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| February 28 - March 13, 2003 | |||||||||||||
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Local StoriesArea
Temples Organize to Boost Shabbat Observance 'Fiddler on the Roof' Lyricist Featured in New Musical BRETT
M. RHYNE Teach-in Shows Pacifists Stuck Between Iraq, Hard Place BRETT
M. RHYNE Kooper Rocks on for Charity at Malden's Tifereth Israel BRETT
M. RHYNE National
News
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RACHEL GOLDMAN Swampscott's Rachel Goldman, 18, is a student at Northeastern. Her email is goldman.r@neu.edu. Nina is now 7. |
Editor’s Note: This is the first in an occasional series of features in which Journal subscribers describe some Jewish or other experience in their lives that they found especially meaningful and that we think may be of general interest to Journal readers. Submissions should be limited to 500 words. They can be sent to Editor, Jewish Journal/North of Boston, 201 Washington Street, Suite 14, Salem, MA 01970, or emailed to editor@jewishjournal.org. Submissions may be edited before publication and will not be returned.
RACHEL
GOLDMAN
Jewish Journal North of Boston
I
had always fantasized about having a younger sister who would be confidante
and playmate.
My little sister Nina is neither. Yet she in an inspiration. Nina has
autism. This is a developmental disability that hampers many aspects of
the affected individual’s life. Severity ranges from being only slightly
handicapped to being so severely impaired, that communication and social
interaction is almost nonexistent.
At the age of one and a half Nina’s only speech consisted of saying,
“See.” “See.” “See.” and then giggling profusely.
The doctors told my parents not to worry.
I would indulge myself by placing Nina on my lap and reading story after
story as she grew. Little did anyone know what her future would be like.
No one fathomed her severe disability until later. She acted lovingly
with me and our family. Behind her soft black eyes and porcelain skin
spotted with freckles, she looked like any other child her age. But what
was going on in the deep recesses of her mind?
At two-and-a-half Nina was displaying odd behavior. She would spend hours
and hours glued to one picture from a magazine. She gazed at a colorful
page of Halloween decorations for an entire day. At this point, my parents
knew something was wrong. Nina let out little yelps, yaps and hoots that
caught the attention of strangers.
By the time Nina was three, she was diagnosed with autism. Like many children
with autism, she digressed from her progress in learning to speak and
slowly became more taciturn. It was like a slow, gradual step backwards
for Nina into an obscurity that I could not reach, touch or truly understand.
She was now a different kind of child with special needs.
Our family slowly adapted to dealing with a child who needed an infinite
amount of care, attention, and assistance in life. She would reach the
tallest cupboard to reach her favorite cookies or invade the bathroom
and spill out all of the mouthwash. Her senseless antics often brought
the household to frustration and wonderment.
Over time, our family got used to Nina’s individual rituals, as well
as her lack of speech. Although she could not talk, we felt that she could
often understand when we spoke to her. At the mere mention of “cake”
Nina would rush for a fork. Her comprehension of our words as well as
many of her surroundings gave hope for her possible success in the future.
From the age of four to six Nina held a baby kermit doll in her hand at
all times and rarely let it go. Although Nina rarely spoke, she uttered
some choice words off and on throughout her years. While jerkingly spewing
out “Kermif’ once in a while, I rarely heard Nina utter any
words, let alone a name.
On occasion she would allow an embrace from a family member but usually
Nina ran from any social interaction and stared at a picture.
One day I was in front of a mirror with Nina, and she gazed longingly
at our reflection, yelping and hollering as she always does. Her excitement
was noticeable. I pointed toward her reflection and said, “Nina.”
She loved looking at herself. But Nina looked again in the mirror and
uttered quickly in a mumble, “Rurache I!”
Never had I felt Nina acknowledge me in words. Although the word was brief
and soon dissipated into the air, I felt a jolt run through my body. My
eyes began to swell with tears. I had never heard her say my name before.
I made a vow not to lose hope in Nina. While the child of five or six
had never said a real sentence in her life, I knew she had a mind and
a heart.
