Mixed Feelings

I read Joy Horowitz’ article “Pour It In” (March 31) with very mixed feelings. I empathize with the author’s delight in being able to learn so much about Passover from her venerable Jewish grandmothers.

But what is not so funny is bubbe Tessie’s anecdote about her father slapping one of his employees in the face hard enough to make the man fall down and apparently die. This was a shocking and cruel act by any civilized standard. Not only that, it was for precisely this offense that Moses killed the Egyptian overseer, thus becoming a fugitive, thus triggering the Exodus process that is the heart and soul of the Passover Seder. Grandma told this story as if it were no more than one of Papa’s foibles.

Horowitz should have been ashamed to pass it on, especially in such a cavalier fashion and especially in the context of a reminiscence of her family’s Passover tradition. Jesus--who ate his final meal during this ceremony--was correct: We should worry less about what goes into our mouths than about what comes out.

--JONATHAN GORDON

West Hollywood