Letters (July 17, 2009)

Letters published in the AJN print edition of July 17, 2009

Harmony and tolerance

NOW that the Jewish community in Melbourne has so wonderfully showed its support for harmony, through our contingent at the Harmony Walk on July 12, we should extend our desire and action for harmony and tolerance to Jerusalem, where the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC) is building a Museum of Tolerance.

That would of course have been a laudable enterprise, had the site chosen for the museum not been on a former Muslim cemetery. That a Jewish organisation should desecrate a former cemetery of another religion in the name and honour of our ancestors, who themselves suffered from such desecration, is intolerable.

There are apparently no legal grounds under Israeli law on which the construction of the Museum of Tolerance on sacred Muslim land can be prevented. The High Court of Israel has decided in favour of the museum being built on that site, following an appeal. So now it is the responsibility of the court of Jewish public opinion to prevent the Museum of Tolerance becoming an edifice of intolerance.

I hope the leaders of the Melbourne Jewish community, who mobilised so many in the Jewish community to participate in the Harmony Walk, will extend their pursuit of harmony to Israel, by appealing to the SWC to build the Museum of Tolerance on land that is not sacred to any religion.

HELENA GRUNFELD
Brunswick, Vic

A flawed goal

THE fact remains: Iran is still a global threat. There is evidence of its continued attempt at nuclear weapon development, along with a supportive role of aiding terrorist groups, and we have little reason to trust them. The fact that Obama wants a miraculous thing — a ruling government with which he can communicate — there in itself shows a flawed goal. Apart from the moves restricted upon Israel and its proffered attack on the nuclear sites within Iran, the Obama Administration has decided to stay placidly idle in the hotbed Middle East situation.

The Basij militia bash the protesters in an effort to calm them; the protestors therefore flock in greater numbers and resist the Ahmadinejad government, enigmatically not providing proof of its own legitimacy and uncandidly ruling. There is no solid entity with which to communicate.

The very reason for protests in the state comes from disputed ballots. Mir Hussein Mousavi, the Opposition Leader, denounced the election, claiming an illegitimate victory. Now that the Iranian government has lost its legitimacy, it is no longer a respected part of the international community, if it ever was.

Regarding the two varied and unofficial parties, there is no solid entity with which to talk. Is President Obama naive enough not to understand this? That is perhaps not the case, he may have more tricks up his sleeve, some greater agenda. But for now he can remain marked if not naive than inexperienced, especially with regard to the Middle East.

ARIEL WIGDOROWITZ
Bentleigh East, Vic

Real priorities

SORRY Sal Salbe, but on balance, Greg Sheridan is correct (AJN 10/07). Antony Loewenstein might occasionally criticise the Iranian regime on his blog, but compared to his repeated and hysterical media condemnations of Israel he is, as Sheridan phrased it, listless.

Proof positive is his willingness to be interviewed by government-controlled Iranian media outlets to promote his views on Israel, thus serving the interests of a regime and leadership that Loewenstein ostensibly savages. That shows where his real priorities lie.

GEORGE GREENBERG
Malvern, Vic

Humane shtreimels

UPON reading Yossi Aron’s AJN column (03/07) and a recent story in The Age, readers might mistakenly conclude that animal rights advocates are hostile to the Charedi tradition of wearing a shtreimel hat, as practised by the Adass community. This is a misconception.

The issue is not the headwear itself, but the fur used to make it. Many shtreimels use fur from mink, fox or sable that suffer on disgustingly cruel Chinese farms. These sentient creatures are kept in tiny cages, beaten, anally electrocuted and sometimes skinned alive. Animal rights groups, such as PETA, have acquired video evidence of this consistent torture.

It is perfectly acceptable for shtreimels to be tailored from synthetic fur. Indeed, the Wikipedia entry for “shtreimel” advises that synthetic fur is a common choice in Israel. Shtreimel-wearing men should follow the principles of non-cruelty embodied by the Torah, and buy hats of synthetic fur that do not require gut-wrenching animal cruelty.

RAPH BROUS
Campaign Manager, Animal Liberation Victoria

Spewing hatred

IT puzzles me how intelligent, thinking people in our community can tolerate the drivel from those who profess to be spiritual leaders and who write in the name of religion. It is inexcusable in 2009 that people can cower behind the facade of some holy teaching and spew forth hatred and intolerance like Rabbi Chaim Ingram did in his letter to the paper last week.

MICHAEL BARNETT
Ashwood, Vic

On tattoos

THE article in The AJN on “Jews and Tattoos” was most interesting (AJN 03/07). Sure, in the Bible, we read tattooing was forbidden by Jewish law, however, we must consider the reasons why.

At the time of the Bible, hygiene was almost nil and any tattooing would have led to certain infection. In today’s conditions, tattoo studios are closely controlled by the health department and follow hospital-style sterilisation procedures. If a Jewish person wishes to have a tattoo I would be in complete agreement.

