to old patterns and myths, and equally alert to our own strength. It means deep Jewish learning, the kind that builds self‑esteem, humble pride and rootedness. My dear friend Emil Knopf, of blessed memory, who survived the Shoah hidden in the forest, taught me that losing our Jewish self‑worth begins when we stop learning who we are and stop insisting our full selves be seen.

Stay present. Stay proud. Practice resistance. Tend to our community with tenderness, loving‑kindness, authenticity and depth. This is how we respond: by staying awake, learning deeply, showing up proudly and choosing life — again and again. 

Lisa Finkelstein | San Francisco
Communications Director,
Sinai Memorial Chapel 

‘Super Jewy’ is super offensive

Growing up Jewish in Pennsylvania in the 1960-1970s, it was common to be addressed as “Jew” or “dirty Jew” by some in my neighborhood and school with antisemitic views. And there were plenty of those people in my community who freely shared their views on this subject.

I absolutely cringe today when I see a term like “super Jewy” used in this publication. The Nov. 7 article about the Super Mensch restaurant said its name was “super Jewy.” What does that even mean? If a non-Jew called a restaurant super Jewy, would Jews consider that antisemitic? Would they call the ADL or write a letter to the editor of a newspaper? 

The Contemporary Jewish Museum in S.F. uses @Jewseum as its name on Instagram. Would it be OK if non-Jews referred to it that way? Or my personal favorite is when some of the kids of parents I know on the Peninsula referred to Camp Newman as Jew Camp. Oy, would my relatives roll over in their graves if they heard this. I always asked my friends if a non-Jewish friend of their child called it Jew Camp, would they think this was hateful?

In our increasingly antisemitic world, let’s not feed that fire with harmful and hateful words that may give antisemites the green light. There is enough hateful rhetoric going around today — one just has to read J. every week to see what I am talking about.

The Nov. 28 issue’s doughnut cover, which another letter writer complained about, was beautiful and a nothing burger. But “super Jewy” was highly offensive to me. 

M. Rosenberg | San Francisco

Teens knew what they were doing

Why are you questioning why those students formed a swastika? (“What motivated the teenagers who made the ‘human swastika’ in San Jose?” Dec. 11) They made their motivation very clear. A swastika is a symbol of Jew hatred and a call for genocide of the Jewish race. And for those who didn’t know what a swastika means, the students made their motivation even clearer by posting a quote from Hitler about the “annihilation of the Jewish race.”

This is not a mystery.

You might as well ask what motivated Hitler and the Germans who supported him.

As for transgressive behavior, as the experts in your article suggested, antisemitism is acceptable today, not transgressive. 

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Stacy Leopold | San Rafael

Dialogue is ‘classic camouflage’

One year ago, retiring U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon noted the U.N.’s “disproportionate volume of resolutions, reports and conferences criticizing Israel,” which “hampered the ability of the U.N. to fulfill its role effectively.”

Surely aware of this, Rep. Ro Khanna nevertheless claimed he deferred “in part” to a U.N. commission to justify his dangerous statements regarding genocide.

He is or should be aware of these words from the Hamas covenant: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.…” That’s a plainly stated intent to commit genocide.

After the local synagogue events (“Ro Khanna defends his positions on Israel, ‘genocide’ at two South Bay synagogues,” Dec. 10), he carefully posted on social media his hope that with dialogue, understanding and engagement, there’s a way to “healing and peace.”

Dialogue is the classic camouflage for failing to do anything substantive. And even a signed piece of paper does not mean that there will be peace in our time if one party still intends to obliterate the other. We did not engage in “dialogue” with those who bombed Pearl Harbor or who murdered everyone in their way as they attempted to conquer Europe for their Reich.

When you are facing a group that wants you dead, unless you destroy them, they will destroy you.

Julia Lutch | Davis

It’s a double standard, not genocide

In her Dec. 12 letter, Helen Finkelstein wrote “opposing genocide is not antisemitic,” meaning genocide by Israel, which is a false accusation. Israel has tried to reduce the deaths of civilians in Gaza by warning before strikes and urging the Palestinians to leave, but Hamas wanted them to stay as human shields.

Genocide is defined as organized systematic destruction of a group, but the killing of civilians by Israel is accidental and regretted, so not genocide. However, the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, were intentional. The Hamas charter has as its goal the obliteration of Israel, a Jewish state. Rep. Ro Khanna, who should know better, made the same mistake of charging Israel with genocide, and when questioned said he defers to the U.N. — but the U.N. has a long history of anti-Israel bias.
One of the definitions of antisemitism by Natan Sharansky is a “double standard, singling out Israel while ignoring worse civil rights abuses elsewhere.” Finkelstein, Khanna and others should be aware: There has not been genocide by Israel in Gaza, but there has been blatant genocide by Hamas.

Norman G. Licht | Palo Alto

Our ‘unholey’ cover art

I find the “Holey Strawberry!” Christmas cover of the Nov. 28 issue of J. offensive. 

With Hanukkah written all over the cover, I would think a Hanukkah dish would have been appropriate. I’m one Jew sick of all the Christmas hype. Happy Hanukkah!

Rebecca Perl | Novato

Editor’s Note: We’re all about doughnuts for Hanukkah. See our gluten-free doughnut recipe, ube doughnut recipe, favorite local doughnut shops and food guide.

I’m not white — I’m ‘other’

Regarding your Nov. 12 article “New state law says Israelis aren’t white. Let the debates begin,” here’s where I stand on the debate: I’m a 100% Ashkenazi Jew who has been checking  the box for “Middle Eastern” or “other” when asked to identify my race or ethnicity for my entire adult life. My Polish Jewish parents were not considered white by their Polish neighbors and were despised and unwelcome in their host country. Like Jews all over Eastern Europe, they were told “Jew go home to Palestine” — a recognition that Jewish ancestry was rooted in the Middle East and not in Europe. 

I feel no connection to Poland but feel a deep and visceral connection to the land of my Middle Eastern ancestors. Middle Eastern and North African Jews are my family — not Eastern European Christians. So I am delighted to now be able to check the MENA box when the occasion arises, and I encourage all other Ashkenazi Jews to do the same. Claim your ancestry!

Malka Weitman | Berkeley

Call protesters ‘anti-Jewish’

When slogans such as “Long live the intifada,” “Death to the IDF” and “From the river to the sea…” are chanted in a crowd, it is an unequivocal call for the murder of Jews. J. should stop referring to these demonstrations as pro-Palestinian and instead call them what they are: anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.

Jonathan Bernstein | San Francisco

Opposing genocide isn’t antisemitic

As a Jew-with-a-conscience, I am opposed to any genocide. I am also a retired adjunct faculty member of the mathematics department at San Francisco State University, and member of the faculty union. That is why I am dismayed by the op-ed by Marc Dollinger (“CSU faculty union needlessly alienates its Jewish members,” Nov. 18), complaining about the union’s attack on AIPAC and JPAC.

These two organizations actively support the government of the State of Israel and actively defend that government against criticism. One way they do this is by accusing critics of that government of antisemitism. Educators and colleges have suffered from these accusations. 

One thing that worries AIPAC and JPAC is the rise of groups demanding human rights and freedom for Palestinians. Clearly, these demands threaten the expansionist aims of the government of Israel, and threaten its extraordinary support by our own government. And so supporters of Israel try to silence these demands by calling them antisemitic. But you don’t have to be antisemitic to oppose genocide.

They are trying to fight antisemitism by shifting the prejudice from Jews onto another group of people. Our history shows us that is the wrong way to fight antisemitism. The only way to eliminate antisemitism is by opposing all racism against anyone — even including Palestinians.

