RABBI HIER
The article’s constant attempt to draw a comparison between the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles is ill-conceived and inappropriate.
The Jewish Federation Council is the umbrella organization for the Los Angeles Jewish comunity, representing some 500 affiliated orgnizations. Through its United Jewish Fund, more than $50 million is raised annually to support humanitarian concerns here in Los Angeles, in Israel and throughout the world. This is an entirely different mission than the center has set for itself.
To characterize Rabbi Hier as having “managed to alienate many of the city’s established Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Federation Council,” is entirely untrue. Rabbi Hier has joined the leadership of the Jewish Federation Council, along with the leadership of most of the city’s Jewish organizations, in a major campaign currently underway to raise millions of dollars for Operation Exodus to resettle Soviet Jews in Israel.
The article’s authors, Sheldon Teitelbaum and Tom Waldman, who both at one time wrote for the Jewish Journal, are aware that this newspaper is not a Federation “house organ,” but an independent, unaffiliated publication.
Ron Rieder
Director of Public Affairs, Jewish Federation Council
Los Angeles
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