A Wise Young Voice
I just read the beautiful article by 11-year-old Avishai Frankenthal about life in Israel during wartime (“A Kid’s Life in Wartime Israel,” June 27). What a very special boy you are, Avishai! But I’m not surprised.
I’m an old friend of your Frankenthal grandparents and they must be very proud, because you take after them and even after your great-grandparents, the Rubins (those in heaven and those with us).
Kol hakavod to your parents. They are doing a very good job.
Naomi Klass Mauer
Jerusalem, Israel
Musical Memories
The two-part article about Jewish singers in Saul Singer’s “Collecting Jewish History” column (“They All Sang in Hebrew,” June 20 and 27), reminds me of songs and music I listened to on road trips, at weddings, engagement parties, bar mitzvahs, and the whole gamut of Jewish life events.
One of my favorites is Harry Belafonte (mentioned in the article) and his unique calypso style in songs like “Day-o” (The Banana Boat Song). Other Jewish music singers include Adam Sandler, Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, and Arlo Guthrie.
I’m still waiting for Adam Sandler to sing all about Purim, the Haggadah, and Shavuot. I won’t hold my breath, but who knows?
Raquel Hanon
Via E-mail
Eye On Israel
Kol hakavod to The Jewish Press for your extensive and heartfelt coverage of the situation in Israel the last few weeks. At a time when too many in our communities are caught up in their own concerns (whether trivial or serious), you provide an important service not only by informing us about what is really going on politically and militarily, but also by fostering understanding of what it is like to live through wartime by publishing articles by Israelis sharing their experiences.
We’re all one people, with only one true home, but too many Jews just don’t get it. The Jewish Press should be commended for trying to bridge that gap – which is what needs to happen for Moshiach to come.
Chaim Bloom
Via E-mail
Supporting Israel Means Demanding Better
I cede no ground to anyone when it comes to supporting Israel. I believe that the Jewish state is part of the Messianic redemption, and I recite Hallel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim. We have a son in the Israel Defense Forces, who, when not on reserve duty, is a highly regarded rebbe in a Hesder yeshiva. Given all this, if I express criticism of Israel, I hope it will be taken in the spirit that I intend it: as a desire that Israel up its moral game.
If an Arab group were to repeatedly attack Israelis seeking to obtain food, we would immediately condemn the attacks as inhumane, as war crimes. Tragically, there is mounting evidence that some soldiers (likely a tiny group) have reprehensibly fired upon Palestinian Arabs seeking to access food in a starving Gaza.
If the only sources for this evidence were Hamas-related, or if they emanated from Israel-haters such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International, we would rightly be skeptical. However, when pro-Israel entities such as Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post are doing the reportage, alarm bells must be raised.
When Israel and the United States recently announced the joint administration of a distribution program through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, there was true hope that Gazan civilians could at least access a minimal amount of food. Yet it is specifically at the four GHF distribution sites where things have gone awry. Multiple reports of IDF soldiers firing upon and killing civilians assaying to access food, as reported on the TOI website, cannot be ignored.
The fact that Israel’s Military Advocate General has opened an inquiry into these shootings is ample evidence that there is not just smoke here; there likely is (in the literal sense) fire. Of course, if the investigation finds no wrongdoing, we will breathe a collective sigh of relief. If the charges are true, one hopes that the perpetrators will be dealt with harshly.
The army of the Jewish people cannot descend to the level of our enemies. These horrible actions need to stop. Besides the innocents being killed, these actions cast aspersions upon the moral high ground we have staked out.
It is uncomfortable for me to write these words, and I am certain it is uncomfortable to read them. But we are not immune from criticism when such criticism is justified. There was a time when the IDF subscribed to a creed of “tohar ha’neshek,” purity of arms. I pray that we are not abandoning this vital creed.
Avi Goldstein
Far Rockaway, N.Y.