Helen Finkelstein | Berkeley

Editor’s note: J.’s Nov. 28, 2025, print edition lists the incorrect synagogue for Rabbi Mark Bloom. We are fully aware that Rabbi Bloom has been the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Abraham for more than two decades. Our sincere apologies for the error.

A coach, a friend — and a ‘rabbi’

The Oakland community was recently shocked by the murder of longtime football coach John Beam, formerly of Skyline High School and then Laney College. He influenced thousands of students in his long coaching career, and many more knew him from the Netflix documentary “Last Chance U.”

Though I have been a rabbi in Oakland for over 24 years, I never had the privilege of meeting him, something I regret. In so many ways, he embodied the values and effects of being a rabbi — literally, a teacher.

In Pirkei Avot 1:6, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachya says three things: “Appoint for yourself a rabbi, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge each person for the good.”

Coach Beam was the ultimate teacher, first in the football sense. But of course, he was so much more than that. Over decades, he taught his kids life lessons — how to be responsible, how to succeed in the classroom, how to work hard, and the value of teamwork, camaraderie and dedication.

His lifelong lessons led to lifelong friendships. As a local rabbi, nothing gives me more satisfaction than having former b’nai mitzvah students return to synagogue just to say hello. Congregational rabbis like me only wish we had the kind of lifelong devotion and visits Coach Beam received from his former players. Though always a mentor, he was truly considered a friend by these alumni.

Finally, Rabbi Yehoshua advises us to always judge each person for the good, to give them the benefit of the doubt. This is precisely why Beam’s coaching was documented in “Last Chance U.” He took on so many students who had been considered failures, uncoachable and difficult, and gave them second, third and fourth chances. He turned them into players and mensches.

Our city and our world has lost an incredible person, the epitome of a teacher/rabbi and friend. Nothing mitigates that tragedy, but because of all the lives he touched, his memory will indeed endure as a blessing.

Rabbi Mark Bloom
Temple Beth Abraham | Oakland

Opposing genocide isn’t antisemitic

As a Jew-with-a-conscience, I am opposed to any genocide. I am also a retired adjunct faculty member of the mathematics department at San Francisco State University, and member of the faculty union. That is why I am dismayed by the op-ed by Marc Dollinger (“CSU faculty union needlessly alienates its Jewish members,” online, Nov. 18), complaining about the union’s attack on AIPAC and JPAC.

These two organizations actively support the government of the State of Israel and actively defend that government against criticism. One way they do this is by accusing critics of that government of antisemitism. Educators and colleges have suffered from these accusations. 

One thing that worries AIPAC and JPAC is the rise of groups demanding human rights and freedom for Palestinians. Clearly, these demands threaten the expansionist aims of the government of Israel, and threaten its extraordinary support by our own government. And so supporters of Israel try to silence these demands by calling them antisemitic. But you don’t have to be antisemitic to oppose genocide.

They are trying to fight antisemitism by shifting the prejudice from Jews onto another group of people. Our history shows us that is the wrong way to fight antisemitism. The only way to eliminate antisemitism is by opposing all racism against anyone — even including Palestinians.

Helen Finkelstein | Berkeley

Antisemitism permeates CFA

As a former San Francisco State University faculty member, I applaud Marc Dollinger’s op-ed “CSU faculty union needlessly alienates its Jewish members” (online, Nov. 18). I have seen firsthand the nefarious anti-Zionist and antisemitic bent of the California Faculty Association for years.

It permeates campus life. The evidence is also on the walls. The student union named for Cesar Chavez rightly reflected S.F. State’s support for his efforts on behalf of farmworkers. His image is proudly displayed. But alongside Chavez is a mural of Malcolm X, and around the side of the building is a mural of Edward Said. Both are divisive and antagonistic toward Jews and white people.

They have been on those walls for over 20 years under pressure for political correctness. Imagine if Nancy Pelosi, who has done more for working-class Californians than anyone, were to replace Malcolm X or Said as symbolic of the San Francisco ethos.

The CFA may follow suit, as Dollinger suggests, and reflect on its agenda and tone to include us all. Look at symbols and actions with an inclusive orientation.  

Jeff Saperstein | Mill Valley

Letter writer wrong on CFA

Sonja Trauss’ letter misrepresents both the California Faculty Association questionnaire and the concerns raised by the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area. (“JCRC Bay Area is causing trouble,” Oct. 31)

The CFA’s questionnaire did not merely list AIPAC and the Jewish Public Affairs Committee alongside the oil, tobacco and police lobbies. It explicitly grouped them as examples of entities that “harm working people.” AIPAC and JPAC are mainstream Jewish civic organizations that represent broad segments of the Jewish community.

Equating them with industries known for exploitation or public harm is not neutral political speech. It reflects a long pattern of antisemitic scapegoating that portrays Jewish influence as corrupt or harmful to society.

Antisemitism today often emerges through the demonization of Jewish communal organizations, especially those connected to Israel. The question is not intent but impact. Singling out Jewish groups in this way sends a message that Jewish civic participation is suspect. If a Muslim, Black, or Latino advocacy group were included in such a list, the bias would be obvious.

Far from “crying wolf,” as Trauss put it, the JCRC fulfilled its responsibility to identify when political rhetoric crosses the line from legitimate critique into collective blame. Calling out antisemitic language, even when framed in the language of social justice, protects the integrity of all communities. That is not alarmism; it is moral consistency.

Joshua Simmons | San Francisco

I quit CFA over this very issue

Sonja Trauss’ letter is naive, disingenuous and misleading. I belonged to, and was active in, the California Faculty Association as a San Francisco State University faculty member, continued as a retiree member, and am a strong supporter of unions. But I quit over this issue, which is only the latest manifestation of CFA’s anti-Israel (and increasingly antisemitic) stance, which has been building for decades.

For CFA to say that organizations such as AIPAC and JPAC “harm working people” is to assume that any group which supports Jewish rights is against working people. Somehow, Trauss thinks “the real text” says something other than what it plainly says.

Dan Fendel | Piedmont

JCRC Bay Area is causing trouble

The latest brouhaha conjured up by the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area is about the California Faculty Association, the union for knowledge workers in the California State University system. In a recent email, JCRC announces, “The California Faculty Association claim that Jews ‘harm working people’ is blatant antisemitism. The California Faculty Association (CFA) is no longer cloaking its bigotry.” (“CSU faculty union conflates state Jewish lobby with tobacco and oil,” Oct. 22)

It is a pretty serious allegation — that the CFA is antisemitic and bigoted — and it’s also scary. But is it true?

The entire affair is based on the text of a questionnaire for candidates for public office who are seeking CFA’s endorsement. Here is the text of the question: “Do you have endorsements or take contributions from groups and sectors like AIPAC/JPAC, the Oil Industry, the Tobacco Industry, police associations, etc.?” In context, candidates would understand that the position of the CFA is that these groups and sectors “harm working people” and that the CFA opposes their activities.

This question may offend you, or it might not. If the JCRC staff believed the question was self-evidently problematic, they would have copied it into their email directly, letting the union’s quotes speak directly for themselves. They included some CFA’s text, but then added this:

“To clarify: CFA is urging candidates to reject money from ‘the Jews.’ There’s really no other way to read the blatantly antisemitic language of this questionnaire.”

What is the purpose of this gloss? Far from clarifying, it obscures. The purpose of this inflammatory copy is to alarm and offend people who weren’t offended by the actual text of the questionnaire. In a way, the purpose is to lie to people who wouldn’t have been offended by the real text. The impact is to cause needless anxiety among Bay Area Jews and to create divisions where none need exist.

The Jewish advocacy organization I desire is one that gives accurate information about antisemitism. Instead, the JCRC is crying wolf, increasing anxiety within the Jewish community and reducing its credibility outside of the Jewish community.

