Rabbis, Dershowitz on Jewish Identity

The declaration by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada (March 22) delegitimizing Reform and Conservative Judaism was issued at a very unfortunate time. Hamas bombs killing four and injuring 46 have settled the matter once and for all.

The enemies of Judaism make no distinction between the nature of a Jew’s beliefs. All Jews are their enemies. The similarities between Hamas zealots and the self-declared guardians of the Jewish religion are depressingly clear. One wants to rob the Jews of their lives, the other, their religious freedom.

LARRY SHAPIRO

Rancho Mirage

* The Union of Orthodox Rabbis has accomplished what even Hitler couldn’t do: With a mere stroke of the pen, they have eliminated millions of Jews.

MILA MARVIZON

JUAN CARLOS MARVIZON

Culver City

* I am happy to see that, on Alan Dershowitz’s planet (Commentary, March 21), “Anti-Semitism, as it affects the average American Jew, is over.” However, here on Earth, in Orange County, I can see and hear its overt specter every day. It is in the remark of an unthinking retail customer who says his friend is cheap, even though he isn’t Jewish. Or when a Gentile doctor’s wife says to the Gentile wife of a Jewish businessman, “You know how those Jewish doctors are.” At the same time, Dershowitz’s plan for positive action and thinking for the future of American Jews is OK.

Now the Orthodox rabbis have voted that 90% of all Jews in this country (Reform and Conservative) are not Jewish! How lucky can I get? Automatic assimilation! And I thought you had to be Gentile to be a racist!

DAVID GOLDENBERG

Laguna Beach

* “What planet of privilege are you living on?” would be my question to Dershowitz if his commentary hadn’t already told me the answer. Students polled at Dartmouth or studying in his classes at Harvard Law School are fortunate to be insulated from overt anti-Semitism. But the rest of us aren’t so lucky. In the nearly 30 years I’ve been living in Los Angeles, never before has friction between ethnic groups been expressed so bitterly and openly. Saddest of all, hard feelings are most apparent in young people. Those of us old enough to remember legal segregation may still identify with efforts to eradicate barriers that separate white from black or brown, native from newly arrived, believers in one faith from those in another.

Jews today don’t “need” anti-Semitism to retain our identity. Nor do we need the law professor’s condescending reassurance that it no longer exists. Jews, as he says, are not forbidden to live in restricted neighborhoods. But many of us are afraid to walk or drive through many streets in our county. What we and everyone else need is a rededication to the principles of brotherhood that may allow us to all live together freely, amicably, safely.

EVELYN LAGER

Los Angeles