Letters

You Say You Want A Revolution

You don't buy a revolution, you earn it, by working in the trenches everyday, building a solid base of grassroots support. You do this by avoiding back biting politics, challenging outmoded ideas and championing the untold stories of your people. You fight ignorance and intolerance, and you call for unity by building strong coalitions and promoting pluralism -- but pluralism with equality. That means real education and hands-on activism.

I applaud David Suissa's desire for Jewish unity, but after reading your cover story (Feb. 11) on his "Ashkefardic ultrareforconservadox" revolution, I still don't know what he stands for, what his history means to him, and whether the fortune he is lavishing on Olam will change anything in the Jewish community for longer than a season. When thousands of people flock to the Jewish Museum in New York this September, to see the new show on Morocco, will Suissa's revolution insure that they understand what they're seeing?

There is a revolution afoot in the Jewish world, and it is happening not in the halls of power, but among the grassroots who are redefining themselves spiritually and culturally. For these Jews, unity finds itself in the specific expression of those Jewish cultures which have long been disenfranchised, both in Israel and in the U.S. That's the revolution I'm putting my money on.

Jordan Elgrably

IVRI-NASAWI

Los Angeles

Family Matters

I read with interest the article written by Dr. Barney Rosen, "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been" (Feb. 4). Although I commend Rosen for sharing his personal journey in dealing with intermarriage, and his willingness to share his reflections growing up in an Orthodox Jewish home, I am perplexed and saddened by his need to denigrate his parents. The issue of dealing with his parents and coping with the many ambiguous feelings and issues in his family was very revealing, and offers a context for those couples that follow him. However, I am sorry that Rosen did not seem concerned about the impact of his story on his parents, and I hope someday he will be more understanding and forgiving of their difficult journey. After all, they were Holocaust survivors.

Rosen ended his story talking about the spiritual journey that he and Lori share together. It is not clear as to how his story about intermarriage relates to their spiritual journey, or what personal difficulties and challenges his wife shared in marrying him, and coping with his family system.

Name withheld upon request

Role Model

After reading the article in The Jewish Journal (Feb. 18) about "the bad boy of rock 'n roll" Aviv Geffen, I believe that it doesn't speak well for Israel's young people who consider Geffen a "hero." I would have to say that these youngsters are not cut from the same cloth as their forebears who rescued the fledgling Jewish State from the five major wars of Arab aggression.

One may develop some tolerance for minor examples of youth gone astray. However, what is the excuse of the presumably mature adults who run the office of the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, an arm of the Foreign Office of Israel, for publicly sponsoring a performance of young Geffen, a dyed-in-the-wool misfit.

Is Geffen the best role model that the Foreign Office of Israel can export to the U.S. to put on display to American Jewish youth, who already have within their earshot a surfeit of American "bad boys" of rock n' roll? So, through the good offices of the Foreign Office of Israel we now know that even a Hebrew-speaking Jew from Israel is able to ape what is not necessarily the best of the U.S. cultural scene.

Leon Perlsweig

Calabassas

Protesting Breitburn

I am writing in response to Frederick Singer's letter to the editor in the Jan. 28 issue. Singer states that Jews of this community should be happy and proud to be contributing to the world's energy supply instead of protesting the oil well at Pico-Robertson.

I certainly can not feel proud as a Jew, no matter what the political or financial gain may be in contributing to the world's oil supply, in light of the fact that the Breitburn facility, situated in the heart of our community, has failed to provide adequate testing of its toxic emissions and failed to prove that the site does not impose a health hazard to us and our children.

We will not stop protesting until Breitburn and the city of Los Angeles can provide us with proper testing and analysis at their site, an ongoing monitoring of emissions by an independent regulatory body, and details of safety provisions in case of malfunctions.

Certainly the Torah mandates in chapter two of Genesis that man is to keep and take care of the world that God gave us. As a mother, citizen and Jew, I feel responsible to protest that Breitburn and other oil companies take very seriously their responsibility to monitor toxic emissions, and adhere to standards of safety to protect us, our children and the precious earth we were given to keep safe.

Susie Chodakiewitz

Los Angeles

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Arthur Benveniste's response (letters, Feb. 4) reflects the opinionated and slanted view of the writer, who by his erroneous, revisionist and undocumented statements misguided the uninformed readers. His remarks, also well-intentioned, merit corrections that are validated by documentary research of prominent scholars of the Shoah.

Jews constituted approximately ten percent of the Lincoln Brigade. A large majority of the brigade were anti-fascist volunteers fighting the combined militant forces of the fascist Falangist, Nazi Germany and Italian rightist forces. Franco's regime introduced anti-Semitic laws, and equal rights and freedom of religious expression were suspended. Fear and insecurity led to an exodus of many, mostly prominent Jews.