Sonja Trauss | Berkeley

Ro Khanna is no Zionist

Rep. Ro Khanna claims to be a Zionist, yet he casts his political lot with those who clamor for Israel’s eradication. (“Rep. Ro Khanna says he supports Zionism in exclusive interview on Jewish issues,” Oct. 17)

He claims to be a moral leader, but he cannot for himself define what constitutes a genocide. He claims to oppose antisemitism, yet he platforms Holocaust deniers. 

His only defense in the Jewish world comes from J Street. All other Jews should take notice.

Sheree Roth | Palo Alto

Rotten trees should be culled

Some people, as the saying goes, can’t see the forest for the trees. Jay Michaelson sees both very clearly. 

However, as his recent op-ed (“Trump administration is targeting Jewish organizations — what are we prepared to do?” Oct. 14) proves, he doesn’t seem to understand that rotten or dying trees can infect or damage the whole forest.

Those trees should be culled, not protected. 

Jeff Morgan | Berkeley

Evils done in name of religion

I would remind Martin Wasserman (Letters, Oct. 6) of the many evils done in the name of religion, many of them visited on our people. The “word of God” was evoked when Christian soldiers were sent on the Crusades, in the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal, in the Inquisition, in the conquest of the New World, in justifying slavery, even as motivation for pogroms.

Wasserman referred to “core Jewish values.” The Jewish values I was taught were the Enlightenment concepts included in that other sacred document, the Declaration of Independence: that all men (read “people”) are created equal with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I grew up with the idea of tikkun olam, repairing the world, which does not include using our religion, our beliefs, our Scripture as a club to beat other people with or to drive them from their land.

Danny Yanow | San Francisco

Something is wrong at J.

On or about Oct. 7, J. published a letter to the editor in my name. J.’s editorial staff composed that letter from a longer opinion piece I had submitted, which had been rejected for publication. When J. staff presented me with this rewrite, I informed them in writing that I did not agree to its publication as a letter and denied permission to do so. J. published it anyway. The essence of my opinion piece was that legacy Jewish organizations have their heads in the sand when it comes to addressing Jew hatred. Their strategies are not working. 

Rather, grassroots organizations like the Oakland Jewish Alliance are doing the frontline fighting and need more support. I didn’t just complain. Casting the problem as a civil rights issue, I provided a detailed plan of action that has been proven successful. In rejecting my opinion piece, I was advised that “it was not directly tied to current news or events, which is one of the first things we look for in opinions of this sort.” I gather the J. does not believe Jew hatred in the Bay Area is a current event. What’s worse, rewriting an opinion piece, in effect, a sanitization of my original, and publishing it in my name when I specifically denied permission, was a gross violation of journalistic ethics. Something is wrong at J. I call upon the editors and the J. board to do some soul-searching.

Mark P Cohen | Jerusalem, Israel 

It’s time for courageous sermons

These High Holidays I listened to perhaps 10 different sermons. As a group they seemed fine — impassioned, thoughtful, inspiring. Nine spoke of what I would call traditional themes: self-reflection, taking actions to heal the world.

Many talked about the need for diverse voices in the congregation to hear each other’s perspectives, to keep the community alive.

One sermon was different. It was explicit, condemning specific actions of the United States government, and condemning actions such as vigilante violence from Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The sermon spoke at length about Gaza. The rabbi cited texts, linking Jewish values to her assertions. This was the sermon I had hoped for and needed to hear.

It took courage. I am sure her congregants are not uniform in their beliefs. But these are not normal times. Sermons appropriate other years are not sufficient today.

What if thousands of rabbis joined thousands of other religious leaders and spoke against what is happening today? What if they spoke with one voice from their pulpits, condemning attacks on due process, on science, on universities? What if clergy condemned cuts in health care funding, condemned attacks on free speech, condemned false statements regarding climate change? What if religious leaders relentlessly demanded a stop to what is happening? What if the clergy of our country led the protests taking place?

Hasn’t the Jewish tradition always demanded speaking truth to power? The great prophets did so. The prophet Nathan confronted King David. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and other rabbis marched with Martin Luther King Jr.

Isn’t it the time to speak out, the time to act?

Jeremiah Brodkey | Los Altos

What can we do about viral hate?

What a brilliant essay! I’m thoroughly impressed with Danielle Sobkin’s opinion piece, “When everyone races to go viral, hate reaps the rewards,” Sept. 19). She introduces us to a language that I and most of my peers are not conversant in and a subject that all of us are affected by. It behooves us to learn, and I offer the following pithy examples that got my attention: “Influencing is no longer a side hustle. It’s a profession, a business model and a societal obsession. The algorithm doesn’t care if it’s spreading a skin care hack or a conspiracy theory. Its only allegiance is to engagement, and outrage is profitable.” I get it now. It’s a huge societal problem and the order of business today. But please, Danielle, what can we do about it?

Laurie Lippin | Guerneville

BBYO at 100 and beyond

BBYO began in 1925. Last month, 100 years later, I volunteered at a BBYO regional event in Milpitas

Three hundred Jewish teens convened for delicious food, arcade games and hanging out. Being a recent empty nester, I miss being a BBYO mom, and what I observed that weekend made my nest feel full. With Jewish stars dangling around their necks, these adorable young people looked for their regional friends and gave them those running hugs, like only happy teens can do.

One of them was my former student, and I was lucky enough to get one of those hugs. She then went to grab others who knew me as if to say, “Did you know Ms. Beres was Jewish?”

At one point in the evening, a woman who was not a part of the event approached us and asked if she could take one of the 100 year pins we were giving out. “I think my friend’s kids were in this group and I want to give it to them,” she said. She had Googled the organization to learn more about Jewish youth. She was thrilled to discover that BBYO exists all over the world.

When I was asked to staff the event, it did not occur to me that the reason for a heavy adult presence was to keep members safe from any antisemitic incidents that might occur. Yet here I was talking to a non-Jewish woman who was inspired by what she saw and wanted to learn more. The night ended with Havdalah, where all those teens put their arms around each other and chanted the prayers we’ve been chanting for thousands of years.

BBYO has been in my family for four generations, and with my children being alumni I’m grateful that it is alive and well and will hopefully be around for my grandchildren.

Danielle Beres | San Carlos

Israel’s messaging should be positive

Israel has finally recognized that the information war is just as important as any other warfront in its ongoing struggle for existence. It’s now launching a massive social media campaign to combat the countless slanders leveled against it daily (“Inside ​​Israel’s ‘Esther Project’: DOJ filings reveal paid U.S. campaign,” Oct. 1).

But exposing falsehoods isn’t enough. The campaign will only be effective if it presents a powerful, positive image of Israel, based on the core Jewish values that have defined and sustained us for millennia.

What would such messaging look like? It would start by acknowledging the supremacy of God and his covenant with our ancestors, which is still in effect today. It would affirm that the Land of Israel was promised to the Jews by the Almighty, that surrendering any part of it when not physically coerced would be a direct betrayal of that covenant, and that Israel will never agree to divide the land or allow a separate foreign state on it. It would emphasize that the laws of God are above the laws of man, including international law, and that no amount of ill-informed international condemnation will cause us to deviate from our righteous path. And it would declare that, while Israel is willing and able to bring many great blessings to the world, those who seek to do us harm can expect greater harm in return, while those who seek good for us can expect goodly rewards.

If and when Israel fully internalizes these messages, propounds them with confidence and backs them with resolute action, it will be well on its way to winning not only the information war, but all its wars.

Martin Wasserman | Palo Alto

A letter adapted by staff from an op-ed about efforts to combat Jew hatred was posted here in error. It has been removed.

Sustaining all we have built 

I was intrigued by Rabbi Joshua Ladon’s Sept. 8 opinion piece, “Day school affordability is the key to sustaining Jewish life.” As a proud day school graduate and fellow Jewish educator, I certainly don’t disagree that day schools are part of the infrastructure that allows Jewish life to flourish.