Having a sister like Nina is an imposing challenge that leaves little
time for rest or quiet. Her yelping intensified as she grew. Seeing a
seven-year-old girl unable to control what comes out of her mouth or her
actions can be startling and upsetting to people. Taking her to the supermarket
was a burdensome task. While Nina screeched and yelped people would stare
or turn harsh faces to my family. I would often look Nina in the eye and
beg her to be quiet in public places. Now, I realize that Nina is not
in control of how she acts, and I do not care if people stare: Nina is
Nina.
Nina has made some progress. Through rigorous work with her teachers Nina
can now write her own name. She can also count with assistance.
This is absolutely phenomenal to me. Even though her eyes may be blank
to her achievements, I tell her how smart and beautiful she is and she
may allow me to hug her. Very few people have that power over her. I like
to believe she is a special extension of me. Like me, she loves makeup
and jewelry. If I am not watching her, she sneaks in my room and steals
my lipstick. She smushes the color all over her face then laughs at me
when I scold her. I can not help but start laughing, too. Her laugh is
worth the $5.50 for the lipstick.
SIMON
GRIVER
Israel
has long been on the cutting edge of research and development in advanced
technologies. A country of very limited natural and financial resources,
as yet not at peace with some of its neighbors, Israel’s scientists
and engineers have been constantly faced with the challenge of quickly
devising new and innovative solutions, such as drip irrigation (in response
to the country’s limited water resources) or the Merkava tank (as
part of a wider effort to develop a home-grown defense industry). History
and geography have made Israelis adept at identifying problems, finding
solutions, and shortening the development process to turn them into commercial
products.
Over the last decade, Israel’s research and development (R&D)
prowess has rapidly expanded out of the military sphere, the universities
and research institutes, where it was originally concentrated, to create
what is widely acknowledged as a model high technology economy. Israel
is second only to the United States on a per capita basis in its ability
to generate new, technology-based companies with innovative, market-focused
products.
A Brief History
Amid the kibbutzim and factories of the early 20th century, the seeds
of Israel’s future technological institutions were planted. The Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology, the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute
of Science were all established before the founding of the State in 1948,
and the arrival of highly educated refugees fleeing Nazi Europe contributed
significantly to its pool of scientific talent. The fledgling state enjoyed
early success in its efforts to make the desert bloom, and created a large
farm-export industry. These agricultural achievements were made possible
by R&D in areas such as plant and animal propagation, and soil and
water technology, conducted at the Volcani Center’s Agricultural
Research Organization and the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture
in Rehovot.
Having fought three major wars in the first two decades of its existence,
the government reached the conclusion in the late 1960s that it would
have to develop as much of its own defense capabilities as possible. The
resulting flurry of R&D activity was aimed principally at military
communications and electronics, but civilian spin-offs from military technology
laid the basis for Israel’s first generation of high tech enterprises.
By the early 1970s, the government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)
had successfully built its own fighter jet, the Kfir. In 1988, Israel
became the eighth country to have independently launched its own satellite
into space. More recently, with U.S. funding, IAI successfully developed
the Arrow missile, the world’s first missile-to-missile defense system.
High Tech Today
At the turn of the new millennium, Israel boasts many thousands of high
technology companies in a wide range of fields such as telecommunications
equipment, software, semiconductors, biotechnology and medical electronics.
The majority of these companies are start-ups, with the most successful
becoming world leaders in their respective fields. High technology and
technology-rich products account for some 70% of exports. Multinational
corporations have come to recognize Israel’s technology abilities:
leading global companies like Intel, Motorola, IBM, Microsoft, Alcatel
and 3Com all have research and development facilities in Israel. Intel
and Motorola also manufacture advanced products in Israel, and many other
multinationals have purchased local companies, buying their patents and
acquiring their human talent.
High tech companies are located throughout the country: in central Tel
Aviv, in the suburbs of Jerusalem, even in development towns in the Galilee
and the Negev. But the main centers are in Tel Aviv’s Atidim Industrial
Park, to the north of Tel Aviv in Herzliya Pituah, and to the south in
Rehovot, adjacent to the Weizmann Institute, as well as in Tel Aviv’s
northeastern suburbs. Israel invests 2.2% of its gross domestic product
in R&D (the third highest level in the world, after Japan and Sweden
and on a par with Germany).