In fact, the Franco regime limited Jews from worshipping in synagogues, forcing them to pray in homes. Benveniste accused Tom Tugend of overlooking the atrocities of the Spanish Republicans, yet he never mentioned that the Republican fighters, and the civilian population were indiscriminately slaughtered by Nazi units. Additionally, he conveniently omitted the truism that after the end of the civil war, Franco's forces executed over 100,000 Republican soldiers.

Very frequently, Jewish families were separated, or they were under house arrest. Women were jailed and countless men were interned at the infamous Miranda de Ebro concentration camp. The conditions of Jews living under the control of the Nationalists were horrifying . The Jewish community of Seville was under the domination of the most outspoken anti-Semitic individual, General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano who stated: "Our fight is not the Spanish civil war, but for Western civilization against world Jewry. In 1938, he imposed a fine of 138,000 pesetas on the Seville Jewish community.

Spain identified itself with the evil of Nazi Germany, and only the pressure of Allied retaliation and efforts by Jewish organizations forced the Nationalists into a compromising situation.

Vernon L. Rusheen

Woodland Hills

Get In Shape at the JCC

I was pleased to see the addition of a Fitness 2000 pullout section to The Jewish Journal (Jan. 28). However, I was disheartened that the various health and fitness programs of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles were noticeably absent from the articles. Each of the neighborhood JCC's offers a range of fitness programs for children, adults and seniors. In addition, our larger centers -- Westside Jewish Community Center and West Valley Jewish Community Center -- offer indoor swimming pools, gymnasiums, cardiovascular and weight rooms, and a full range of quality classes including aerobics, yoga and dance.

I look forward to your next fitness section and hope to see the range of fitness programs offered by the JCC highlighted.

Lee S. Smith

President of Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles

Torah Portion

Thank you for printing the Torah portion column each week. The perspectives are always thought provoking. I appreciate the intent to further enlighten us as to the views of local rabbis who represent the spectrum of Jewish thought and practice. In a subtle but substantive way these views help us appreciate our common bond in Torah.

I hope that the Torah portion's slow recession to the back pages of the paper is not a sign that it will be discontinued. I know many readers who appreciate the column's contribution to our continuing education and the meaningful reflections from the scriptures on the directions our lives should take.

Stuart Bernstein

Santa Monica

In this article Federation writer Dahlia S. Greer states that "The Federation's Resettlement and Acculturation Program provides specialized services thorugh its network of Federation agencies." But as I continued reading this article, it appears that only Jewish Federation and not its agencies (except for Jewish Vocational Service) do anything to resettle refugees. The reality is that Jewish Federation's Refugee Resettlement and Acculturation Program is the umbrella under which the various agencies operate. This body does the budgeting and distributes the money to the agencies involved. The agencies run the programs and Refugee Resettlement and Accultration, except for the acculturation piece know very little about the detailed everyday workings of the individual agency programs.

In the 23 years that I worked in the program, Jewish Family Service's Immigration and Resettlement Program arranged the sponsorships, assigned the social workers to the emigres, and followed up with counseling, assigned the soical workers to the emigres, and followed up with counseling, referrals to Jewish Vocational Service, medical care, etc. for the first six months of resettlement and longer depending on the individual or family's needs. Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (an important organization Greer failed to mention even once) obtains the visas from the U.S. government.

Let me also point out the following: Greer writes that Maya Segal, coordinator of the Refugee Resettlement and Accultration Program, settled 400 refugees in 1999. Maya Segal does not settle or resettle refugees. Jewish Family Service has been and still is the principle resettler of Jewish refugees in Los Angeles since this program began. Sima Furman has been the director of this program for the past 12 years. Miriam Prum Hess did not arrange for the Library Minyan at Temple Beth Am to sponsor the Genns, but again Jewish Family Service was the agency involved. Prum Hess did not appeal to the U.S. governnment for special consideration for the Genns. HIAS arranged the Genn immigration to the United States. The number of refugees resettled by the Jewish Community from 1973-2000 500 Russians and 5,000 Iranians is incorrect. The figure is 28,402 Russians and 4,685 Iranians through 1999.

Please check your facts carefully. There were many errors in the reporting of the refugee program.

Gila Shabanow, MSW

Formerly Migration Supervisor JFS Immigration and Resettlement Program

THE JEWISH JOURNAL welcomes letters from all readers. Letters should be no more than 250 words and we reserve the right to edit for space. All letters must include a signature, valid address and phone number. Pseudonyms and initials will not be used, but names will be withheld on request. Unsolicited manuscripts and other materials should include a self-addressed, stamped envelope in order to be returned.

Letters can be sent to thejjla@aol.com, however, please include an address and phone number if you wish the letter to be published.