I would suggest, however, that investment in all of our community’s organizations — synagogues, JCCs, camps and others — is essential. I, too, worry about the challenges faced by Bay Area Jewish organizations and by my colleagues, because thriving Jewish life depends on relationships. We need others to pray, study, celebrate and mourn with. Can such connections be formed without organizations? Of course they can. But engaging with an organization makes it far easier to meet and connect with future partners and friends, to say nothing of creating relationships across generations.

Our communal infrastructure indeed demands greater investment from the philanthropic community, but let’s not privilege one type of organization over another. In this affluent part of the country, surely we can afford to sustain all that we have built over time.

Dana Sheanin | Berkeley
CEO, Jewish LearningWorks

Richmond resolution mourned both sides

I was disappointed to read the one-sided critique of Richmond’s Mayor Eduardo Martinez in “ADL condemns Richmond mayor’s ‘revolting’ remarks at pro-Palestinian conference” (Sept. 8). 

I remember listening from home to the long meeting led by Mayor Martinez on Oct. 24, 2023, that the article mentions. I was impressed by his fairness and compassion for all of Richmond’s constituents. 

Your article didn’t note that the Richmond City Council made changes to the resolution in response to the Jewish community’s feedback. Sure, it would have been ideal if concern for the hostages had been in the original resolution, but Richmond should get credit for listening and making corrections. 

Here is the revised language from the final resolution. While still primarily supporting Palestinians, it expresses concern for both sides. Everything was current as of Oct. 24, 2023: 

“Whereas, 1,400 Israelis have been killed by Hamas on October 7th and nearly 6,000 Palestinians have been killed by the state of Israel in this escalated conflict; and

“Whereas, we mourn the loss of all civilian lives lost on both sides from October 7th to the present and also throughout the decades of displacement, occupation, oppression and blockade endured in Gaza and the West Bank;

“Be it further resolved that the City of Richmond calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the safe passage of substantial humanitarian aid to Gaza; and 

“Be it further resolved that the City of Richmond calls for the immediate release of all Israeli hostages taken by Hamas…”

These are not the sentiments of a Hamas supporter but of a mayor who was listening to his different constituencies.

The entire discussion of Richmond’s resolution is available here: “Resolution Affirming Richmond’s Support and Solidarity with the Palestinian People of Gaza” starting at 3:04:30.

Janine Baer | El Cerrito

Thanks for pro-Israel letter

Thank you, Ariel Goldstein, for the letter supporting Israel (“Your protests weaken Israel,” Letters, Sept. 9). It surprises and saddens me when a Jewish writer excessively criticizes Israel and ignores the cruel anti-Jewish actions of Hamas. Hamas started the war with its massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, and its charter pledges to kill Jews. It is a very difficult enemy and has prolonged the war for almost two years. Hamas has shown its indifference to the needs of the Palestinian people.

The war should continue until the hostages are released and Hamas ends its governing of Gaza. A cease-fire may be a method, but it is not a long-term solution.

Norman G. Licht | Palo Alto

Israeli leaders are hiding horrors

You published a JTA article by Grace Gilson on Sept. 8 about hundreds of scholars in Israel calling on the International Association of Genocide Scholars to retract their declaration that Israel’s actions in Gaza have met the legal definition of genocide.

Israel’s actions in attacking Gaza City, as well as its refusal to allow international journalists to cover this war, lend further proof to the declaration. Keeping out the international media indicates that Israel’s leaders are trying to conceal the war’s full horror, including genocide. 

I will be very surprised if you print this letter. If you do, I salute you for presenting both sides in a fair manner.

George Banks | San Leandro

Pressuring Padilla on Palestine

I am so proud of my Jewish friends who occupied Sen. Alex Padilla’s office in San Francisco and were arrested on Aug. 27, demanding he stop voting to arm Israel as it slaughters Palestinians (“138 arrested at S.F. protest of Sen. Padilla’s votes on Israel,” Aug. 28). I have repeatedly written to Sen. Padilla, pleading with him to stop funding mass murder in my name.

At first, his staff responded with thoughtful letters saying he was educating himself about the issues and considering his position. In mid-2024, the replies became form letters endorsing “Israel’s right to defend itself.” Then they stopped entirely.

I couldn’t be there this time, but I have demonstrated in front of Padilla’s office many times, trying to stop a genocide carried out in my name and with my taxes, all against my will. As the protest last month showed, a lot of Jews agree with me. 

David Spero | San Francisco

Start new year with compassion

I have some knowledge of Jewish history, which includes times when we had to confront our enemies and conquer cities. This goes as far back as Joshua. While I do not support Netanyahu or our current U.S. president, I recognize our limited power to influence global decisions. I pray for an end to this tragic war and feel deeply for anyone who has lost their life in any conflict.

I often reflect on how we treat our fellow Jews in the Bay Area. I have encountered narcissists, individuals who form exclusive cliques, men who belittle women, families suffering from painful parental alienation, people who seek revenge during divorce, those who engage in backstabbing and lashon hara (evil tongue), and some who exhibit cruelty.

If we believe the world is created of rachamim, compassion, then let’s start by fostering it in our own community. This means cultivating shalom bayit (peace at home), being humble and appreciative of others, communicating honestly and thoughtfully, and expressing warmth and love even to strangers. It would be a good beginning to a new year.

Elly Faden | Richmond

Your protests weaken Israel

I was pleased to see the letters to the editor opposing recent demonstrations against Israel in San Francisco. (Letters, Aug. 22) There are too many letters and stories in J. about these types of demonstrations, making it seem as if the protesters represent the majority of Jews in the Bay Area. I’m happy some of us are raising our voices to oppose them.

I spend my time fighting antisemitism online in different languages and countries, but when I see Jews here demonstrating against Israel, I feel betrayed.

Letters from former community leaders, demonstrations by rabbis in front of the Israel Consulate, and a small group based in Palo Alto that focuses on demonstrating against the democratically elected Israeli government are weakening Israel. According to a J. article, at an Aug. 17 demonstration in San Francisco organized by the Israeli group from Palo Alto, some people left because they felt uncomfortable around the Israeli flags, concerned that it would be seen as supporting the Israeli government’s policies (“Pro-Israel, anti-Netanyahu rally in S.F.: Bring them home, end war, boost Gaza aid,” Aug. 18)

Because Israel is a democracy, it is OK to demonstrate against the government, and this is what has been happening in Israel every week for almost two years. But there is a significant difference in doing it inside Israel vs. abroad.

We are fighting a war against a brutal enemy in Gaza and against the Palestinians who support them all over the world. I have never seen a Palestinian demonstration for peace or a “two-state solution.” Their goal is the opposite: a one-state solution, “from the river to the sea.”

At this moment, when IDF soldiers are fighting and falling, and there are 48 hostages in Gaza, we should focus on our people and not on our enemies.

Ariel Goldstein | Berkeley

‘May his memory be a revolution’

On Monday night, we began observing the first yahrzeit for Berkeley-born Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages murdered by Hamas in captivity one year ago.

On the podcast “Unholy: Two Jews on the News,” there is a moving interview from mid-July with Hersh’s mother, Rachel Goldberg, whose words revealed a hard truth: Of the 68 members of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, only one took the time to reach out to her family after Hersh’s death.

One.

The other 67 showed exactly who they are: devoid of compassion, devoid of integrity, devoid of any moral compass.

Shame on them.

This is not an isolated failure. It reflects the government itself — a coalition so consumed with clinging to power and pandering to extremists that it has forfeited even the most basic acts of humanity.

At a time when Israelis are desperate for empathy, direction and moral clarity, the prime minister and his partners have offered nothing but silence, cynicism and a vacuum where human decency should be the standard.