There are currently some 100 Israeli companies trading in the US, mainly
on the NASDAQ market, representing the second-largest number of foreign
firms appearing on the US stock markets (after Canada). Some 80% of these
companies develop and manufacture advanced technological products. An
additional 14 companies have made public offerings on European exchanges
and, of course, dozens of high tech firms are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange.
Resourceful Workforce
The essence of Israel’s achievements in the high tech sector is the
quality, energy and enterprise of its people. Twenty percent of the country’s
workforce are university graduates, the highest proportion in the world
after the US, compared with 17% in Canada, 12% in Britain and 8% in Italy.
Israel has the world’s highest percentage of engineers (135 per 10,000
people compared to 85 per 10,000 in the US) and, with 28,000 physicians,
by far the highest number of medical doctors per capita in the world.
In addition, Israeli academics publish more scientific papers in international
journals (110 for every 10,000 persons) than any other country in the
world.
More than one million new immigrants from the former Soviet Union have
strengthened Israel’s highly educated workforce over the past decade.
These newcomers have an even more impressive educational profile than
the average Israeli: 2.3% have second and third degrees compared to 1.2%
of the general population. Russian immigrants are especially proficient
in R&D disciplines such as advanced materials and new industrial processes
which complement the country’s traditional expertise in software,
semiconductors, medical equipment, biotechnology, electronics and communications.
An important and unusual source of high tech talent comes from the Israel
Defense Forces. The army serves as a nationwide screening program to identify
the most promising and talented young people and puts them through rigorous
training via elite programs in technology and other military functions.
Not only do participants gain an unparalleled education, they learn leadership
and problem-solving skills and establish personal networks that often
form the basis for later partnerships in industry. The co-founders of
many high tech companies began working together in the same army unit.
Research Centers
Dozens of government, defense and public research institutes, medical
centers and universities conduct R&D. In addition to the Technion
and the Hebrew University, these universities include “Bar-Ilan University,
Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa and Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev. The universities, together with the Hadassah Medical Center
in Jerusalem and the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture in
Rehovot, have all established companies to register patents on and commercially
exploit the technologies they develop. Relative to their expenditure on
R&D, Israel’s universities have been granted twice as many patents
as American universities and nine times as many as in Canada.
In addition, there is often close cooperation between high tech industrial
parks and neighboring universities. Some examples are: the Kiryat Weizmann
Industrial Park and the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot; Jerusalem’s
Har Hotzvim and Malkah Technological Parks and the Hebrew University;
the MATAM High Tech Park in Haifa and the Haifa Technion; and the Atidim
High Tech Park and Tel Aviv University.
Foreign Investment
In the early years of the State, foreign investment was almost nil. Recurrent
wars made Israel too high a risk, and successive socialist governments
believed in the development of a strong, domestically owned industrial
infrastructure. But slowly foreign companies began testing the waters.
In the 1970s, Motorola set up the first major US R&D presence in Israel,
and today develops and manufactures communications equipment and semiconductors
with annual sales of over $1 billion.
Motorola was followed by IBM, which expanded its sales and technical support
facilities into a major R&D presence in Haifa in the late 1970s, and
Intel, which started with an R&D facility in Haifa and now operates
two huge semiconductor fabrication plants, one in Jerusalem and the other
in the development town of Kiryat Gat. Foreign investment, however, only
took off in the 1990s.
The Middle East peace process reduced the perception of political risk
while the early successes of the first generation of high tech companies
like Scitex and ECI Telecom clearly demonstrated the country’s abilities
to investors. Israeli high tech entrepreneurs working in Silicon Valley
played no small role in coaxing their employers to invest in their native
country. In 1999, direct and financial foreign investment in Israeli companies
- virtually all of it in the high tech sector - reached a record $3.7
billion, up from $2.4 billion in 1998.
A few of the bigger direct investments in recent years include:
• America’s BMC, which paid $675 million for Israel’s New
Dimension that develops unique enterprise control, automation and management
software systems. It was a record price tag for an Israeli company;
• SunGuard of the US, which paid $210 million for the Herzliya-based
company Oshap that has developed real-time software systems for vehicle
and aerospace production lines; and
• America On-Line, which acquired Mirabilis, a start-up whose “twenty-something”
owners had developed a unique program (ICQ) for notifying Internet-users
if their friends are on-line, in a deal worth $407 million.