A tattoo can look great and reflects a person’s personality, and in many cases, an expression of a past event in one’s life. Keep it small and thoughtful, and you will take enjoyment from your tattoo.

MARCUS S MOSS
Black Rock, Vic

Accessible JCCV

THIS letter is to inform you and your readers how accessible the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) is for any Jewish community member not in an affiliated organisation who has a problem that relates to the whole community.

For some time, I have been involved with the preservation and restoration of the Metahar House (building to prepare deceased Jews for burial) at Brighton Cemetery. It is of great historical, cultural and religious significance, and is worthy of refurbishment as a permanent memorial and museum to Phillip Blashki, Brighton Cemetery’s first Jewish trustee, who organised its construction in 1909-10.

Up to three years ago, this building was derelict. We had made great progress, but we came to an impasse; before further funds could be raised, we had to clarify who actually owned the building. It is not owned by the cemetery, it is “owned” by the whole Jewish community. But who could speak and act for the whole Jewish community?

To me, the next step was to speak to JCCV. I discussed the matter with its executive director Geoffrey Zygier. He listened, initiated enquiries, and invited me to address the JCCV plenum under general business. Helpful discussion followed, and the JCCV is prepared to put its weight behind further discussion and negotiation, which for so long has been neglected and seen as “too hard”.

I appreciated this opportunity to participate, and suggest that anyone interested in matters affecting our community take advantage of the JCCV’s open access, network and willingness to help.

DR MALCOLM FREDMAN
Brighton, Vic

Outrageous demands

NOW that the Old and New Worlds have shown their hand vis-à-vis the new Israeli government, and that political infighting has again taken centre stage in the Holy Land, there is a window of opportunity to stand back and look at the big picture.

There are two camps: one, the Americans, representing the ‘70 nations,’ espousing power, and the other espousing faith. The latter are not necessarily the religious bloc. The media and those that follow it have now divided the Israeli monde politique into four groups: centre-left, centre-right, outgoing extremists and the religious bloc.

These categorisations are merely distractions from the moral and spiritual realities. There are two species of beast on this planet: those motivated by a will to serve God and others, and those motivated by a will to serve themselves.

Diaspora Jews could play a transformative role in ensuring that Israel has the right balance of faith and power. Slavishly following media analysis and adhering to traditional categories of analysis only obscure the picture, and obstruct problem-solving and correct decision-making.

First step: speak out against the outrageous “demands” of the 70 nations for Israel to relinquish its spiritual heartlands. There is no West Bank. There are Judah and Samaria. They are non-negotiable, and it is outrageous if not blasphemous to declare otherwise.

DR PAUL BROWN
St Kilda East, Vic

Dangerous ground

AFTER reading your editorial “The honour of the IDF” (AJN 10/07), your readers would have been well-softened up for the “Viewpoint” by Gerald M Steinberg, published in the same AJN edition.

Steinberg reports “the entire population of Gaza” as having been “one massive human shield” for Hamas during the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) Operation Cast Lead. He thereby attempts to negate any international, or even Israeli concerns that Gaza’s civilian casualties and the widespread destruction of its essential civilian infrastructure require any independent inquiry or investigation.

Perilously for Steinberg, he seems to be exposing himself, and The AJN for publishing him, to perceptions that he and The AJN regard it as legitimate to militarily attack an entire population if its civilians are, wittingly or not, voluntarily or forcibly, exploited as “human shields”.

The political and military values underpinning such an argument do not sit at all consistently with the much professed Israeli and Jewish Diasporic concerns for the human rights of Darfurians collectively oppressed by the Sudanese government because of the militant “rebels” among them.

Nor does such a construct sit at all well alongside contemporary international law, which one would hope The AJN regards as legitimate, having arisen in the main from international revulsion following the Holocaust.

LES ROSENBLATT
Elwood, Vic

Courage v cowardice

RABBI Ingram’s explanation of the Noahide Laws binding on the nations (AJN 10/07) coincided with the death of Edward Kenna, Australia’s last surviving Victoria Cross (VC) winner from World War II.

Much was written about Kenna’s life, his essential decency and modesty, and of course his remarkable initiative and courage as a private soldier who, without orders, stood up in full view of the enemy less than 50 yards away, engaging their bunker and firing his Bren gun from the hip.

What was missing from the lavish and deserved tributes to a role model to all young Australians was that in Kenna’s life, despite the obvious temptations to a man with his record and fame, he married his nurse, founded a family and in 62 years of marriage observed the Noahide Laws, once known as the Judeo-Christian values that underpinned the English-speaking democracies. That showed moral courage, sadly missing among many sporting heroes.

In my own extended family, we also have a VC winner, Leonard Keysor. His was won at Gallipoli in 1915. Through raised in a London Jewish Orthodox family, educated at a Jewish boarding school and buried as a Jew, he gave his religion on enlistment as Church of England. That was moral cowardice.

MARK BRAHAM
Rose Bay, NSW

These letters were published in The AJN on July 17, 2009.