This is not leadership. It is a stain on Israel’s soul.

In an Instagram post ahead of the yahrzeit, the family wrote:

“Please do something during those 24 hours to make our complicated world a bit better. It can be something big or small, quiet or loud, private or public. Do it in memory of the Beautiful Six, including our Hersh. May his memory be a revolution … for goodness.”

This reminds us that their memory demands more than words. It calls on us to fill the world with the decency that their murderers sought to extinguish.

May the memory of Hersh, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lubanov and Carmel Gat be a revolution for goodness, and endure as the blessing they were to their families, friends and Am Yisrael.

Rabbi Reuven Taff
Rabbi emeritus, Mosaic Law Congregation, Sacramento

Dangers at home and abroad

Something is happening in our world today that should disturb all people of conscience beyond words. The demonization of Jews and Israel is manifesting itself with continuing force.

I am writing this while we are traveling in Europe. The message from “across the pond” is even more vicious than the one heard in the United States. We must be alert to the clear and present danger that is growing every day. On radio, television, the internet and in our schools and universities, the messaging is clear. Jews represent a genuine threat and Israel is the misfortune of the world.

The evil being spread by Hamas is virtually ignored. The tragic realities manifested by the events of Oct. 7 and beyond are dismissed. The fault is placed squarely on Israel and the “original sin” of Zionism, manifested by the creation of the Jewish state. With all of the legitimate concerns about Gaza and the security of Israel, this genuine threat is not really being understood or confronted.

Let me be clear, I am not an alarmist. But I can see clearly the growing dangers that we face at home and abroad. Now is the time to raise our voices and respond as a community.

John Rothmann | San Francisco

AB 715 protects our students

At a time when Jewish students in California face real and growing threats, Rabbi Andrew Straus’ opposition to AB 715 doesn’t just miss the mark, it hands groups like CAIR and Jewish Voice for Peace exactly what they need to kill the only bill that would meaningfully protect Jewish students. (“AB 715 will do more harm than good in fight against antisemitism in schools,” Aug. 5 online)

Straus frames AB 715 as a threat to free speech. In reality, it bans discrimination, not debate. It doesn’t define antisemitism, adopt IHRA or ban criticism of Israel or discussion of Palestinian rights. It requires that controversial topics, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, be taught in a balanced, respectful way that doesn’t vilify or ostracize students based on religion, nationality, identity or connection to Israel. That’s not censorship, it’s basic educational integrity.

Antisemitism is being taught, tolerated and normalized in California schools now, from elementary classrooms to UC campuses, and has surged since Oct. 7. Students are hiding their Jewish identity, being told to remove Star of David necklaces and hearing anti-Israel rhetoric that crosses into clear antisemitism. This is not speculation. It is happening now.

Concerns about an “antisemitism czar” are absurd. We already have Title IX coordinators, racial equity officers and LGBTQ liaisons. Why is it unacceptable to create a role for a population facing a 600% increase in hate incidents?

What’s most infuriating is that in his opinion piece Straus acknowledges the harm, admits the system isn’t working and still argues for inaction. No ideas. No solutions. Just “don’t do this” based on vague speculation about hypothetical classroom scenarios.

It’s worth noting that no major Jewish organization, Reform or otherwise, has publicly opposed AB 715. Rabbi Straus’ column stands alone, and in doing so hands opponents of Jewish student protections arguments they could not have crafted better themselves.

Oren Rubinstein | Pacifica

Parroting Hamas propaganda

J. letters constantly berate Israel for Gazans’ suffering. Self-serving phrases like “as a Jew” or “as the child of Holocaust-survivors” impute undeserved understanding of events.

Singularly assigning Gazans’ misery to Israel requires that one’s only news sources are anti-Israel Western media, parroting Hamas propaganda as fact. Curiously forgotten are American and EU designations of Hamas as a terrorist organization and Hamas’ no-compromise charter goals: Wipe Israel off the map and murder every Jew on Earth.

Gaza food shortages result from actions of Hamas’ totalitarian government preventing distribution of thousands of Israeli truckloads of food — sitting idle, inside Gaza’s border. Hamas then blames Israel, and the news media unquestioningly quote Hamas. (Hamas leaders and combatants remain well-nourished.)

Fred Korr | Oakland

‘Apologists against Israel’

The Aug. 8 print edition of the J. “welcomed” multiple submissions to the Letters to the Editor, whereby Israel and its leaders are both criticized and humiliated, creating further divisions among ourselves.

These submissions did not appear to take into consideration the ongoing suffering of the Israelis living in Israel, who until now have had to undergo missile bombardments and warning sirens compelling them to run to shelters to save themselves and their loved ones from further harm. 

It’s questionable whether this submission in favor of Israel will be published in J., given the tendency to be apologists against Israel rather than supportive of Israel.

Esther Salam | San Francisco

Protesting rabbis have no answers

I read with dismay the reportage on the protest at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco on Aug. 11. (“Bay Area Jewish clergy protest at Israel Consulate, calling for end to war and suffering”)

I don’t know any Jews who are happy about the situation in Gaza at this time. Nor do I know any Jews who applaud the deaths of Palestinians anywhere. However, the well-meaning but misguided rabbis and Jewish professionals who call for the end of the war and the release of hostages don’t seem to have any better answers than anyone else regarding how best to do this.

Hamas will never release all the hostages, because the hostages are their ace in the hole to remain in power. And if they cared about their own people, they would have surrendered long ago. The starvation, if there is any in Gaza right now, is the direct result of Hamas’ ongoing theft and withholding of food that is shipped into Gaza by Israel.

When will progressive, woke Jews wake up to the fact that there is precious little dialogue possible with those who call for our death and destruction? And when will they realize that you can’t call for peace without a realistic call for action and a plan? I have seen none from them at this point.

Jeff Morgan | Berkeley

I applaud Khanna’s leadership

As a Jewish American, I am appalled by Israel’s actions in Gaza as well as the West Bank. I applaud Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) for leading the charge in Congress to recognize a Palestinian state. Recognition is long overdue. (“Rep. Ro Khanna’s leaked letter pushes for recognition of Palestinian state,” Aug. 5 online)

The Israeli government has erected endless obstacles to a two-state solution and has implemented policies to make Palestinian lives miserable. Worse, the Israeli government has clarified its intentions to push Palestinians out of Gaza and to take over the West Bank one settlement at a time. Sadly, the U.S. needs to exert more leverage upon Israeli decision-makers to change their policies and actions.

Recognition of a Palestinian state is perhaps the lowest of low-hanging fruit to exert this leverage. Should this not work, Congress should consider terminating the provision of offensive weapons to Israel. If that doesn’t work, the cessation of defensive weapons should be on the table as well. 

How ironic it is that a people only two generations removed from the Holocaust should enact such heinous acts upon another people. That’s why I applaud bold leaders such as Rep. Khanna. 

Joel Gerston | Los Altos

Declare a Palestinian state

I wanted to express my wholehearted support to Rep. Ro Khanna for his courageous letter calling for U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state. (“Rep. Ro Khanna’s leaked letter pushes for recognition of Palestinian state,” Aug. 5 online)

For too many decades, successive Israeli governments have avoided dealing with the central issue of the conflict — the fact that the only way for Israel to exist securely is for a Palestinian state to exist alongside it with equal rights. The only way to ensure Jews are secure is to ensure that Palestinians have full self-determination.

Israel was established through international intervention. The Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration in the 1910s laid the foundation for the State of Israel. It is now time for the international community, led by England, France, Canada and the United States, to do the same for a Palestinian state. Now 147 out of the 193 U.N. member states officially recognize a Palestinian state; it’s time for the world’s leading democracy to do the same.