Europeans have traditionally been slower to appreciate Israel’s high
tech potential. But this too has been changing. The German car manufacturing
giant Volkswagen has set up a $200 million joint venture with the Dead
Sea Works to extract magnesium from the Dead Sea and convert it into metal
for use in the automotive and aerospace industries. Germany’s Siemens
has bought several startups as well as Ornet, and the UK’s Picker
has acquired part of Elscint’s medical-imaging business.
Israelis are not only being bought, they are buying, too. Amdocs, for
example, bought Canada’s Architel in 1999 for $358 million.
Government Incentives
The government offers generous assistance to both high technology and
other companies, to subsidize R&D and capital spending. The Office
of the Chief Scientist (OCS) of the Ministry of Industry and Trade disburses
to companies some $400 million annually in grants that cover between 30%
and 66% of total development costs. The OCS recoups about $100 million
per year in royalty payments from subsequent sales of successful products.
The OCS also provides assistance to startup and new-immigrant entrepreneurs,
through its network of 24 technological incubators around the country.
More than 800 projects have been initiated, of which 600 have been completed.
Some 50% of the completed projects achieved their objectives, signing
an agreement with investment, commercial or strategic partners with capital
investments ranging from $50,000 to $18 million. Total investment in these
projects stands at more than $320 million. Companies accepted into an
incubator qualify for a grant of 85% of their approved budget, or up to
$170,000 annually for two years.
This is the first in an occasional series about Israeli industry. The
series editor is David Rosenberg. This article is taken from the State
of Israel informational website, www.mfa.gov.il.
|
Engaged Griesdorf
— Dichter |
Shaer
Announces Opening |
David
Brenner, Darkly Bent
BRETT
M. RHYNE
Jewish Journal Staff
More than three decades of doing stand-up have shaped David Brenner’s
perspectives on Judaism, comedy and the world. The Journal chatted
with the Philadelphian before his recent gig at Boston’s Comedy Connection.
Jewish Journal: Hi David, I have a Jewish question for you.
David Brenner: I’ll give you a gentile answer.
JJ: Are you a practicing Jew?
DB: I practice pool — I shoot nine-ball. My father was Orthodox
and my mother was an atheist. My family believed in tolerance, though
— my father had his kosher food on one shelf in the refrigerator
and I had bacon on mine. My family believed that whether one practiced
or no, what was important was the stuff that comes from the heart.
JJ: How has being Jewish informed your humor?
DB: My family were major Zionists. My mother’s family —
those who survived — came from Kovno, Lithuania. My father’s
family had been in the Palestine area for hundreds of years.
Any persecuted people are funny — that’s why there are no Protestant
comedians. Oppressed people have to have a sense of humor or they’ll
explode. I have a book coming out in the fall entitled, I Think There’s
a Terrorist in My Soup: How to Survive Through Humor. Jewish people
are funny because they’re persecuted. You know the Jews were doing
lines to each other when they were putting up the pyramids. The Germans
haven’t laughed since 1945.
JJ: Where do you see yourself in the long tradition of Jewish
comics?
DB: I’ve made a couple of departures. When I started —
I debuted on the Tonight Show 32 years ago — I was the first
to do observational humor, what I call “hair on the soap” jokes.
Now everybody does it.
These days, my act is strictly about current events. I bring news clips
on stage with me. I don’t know what I’m going to say until I
get on stage. I just come out with lines. I shoot from the hip.
JJ: How has stand-up changed?
DB: I think the bar has been lowered to the ground and the person
lowering it has walked away. These days, audiences are laughing at high
energy and four-letter words, but there are no punch lines. Also, I remember
reading in the ’80s, 265 comedians were making a living at it; today,
there are 14,000. Many comics aren’t funny, but there are more of
them.
JJ: Having said that, who do you think is funny?
DB: Chris Rock. Gary Gulman is brilliantly funny, and a good Zionist,
too. Kathleen Madigan. But being funny means nothing — these days,
you can be so funny and not make it. Comedy, like society, has become
polarized. We’re no longer a melting pot; we’re a pot of cement.
For a Latino comic to say, “We Hispanics do blah blah blah…”
That’s not funny.
JJ: Is there any hope for comedy?
