Righteous Indignation

I, too, am a non-Orthodox Jew who identifies strongly with the Jewish people and resents any particular Jewish denomination or other subgroup dictating the criteria for who is a Jew. It is particularly offensive when the dictation comes from one of the smallest grouping of the Jewish people--the religious fundamentalists.

We in the Jewish community are well aware of the efforts of this small sect to dictate their terms to all Jews but the larger Southern California community is quite unaware of it. Your objective depiction of the issue is, however, more than a journalist’s effort to bring attention to hitherto relatively unknown facets of our civilization. The phenomenon of the resurgence of religious fundamentalism is quite general throughout the world, from the Khomeini Shiites to the growth of a particular type of American Christian fundamentalism. Your article contributes to needed public education on this development.

WILLIAM SHONICK

Los Angeles