Ben Linder | Palo Alto
Co-Chair, J Street Silicon Valley

Touched by moving column

Thank you, Janet Silver Ghent, for your moving column about Sarah Everard. (“We hoped to offer comfort after a daughter’s tragic and very public death,” Aug. 6 online). It’s such a tragedy, and I am so touched that you chose to use my music as a way to bring comfort to the parents and to memorialize their daughter.

Cantor Gerald Cohen | Yonkers, New York

Indoctrination shaping education

The United Educators of San Francisco teachers union has found time to develop a foreign policy, defined by pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activism, instead of focusing on the working conditions of its members. (“S.F. union fights Jewish teacher who won back his dues over its anti-Israel activity,” Aug. 7 online)

“Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted,” attributed to Vladimir Lenin, requires taking over the educational system as a first step.

When we can no longer trust the teachers who are charged with “educating” our children, our entire society will be undermined. California schools rank only 40th in math and 37th in reading test scores, with an overall rank of 30th out of 50. (wallethub.com/edu/e/states).

If the union continues efforts to shape the political future of our country through teacher indoctrination, parents are giving their cherished children over to those whose motivations are unknown to most parents.

Julia Lutch | Davis

Israel has not gone far enough

Rabbi Doug Kahn (“As a Zionist and lifelong advocate, I believe Israel has gone too far,” July 21) and Jeff Saperstein (“Israel’s unintended consequences,” Letters, Aug. 11) wrote in J. that “Israel has gone too far.” These two distinguished Zionists, and others who have written letters to the editor based on their Jewish ethics and morals, have criticized Israel in an eloquent way.

However, they are wrong. Israel has not gone far enough, as long as Hamas still holds hostages and governs Gaza. The critics who have great compassion for the suffering of the Palestinians need to have commensurate empathy for the suffering of the Israelis.

Norman G. Licht | Palo Alto

Listening with compassion

We’d like to express our appreciation to the J. for the article “Letters capture a Bay Area family’s generational discord over Israel” (July 23) and for boldly making this the cover story. There is so much that we can learn from this article about how crucial it is to establish a dialogue with love and respect at its core, even when we may disagree on important issues. The issue at hand in this article is the Israel and Gaza situation. That said, this article can serve as a blueprint for any topic, encouraging us to listen with compassion, even when it’s really hard.

Jane Stepak and Shoshi Stahl | Palo Alto

Thank you for your courage

I fully agree with Doug Kahn’s thoughtful essay, “As a Zionist and lifelong advocate, I believe Israel has gone too far” (July 21). It took some courage in these times to write this piece. Jews of faith and conscience, knowing our own millennia-long experience with hate and destruction, must be moved by the continuing civilian death and destruction in Gaza. This goes too far beyond trying to destroy Hamas — their current leaders seem oblivious to what’s happening to the Palestinians they control. Thank you, Doug, for calling this out.

Wayne Feinstein | San Mateo
Jewish Community Federation CEO, 1991-2000

Israel’s unintended consequences

When an S.F. luminary, Rabbi Doug Kahn, provides a nuanced opinion, we should listen. Many of us who are activists share Kahn’s hesitancy to criticize Israel’s actions during war. Yet, we can remember when Israeli military engagement was followed by diplomatic and Israeli societal disappointment, such as the Lebanon operation from 1982 to 2000. 

The Gaza conflict is undermining Israeli internal cohesiveness as many question whether further conflict will gain any real benefit to justify further loss of life on both sides. Internationally, Israel is now creating a diplomatic disaster. Unintended consequences may snatch a victory from the sacrifices Israel has already suffered in Gaza and be self-defeating.

Jeff Saperstein | Mill Valley

What will you tell your grandchildren?

I am writing with immense sorrow and a profound sense of urgency regarding the escalating crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. For many of us, the devastating reality of the situation has been apparent for some time, and now, it is undeniably unfolding before the eyes of the world.

As the son of a Holocaust survivor, with countless family members cruelly murdered through ethnic cleansing and genocide, it is inconceivably heartbreaking to witness our people perpetrating similar atrocities against others, largely in silence.

Throughout history, the haunting question echoes: “Where was the outrage? Who spoke out?” I now pose these same questions to Bay Area clergy. I implore you to consider not the immediate reactions within our congregations, but rather how you will answer your grandchildren when they ask, “Where were you?” Each of our voices holds power and significance, and they desperately need to be heard. 

As the United Nations convenes to discuss the possibility of a Palestinian state and a path toward peace, hope still flickers. We must all act now to make our voices resonate. I am heartened that many rabbis have signed the recent letter advocating for an end to the starvation in Gaza. This is a crucial first step, but more is needed.

I raised my family in a local congregation, instilling in them a deep reverence for all human life and a profound empathy for suffering. Passing mentions of the Palestinian people over the past few years simply do not suffice in the face of such overwhelming human catastrophe. Please speak out now!

Matz David | Lafayette

Real picture on Israel’s playgrounds

In Guy Miasnik’s interview in J., he states that “We all grew up in a place where you go to your public school and you play after that in the playground with your friends. That’s the way it goes in Israel.” (“Tech entrepreneur builds bridges between Israeli and American Jews,” July 24)

His statement may be somewhat misleading insofar as it does not reflect the deep divisions in current Israel society that are enabled starting in the school years. Nearly all schools in Israel are publicly funded but fall into separate sectors: state secular, state religious, Arabic and haredi. Thirty years ago about 70% of students attended the secular, public sector schools. Today that number is thought to be down to less than 39%. So if you are playing on the playground after school, you are playing only with friends who belong to your parochial slice of the Israeli population. This seems like remarkably bad social policy at odds with the picture Mr. Miasnik paints.

Joan Kato | Portola Valley

End the killing and the starvation

I am a Jewish woman and a lifelong committed Zionist, and I am appalled and horrified by the  mass starvation of the people of Gaza and the killings of food recipients in Gaza. I am ashamed as well. I am also appalled by the violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

I am begging all Israel’s supporters, including AIPAC members, to do all you can to urge Israel to end the killing and starvation of the people of Gaza. This awful situation is a horror and must end. I support the 750 rabbis who called on Israel’s government to respect all human life, end the use of starvation as a weapon of war and allow extensive humanitarian aid under international supervision into Gaza. (“‘What’s happening now is a disaster’: Local rabbis react to Gaza hunger crisis,” July 25)

Lea Delson | Berkeley

Silence is complicity

I, along with so many Israeli and American Jews, are outraged at how Netanyahu’s government is handling the humanitarian/food needs in Gaza. Thankfully, J. had a story addressing this issue and noted that “more than 750 rabbis on four continents have signed an open letter calling for Israel to deliver more aid to Gaza.” And lifelong Zionist Rabbi Doug Kahn wrote an opinion piece in the J. saying he believes Israel has gone too far.

Both J Street and the New Israel Fund have had recent articles in their newsletters criticizing Netanyahu’s lack of leadership in getting sufficient food and medical care to thousands of Gazans, many of them children. As the July 15 J Street newsletter states: “We’re at a point of moral reckoning. Silence is complicity.”

We can write or phone our congressional leaders and write letters to Israeli leaders. And I believe that we can also: 1) boycott purchasing all products from Israel; 2) postpone planned trips to Israel; and 3) donate money to Israeli and U.S. organizations working to end the war and increase food and other needed supplies to Gaza.

To call ourselves Jews, we must insist that Israel’s leaders follow Torah values of compassion, kindness to the stranger, care for the helpless and tikkun olam. It’s time to draw a line in the sand. Silence is complicity.

Bonnie Lindauer | San Francisco

Flood Gaza with food for 10 million

The countries that seem to care so much about Gazans should donate enough food for 10 million people. Doing this will overpower the ability of Hamas to continue its weaponization of food, which, even by the U.N.’s own acknowledgment, it does by stealing from and controlling the U.N. food delivery system. Hamas will then no longer be able to extort high prices from Gazans to fund its operations or use its manipulated images to serve its media campaign that is distracting the world from its necessary removal. 