DB: If I don’t see any hope for humanity, how can there be
any for comedy?
JJ: Let’s talk current events. What about Iraq?
DB: The idea of attacking somebody before they attack us is ludicrous.
Iraq has a no-fly zone, no ships, and missiles that only go 700 miles.
How can they be a threat to the United States? And Iraq is a secular state
— they’re not housing Muslim terrorists. Even bin Laden calls
them infidels.
JJ: What about Israel?
DB: Israel has a right to exist. Palestinians have a right to exist.
Instead of using violence, I think people should always negotiate. If
I was in charge, I’d combine all the schools, have Israelis and Palestinians
live together, walk down the street together. We have to work with the
children — the adults are too full of hate. The Palestinians have
to accept peace terms or the Jews will have to drive them out. Israel
has the world’s greatest army and the world’s worst PR.
Until Jews are protected in this world, I’m a Zionist. But my heart
also weeps for Palestinian children.
JJ: What about global anti-Semitism?
DB: It’s as bad, if not worse, than during the rise of Hitler.
Somebody asked me, “Can we get rid of anti-Semitism?” I said,
“Sure. Get rid of all the gentiles.” Jews are the scapegoats
of the world. There’s no way to cure that. If Hitler came to power
today, another six-and-a-half million Jews would die.
JJ: What about Lieberman and all the people with Jewish
connections running for president?
DB: There’s a Jewish expression, “You should never take
the top position, because then you get all the blame.” Jews should
be vice presidents, not presidents. Lieberman is too moralistic for me
— he criticizes violence in film, but supports sending troops to
Iraq. The 18- and 19-year-olds who are going to die in Iraq are real people.
Bush talks about Saddam Hussein using people as human shields — the
U.S. is using people as human bullets.
JJ: When you present these views on stage, what kinds of
responses do you get?
DB: I don’t present these views on stage. I make fun of these
views. My job is to make people laugh, to help them
Yenta Dearest
Dear
Yenta,
I’m a middle-aged man whose mother-in-law is driving him crazy. She
has a comment for everything. What can I do?
—Enough Already
Tatelah,
Shame on you, to say such things about your sweet, loving mother-in-law!
You should always remember, your parents only want what's best for you.
They have years of experience you don’t have, and are much wiser
than you when it comes to the ways of the world. And you should love and
respect your mother-in-law if for no other reason than she brought into
this world your lovely wife, that shayner maydel. You should thank
God every day for putting such a wonderful person on this Earth. And don’t
forget, no matter how old you get, you’re always your mother’s
child. You only have one mother!
Of course, your mother-in-law should also understand that you’re
no spring chicken, and that you have your own ideas about the world. She
should understand that you and your lovely wife, like a doll she is, grew
up in a different world than she did, and that you have your own lives
to live.
As we say around the Center, “Eltern lernen oys di kinder redn;
kinder lernen oys di eltern shvaygn. Parents teach their children
to talk; children teach their parents to keep quiet.”
—The Yenta
Need advice on any subject? The Yenta has an answer for everything,
whether you want to hear it or not. Write to her. Your mother would want
you to:Editor@jewishjournal.org, attn: Yenta
It
is clear by now that Saddam Hussein doesn’t get it. For months, President
Bush has been warning that if Saddam doesn’t comply with U.N. resolutions
to destroy his “weapons of mass destruction,” he faces an invasion.
Given the overwhelming power at U.S. command, and the potential leverage
of a UN resolution backing that power, Saddam has everything to lose by
not complying: his job, his weapons, his country’s infrastructure,
even his life.
So what does he do? He stonewalls.
Lots of people think Bush is a bullying cowboy with an itchy trigger finger.
They say he couldn’t locate the real menace to world order, the elusive
Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated the devastating attacks of 9/11. So
he transferred his anger to a potential menace he can locate. And Hussein
makes an easy target: He is a cruel and ruthless despot, apparently resented
by his own people, who once tried to have Bush’s father, President
George H.W. Bush, assassinated. So the current Bush in the White House
also has a personal score to settle by targeting Hussein.
