Temple Mount, Return to Israel

“Jews Shouldn’t Adulate Temple Mount” (Commentary, Jan. 21) proposes some shocking changes for Judaism. Without some kind of sovereignty, Jews all through the centuries have been prevented from even worshiping at the Western Wall. How do Jews get away from the fact that over 600 times in the Old Testament the name of Jerusalem appears. “Let my right arm wither, if I forget thee, O Jerusalem.” What would David Myers and Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller have Jews do, throw out the Torah and the rest of the Old Testament?

STAN GOLDMAN

Van Nuys

* Congratulations to Myers and Seidler-Feller for having the courage to speak the truth about Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Mythologizing a history of Israeli control over the Temple Mount does nothing to advance the cause of peace. Both sides in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict have enough real issues that will require resolution in any final agreement. We must not permit the Temple Mount to become the subject of revisionist idolatry or to be misused by those (whether Jew or Muslim) who would seek to derail or delay a final peace accord.

DOUGLAS E. MIRELL

President, Progressive Jewish

Alliance, Los Angeles

* Israel’s concessions to Arab extortionists have not brought peace to Israel. Additional concessions to Arabs will not bring peace.

GERALD KLEIN

Reseda

* Tania Verafield’s “Discovering a ‘Birthright’ ” (Voices, Jan. 20), regarding her recent trip to Israel to “explore her ancestral homeland” with a group called Birthright Israel, was quite moving. I can’t help but wonder if my children--whose Palestinian grandfather dreamed of eventual return to his homeland--will ever enjoy the same privilege to claim a birthright now exclusively afforded to Jews like Verafield and her traveling companions.

LAILA AL-MARAYATI

Los Angeles