I am also disgusted at the continuing failure of virtually everyone — not just the whole of the world that never misses an opportunity to blame the Jews, but also many Jews themselves — to understand and consider human suffering on the planet. For decades, Gulf States have funded efforts throughout Africa to create Islamist terrorist organizations, which have killed millions and displaced tens of millions of Christian and Animist Africans. And how many Westerners know that Iran just expelled up to 1.8 million Afghans, nearing the population of Gaza? I’m guessing the answer is, exceedingly few. The media focuses an insane magnifying glass on tiny Israel.

The bottom line is that Hamas starves Israeli hostages, Hamas starves Gazans, and Hamas is profiting from doing both, because all anyone can ever think about is how everything is Israel’s fault.

Jason Jungreis | San Francisco

Jews in diaspora ‘genuinely mortified’

I do not know why it took me so long. I have been looking for public comments from Jewish community leaders, in particular from the legacy institutions. Now, at this very late date, I want to make sure that the world knows that I, and many Jews in the diaspora, are horrified, genuinely mortified — and have been for so long — by the violent, indiscriminate and inhumane behavior by the Israeli government/IDF, its total destruction of Gaza and its unthinkable disregard and contempt for the lives of all Gazans.

There are also the unspeakable displacements, dispossessions and violence — really, the running out  of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank. All carried out in our name, my name, and in the name of Israel’s security. Yes, I do know about the genuine threats to Israel’s existence and its security. This is no way to go about protecting it.

Where are our vaunted values, like “saving one life is like saving the whole world,” and “respecting the stranger in our midst,” “do not stand idly by,” “do not unto others,” etc.?

It is a shanda!

Eva Seligman-Kennard | San Anselmo

Believe Jewish students

Ron Hassner is certainly right that Jewish students, faculty and staff should be respected and believed and not face gaslighting when they report experiences of antisemitism on college campuses. (“Cal prof’s ‘sleep-in’ against antisemitism leads to national Changemaker award,” July 30)

Unfortunately, downplaying and denying these experiences, rationalizing and even justifying them are all too prevalent in our university community, as they are across the country. For almost two years now, Jewish students have repeatedly reported discrimination, harassment and abuse and difficulty receiving adequate protection and support from the university. They often face challenges trying to secure equity, equality, freedom of access to university facilities and participation in university programs, and access to justice. These denials of their lived experiences further marginalize them.

There is much more the university needs to do to make Cal safe, welcoming, equitable and inclusive for Jewish students. While it has taken some tentative and positive steps,  it needs to make a far greater investment of resources if it is genuinely committed to respecting the civil rights of its Jewish students, faculty and staff and their welfare and to securing their place in the rich diversity of our Cal community. Believing our students is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving positive change.

Noam Schimmel | Berkeley
Lecturer, Global Studies, UC Berkeley 

Image of my dad from 1920s

Your July 16 “From the J. Archives” column about Jewish sleepaway camps included a photo of campers in swim gear in the mid-1920s at Camp Tawonga. The fifth boy from the left is my dad, Barney Freeman. Thank you.

Gordon Freeman | Walnut Creek

I ask: What exactly is Israel to do?

As an Israeli and former Oaklander and Jewish Community Relations Council board member, I write with the grief of loss far too close to home, including funerals for young soldiers. I honor the words of Rabbi Doug Kahn, a treasured friend and respected leader, and understand the call for Israeli restraint. (“As a Zionist and lifelong advocate, I believe Israel has gone too far,” July 21)

But here in Israel, the realities are agonizing. In Gaza, Hamas embeds itself among civilians, uses hospitals for war and hijacks aid, all forcing impossible decisions daily.

I mourn every innocent life lost in Gaza. Yet, after nearly two years of war, I have not seen a single Gazan leader or global partner demand unconditional hostage release, allow Red Cross visits or take steps toward deradicalizing education. There has been no gesture acknowledging our pain and no move to end it.

So I ask: What exactly is Israel to do?

How can we protect our people when Hamas, Iran and others promise more massacres and use their own citizens as shields, all while the world is mostly silent about Israeli suffering? No democracy would accept this reality. We long for a partner in peace.

Until then, we cannot be alone in seeking an end to this tragedy.

Dan Cohen | Raanana, Israel, and Oakland

A new path for peace

Negotiations continue for a cease-fire in Gaza, but not yet about the end of Hamas governance there, an important goal for Israel. That is the only way to a long-lasting end to the war.

People ask what comes after Hamas. Recently, Sheikh Wadee al-Jaabari of Hebron offered a peace plan that included recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, allowing workers from Hebron into Israel and zero tolerance for terrorism. Other sheikhs in the region agree, representing hundreds of thousands of people.

Many Palestinians in Gaza now oppose Hamas. New leaders for Palestinians and Israelis are needed for a new path to peace.

Norman G. Licht | Palo Alto

Trust teachers: Oppose AB 715

In the July 11 story “Opposition swells against landmark bill to curb antisemitism in California schools,” Gabe Stutman details the groups standing against AB 715 and their reasons for doing so. As a card-carrying member of the California Teachers Association and a proud and practicing Jew, I am deeply concerned. Who are we willing to antagonize in order to pass this legislation?

First of all, we should trust teachers. I, alongside my CTA colleagues, am a trained professional who acts in the best interest of all of my students. I take offense at the suggestion that the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC) is more knowledgeable about how to ensure the safety, belonging and growth of my students than I am. 

If the CTA opposes AB 715, let’s listen carefully to the reasons why it knows this bill will harm our students through censorship and the stifling of open and critical conversation. Are we willing to make enemies of all California public school teachers?

Second, David Bocarsly, executive director of JPAC, states that morphing this bill into a “universal anti-hate bill” is a “non-starter.” What could possibly be a valid reason why we are unwilling to align with other marginalized groups in order to pursue security and justice for all of us together? 

History is rife with examples of strength through solidarity. Jews were partners and champions of the Civil Rights Movement, and we knew our own welfare was intertwined with all people facing structural oppression. Why aren’t we willing to weave our safety into standing alongside our LGBTQ+, Black, Latino, Asian, Muslim and Native American neighbors? What do we have to lose?

Laura Einhorn | San Leandro

All Jews don’t back Israel or AB 715 

As one who cares about my Jewish children’s education, I thank the California Teachers Association (CTA) for defending Jews from attempts by pro-Israel groups like JPAC and the Anti-Defamation League to reduce our community to a single perspective or identity. Claiming all Jews support Israel’s actions encourages misunderstanding and fuels anti-Jewish stereotyping.

The bill in the California Senate, AB 715, would make us all less safe. As CTA points out, it would restrict what teachers could teach and students could learn about Israel, Palestine and antisemitism. It would set up a special “antisemitism coordinator” for the schools. No other group has such a representative.

AB 715’s demand that schools not allow expression of anti-Zionist ideas in classrooms would advance the Trump administration’s agenda of censoring American education at all levels. Under AB 715’s confusion of the Israeli state with the Jewish people, a Palestinian student sharing their family’s experience would be condemned as an antisemite.

I and thousands of other Jews who do not support Zionist ideology would be defined out of Judaism and labeled antisemitic. Teachers would be prevented from sharing historic facts about Zionism. I applaud CTA for standing up against censorship and against AB 715 and for teaching the whole truth about Israel and Palestine.