Americans are divided about whether to go to war. Most of the world opposes
it. Launching a pre-emptive strike on a sovereign nation that is not an
imminent threat is a violation of centuries-old canons of international
law. War against Iraq now is seen as immoral, unjustified, and premature:
War should be a last resort, after all diplomacy has failed, not a preferred
strategy. The war and subsequent rebuilding of Iraq will also be expensive.
Figure several hundred billion dollars.
Those who favor the invasion — including a majority of Americans,
it should be noted — make a number of assumptions. It will be a short
war. Once we invade Iraq, Saddam’s people, and maybe his generals,
will turn against him. Destruction will be minimum. Not many of his people
will suffer. As for our forces, their high-tech suiting will protect against
the chemical and biological agents he will attach to his missiles. No
Agent Orange-type illnesses this time. Moreover, it is said, the war will
send a powerful message to terrorists, actual and potential, that they
can not operate with impunity. And to other Middle East despots, that
they must reform their ways. And to budding nuclear powers that we will
not tolerate their ambitions.
A short, successful war that topples Saddam with minimum allied casualties
could rewrite the map of the Middle East, could force the Palestinians
to give up their intifada, could force its neighbors to reconcile with
Israel, could enforce a new, safer world order.
If the war is not short and not successful, however, it could have the
opposite effect. It could split the Western alliance, create greater support
for terrorism, make Israel’s existence even more precarious, destroy
the United Nations, and unleash a new round of arms building.
The operative word in both scenarios is could. Both the positive
and negative consequences are possible. Nothing is certain, except that
the Bush Administration is hell bent on toppling Saddam Hussein and pre-emptive
war is its preferred strategy to do so. So, thumbing its nose at world
opinion, we are preparing for war, and nothing short of a miracle will
prevent it.
MARK
ARNOLD
Jewish
Journal Editor/Publisher
|
DOV
BURT LEVY Dov Burt Levy is a columnist who splits his time between Salem, Mass., and Jerusalem. He can be reached at dblevy@columnist.com. |
Changing
from an inveterate peacenik to a supporter of this war against Saddam
Hussein, and telling you, makes this the most difficult column I have
ever written.
Between 1960 and 1980, in the United States, I marched for civil rights,
against poverty, against the Vietnam War.
In Israel after 1980, 1 marched with Peace Now and in other demonstrations
supporting the peace initiatives of Prime Ministers Peres, Rabin and Barak.
But earlier this month, when opponents of a war against Saddam mounted
protests all over the world, I stayed home. In fact, I had to admit to
myself that if war was the way to remove Saddam, I was for it.
My previous activism was based on the belief that policy and behavioral
change could be achieved by peaceful confrontation. I believed wars were
immoral (still do).
Most important, I believed that opponents, deep down, were rational human
beings who knew their self-interest and would sooner or later make the
best decisions for their own health and well-being and for their people.
Not only Saddam, but also Arafat, Bin Laden and some other Arab leaders
have shown me that they don’t think that way. The evidence?
• Arafat’s turn to suicide bombers after negotiations with Barak
and Clinton at Camp David,
• The mass murder of 9-11,
• The Arab masses dancing with joy upon hearing about the thousands
who died on 9/11.
• Also, dismembering journalist Daniel Pearl after holding him captive
for a week, sending teen-age Arab girls as homicide bombers to kill Israeli
teenagers.
This fundamental disregard for human life extends not just to Israelis,
Americans or Westerners. Dozens of Arab men every year kill their daughters
or sisters in the name of family honor and their actions are sanctioned
by the state and religious authorities.
I should have believed Arafat’s speeches in Arabic proclaiming that
all negotiations were just a step in the road to throwing the Jews into
the sea and not been seduced by the smiles and handshakes of his Western
tours.
Be clear that this is not an Israeli issue. Israel is on a war footing
and can literally build a wall to keep most terrorists out. Terrorism
— supported, financed, and armed by Iraq (and some others) —
against the openly accessible United States threatens American people
and institutions.
This time, in this war, Saddam and his minions are the issue. Saddam—
who personally executes political enemies, had no qualms about gassing
25,000 Iraqi citizens, and was willing to sacrifice a half million soldiers
(many as young as age 12) in his 10-year war with Iran — is nothing
less than a pathological killer.
