I read with great interest Nancy Kirsch’s story about Budapest (See “Anti-Semitic acts in Budapest stun Habonim congregants” in the April 26 issue).

Dear Jewish Voice & Herald,

I just received my copy of the latest edition – and can’t thank you enough for the special second place award you created for me in your “Day of Decadence” contest. I was thrilled to be honored among so many others. I happened to learn, just before your announcement, that I was nominated by a rabbi, a rebbitzin, a minister, and Santa and Mrs. Claus!

Although it sounds like the start of a bad joke, for those who are unaware, Gerry and Mickie MacNeill dress up every December and perform tzedakah around the state.

I also request a slight addendum to the article. I am blessed to receive some much needed support (both emotionally and physically) not only from the Jagolinzers, the MacNeills, and Rev. Jim, but also from my dear cousins – Marc, Janice and Betty Adler. Imagine my surprise to see Betty’s nomination on page 21! I have already convinced her to accompany my brother and me, so we can all enjoy the wonderful gift to Rue De L’Espoir. It’s only right that our “celebrity” family should celebrate together! Again, thank you to my “fan club” and to The Voice & Herald judges for their decision.

Lisa Kotlen
Middletown

It is hard to see why The Voice & Herald found Robert Lappin’s
hate-filled screed (in its April 26 issue) against the Palestinians worth
publishing. The letter seemed to lack any purpose other than to air the author’s hatred of Palestinians and to express his sense of Jewish superiority.

The letter is filled with half-truths and racist-tinged generalizations about Palestinian culture and character of the kind we would quickly condemn as anti-Semitic if it were written about Jews.  We would not countenance a letter that said “Jews are greedy” or “clannish” or “only care about money,” or that Jews are against equality because men and women sit separately.

Yet comparable racist stereotypes about Palestinians (“Palestinians
are violent;” they “prefer death to life”) somehow merited publication.

In fact, according to the Congressional Research Service, Palestinians are among the most educated and entrepreneurial populations in the Arab world, with an adult literacy rate of 95 percent. The Fatah movement (as distinguished from Hamas) seeks to establish a state by nonviolent means – negotiations, international diplomacy and civil disobedience. The Palestinians are also among the most democratic of the Arab governments, although admittedly democracy is a work in progress everywhere in the Middle East. Finally, Fatah (as distinguished from Hamas) favors a secular government rather than an Islamic one.

When racism passes for intelligent commentary, we all lose.

Nina Tannenwald

Tannenwald, on leave from Brown University’s political science department this year, is on assignment at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.

Robert Lappin’s essay (“Who are the Palestinians?” in the May 10 issue) makes no sense. On the one hand, he wants Arabs and Palestinians to recognize “Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.” On the other hand, he implies that the state of Israel should include the West Bank and East Jerusalem, ensuring that Israel will become a majority gentile nation.

Lappin’s rejection of two states for two peoples portends a future Israel where Jews will be the minority, on a land engulfed in sectarian violence reminiscent of the former Yugoslavia, which broke apart after 140,000 deaths, or the horror that is today’s Iraq.

Marc Paige
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.