David Spero | San Francisco

Offended by ethnic-studies opposition

I am a Jewish parent of a San Francisco schools graduate and another teen who just completed an ethnic studies course in his freshman year at Lincoln High School. I am deeply offended by Viviane Safrin’s attempt to import the Moms for Liberty playbook into San Francisco and by J.’s complicity in its platforming. (“How San Francisco’s ethnic studies program is failing Jewish students,” July 15)

The fact of the matter is, having to learn about crimes and genocides done in your name is a critical aspect of growing up and learning about the world. The harm doesn’t come from learning about it, but from being subjected to the dissonance from people who want to complicate what is truly not complicated and excuse what we should consider to be inexcusable.

Our children are witnessing the first livestreamed genocide in real time on their phones. Jews should be more interested in truth than in shielding children from having to reckon with it.

Alex Lantsberg | San Francisco

Eloquent argument for humanity

Danielle Sobkin’s admonitions for mitigating the harms of social media to the practice of Judaism are eloquent (“You may think you’re beyond manipulation, but social media knows better,” June 24). The existential threats of artificial intelligence to the experience of being human cannot be overstated. One question to ask ourselves: Can you have an I-Thou relationship with AI? And if so, would you want one in the first place?

As Sobkin says, “We are not data.” We need firsthand experiences with one another and Jewish practice. We need purpose. Life cannot be monetized. 

May parents, educators, rabbis and all of us heed Sobkin’s counsel for meeting the challenges of algorithmic designs, so that we retain our human capacity for deep learning of Jewish text and communal practice, for critical thinking and creativity and for experiencing a meaningful life.

Molly Freeman
Berkeley

‘We are not data’

“Yasher koach” — good job —  to Danielle Sobkin! Many thanks to the author for skillfully addressing the onslaught of social media that poses as a reflection of Jewish life. Even those of us who are affiliated with Jewish organizations and who attempt to lead meaningful Jewish lives are assaulted by the constant flow of media bites and shallow commentary. 

The cost will be a Jewish community that is less connected and less in touch with the depth of what Judaism has to offer. As the author says, “We are not data. We are not branding.” The challenge for all of us, leaders and lay people, is to take the time to look deep into what Judaism means and take that message into our daily lives.

Cindy Ostroff
San Rafael

Talk to parents about ethnic studies

Gabe Stutman’s reporting on the San Francisco Unified School District’s ethnic studies curriculum was a good introduction to this topic for readers of J., but more reporting needs to be done (“S.F. schools will replace ethnic studies curriculum, superintendent says,” online June 30).

The district has not been up front and transparent with parents, the board of education or the community about the current curriculum’s origins, its lack of standards-based content, its distortions and omissions and its anti-Jewish content. 

How did we even get here in the first place? Where was the oversight and the due diligence in vetting the current curriculum? How is it that activist teachers were able to replace education with indoctrination, violating the public trust? How can we be confident that a new ethnic studies curriculum will be any better than the current one, given the district’s track record of obfuscation, deceit, hasty decisions and failure to monitor the content of its courses?

Stutman interviewed the superintendent and quoted the mayor, but we need to hear from the real stakeholders: concerned parents and educators. A follow-up article should include interviews with parents and educators about their concerns with the current curriculum and their vision for a replacement curriculum that is historically accurate and free of ideological bias.

Ethnic studies has tremendous potential to effect positive social change. A standards-based curriculum would encourage students’ curiosity, expose them to factual information about cultures other than their own and foster open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance.

Marinell Jochnowitz
San Francisco

Editor’s Note: A previous story about the pause on ethnic studies included comments from parents and educators. See tinyurl.com/tinyurl.com/parents-complain.

Show Israeli strength, not destruction

I was very disappointed when I saw the front-page photograph in the June 27 issue of J. was of a destroyed building in Israel with the headline, “WHAT NOW?”

No doubt the cowardly response of the Iranians was to inflict powerful missiles on Israeli civilians (a war crime) resulting in nearly 30 deaths and many injuries. But where was your acknowledgement of the truly remarkable and many would say miraculous achievements of the Israel Defense Forces? Military strategists worldwide were in awe of what tiny Israel accomplished against a country infinitely larger and with a population 10 times the size of the Jewish state’s.

The only commentary I could find in J. on the “12-Day War” was lifted from the far-left Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which has great difficulty recognizing anything positive about Israel (“Five key questions on what the future holds for Israel,” June 27).

I realize most of your readers are on the left, but this moment in Jewish history exceeded all partisanship, or so I mistakenly thought.

Mervyn Danker
San Mateo

Drag queen story led us to family 

On May 21, J. ran a story about drag queen Sasha Velour’s Berkeley performance debut (“Jewish drag superstar ready to sashay into Bay Area for her ‘Big Reveal’”).

With the catchy headline and with her love for the arts, my grandmother, Jane Emanuel, read the article. It referenced Mark Steinberg, Sasha’s father. Because of her genealogy work, she recognized Mark as the son of Norman Steinberg, my grandfather Roger Emanuel’s first cousin.

Jane had been in touch with Mark’s sister over the years and called her immediately in hopes of coordinating a first-ever meetup of the Bay Area family members with Sasha and Mark while they were in town.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email with the subject line “Your Third Cousin.” Then again, this is not the first time I have been spontaneously introduced to a distant relative.

On June 11, we went to the Berkeley Rep performance, and Mark brought us to the pre-show meet and greet. In all of her glamor, Sasha called out an exclamatory “The Emanuels!” and hugged all seven of us: two third cousins, four first cousins twice removed (two by marriage) and one second cousin once removed.

Scene 1 of her show and Chapter 1 of her memoir illustrate Sasha’s upbringing — how performance and dress-up were the activities of choice for Sasha and her grandmother, Dina, while Papa Norman was the cameraman. It was like receiving a family ancestry presentation, with visuals, in a theater with 300 audience members. Family is central to Sasha’s story, which made the night all the more special.

As I write to you, I reflect on how amazing intergenerational and cross-lineage relationships are. It opens us up to new experiences, people and connections.

Thanks to the J.’s feature, we have a new familial connection and an extremely unique story that will shine in our memories for years to come.

Natalie Rachel Jenkins
San Francisco

A Stockton salute to Capt. Weber 

The story about the history of Stockton’s Temple Israel was heartwarming (“Stockton’s Gold Rush-era congregation shines after 175 years,” June 3). I was a little surprised to see no mention of Capt. Charles Weber’s generosity in giving the nascent Jewish community a plot of land for a cemetery very soon after the Gold Rush began.

According to the late, much-lamented Robert Levine, historian of the Jews in the West, a deputation of Jewish miners waited on the captain in 1851. A few of their number had died up in the hills, and they had no consecrated ground in which to bury their dead. The Bavarian Catholic owner of the old Spanish rancho, which became the city of Stockton, was touched by their plight and gave them a tract for the purpose. His only stipulation was that it would never be used for anything else. It was an example of a true ecumenical spirit.

Judith Taylor
San Francisco

The price we will pay

I mourn for the Children of Israel, and especially for Israel’s children. I mourn because the next generation will be traumatized not only by the horrors of Oct. 7, but by the vicious Islamist campaign to wipe out not just Zionists but all Jews. The damage is incalculable.

As we sit here far away in the comfort of our peaceful surroundings, it’s easier to bask in the unimaginable success of Israel’s military might against cruel enemies. What we may not fully comprehend is the price we, and especially Israelis, have paid and will continue to pay for decades to come.

This price is the alternative to being wiped out by people who are infinitely worse than the Nazis, who knew when they were beaten and had to stop. Fortunately, there were other people who felt threatened enough to fight against the Nazis and destroy their sadistic world. But let’s face it: They didn’t do it to save the Jews. They did it to save themselves.

After 1948, the project for Jews in the diaspora was to help build Israel. The next project will be to reassure Israelis that their awful sacrifice wasn’t for naught, by showing them our love and support like never before. Am Yisrael Chai.

Desmond Tuck
San Mateo