Weapons of mass destruction in Saddam’s hands would be a tragic mistake
for the rest of the world.
|
ELLEN
GOLUB Ellen Golub teaches journalism at Salem State College. She may be reached at elkele@attbi.com |
|
PHYLLIS
DINERMAN Phyllis Dinerman is a resident of Marblehead and Boynton Beach, FL, and may be reached at sliceofLife@dinerman.com |
Years
ago the place to go was the Catskills. Everyone ran to hotels such as
the Nevile, the Concord, Kutcher’s, Grossingers, and Brown’s.
You vacationed there because the hotel was beautiful and clean, the activities
were non-stop, the entertainment was wonderful, and the food was plentiful.
The waiters threw plates of herring, gefilte fish, and platters of lox
at you. The rooms were clean and spacious and overlooked the mountains
or the pool.
One summer I decided I wanted to go somewhere different. I wanted to go
to a quaint inn on an island. Jews did not frequent inns in those days.
I knew I would never bump into another Jew in an inn and play Jewish geography.
We decided to take a long weekend, travel by ferry to visit Martha’s
Vineyard. Well, Martha’s Vineyard is a “charming” island
that houses many “quaint” inns. But, do you know what “quaint”
really means?
In my experience quaint means: The room is tiny. You cannot maneuver a
360 degree turn without tripping over or bumping into the corner of the
bed. The dresser is the size of a dime so there is no room on the top
to place a bottle of perfume, a man’s wallet or your jewelry. The
bureau is two feet long with three old wooden decrepit drawers that fall
on the floor when you pull them open; and there is no runner on the side
or bottom of the dresser to put them back correctly.
There is no shelf in the bathroom to place your hair dryer; and, when
you use the hair dryer, it keeps shutting off. Your cosmetics must “live”
on the window shelf in the bathroom or sit on the floor. There is no telephone,
there is no television. The radio-alarm clock rarely works, even as an
alarm. There may or may not even be air-conditioning in the inn, although
you have central air-conditioning.
You hear people in the next room talking — at all hours. The bed
is a double. You have a king-size bed at home. You have never slept so
close to your spouse in years. His snoring, his morning breath, he’s
all over the bed.
Your room has a breath-taking view of the gravel parking lot. How “charming
and quaint.” The floorboards squeak. The mirror is warped and minuscule.
It is positioned awkwardly so you can only see your chest. If you kneel,
you can see your face. You cannot see what you are wearing. The clothes
you donned could be inside out or hanging to the floor.
The breakfast is cold cereal, blueberry muffins, some fruit and coffee.
This is quaint? Quaint, shmaint! Give me the Catskills again. I’m
ready to have food thrown at me. Give me a good corned beef sandwich or
a piece of brisket. Cucumber sandwiches and scones don’t do it for
me. Better yet, give me a cruise.
|
DANIEL PIPES Daniel Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org) is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Militant Islam Reaches America (W.W. Norton) |
|
LEONARD FEIN Leonard Fein is a veteran journalist. He writes from Boston. |
Scientific
research it’s not, but having over the course of these last three
weeks delivered 13 talks, I can report that Americans are talking about
the war. What they are saying has very little correspondence to the gingoism
of the Bush Administration’s drum majors.
By and large, I am not from the “if you ask your cab driver what
he thinks, you can claim to have conducted survey research” school.
In fact, in no case was it I who initiated the war talk. In the long airport
lines, in hotel lobbies, in the millings about before and after my speeches,
people spoke up on their own. And they don’t get it. What they specifically
don’t get is why the rush, and to only a somewhat lesser extent,
why the war at all. There’s much scratching of the head regarding
the president’s motives, widespread recognition that Al Qaeda and
North Korea are rather more urgent matters, to say nothing of the economic
mess here at home.
The problem, of course, is that the president has gone so far out on the
“let’s make war” limb that it is nearly impossible to imagine
him crawling back.
If we are hoping to frighten Sadam Hussein into quitting without a fight,
whether by going into exile or by revealing the weapons we claim he has,
we appear to be failing: The more we threaten to go it alone, the more
we irritate our allies and the more Hussein therefore imagines he can
outlast us.
Which leaves a non-disastrous outcome to the off-chance that in the very
early days of the war, the Iraqi people themselves will turn on their
tyrant, that the war can therefore be won with a deft scalpel rather than
with a sloppy bludgeon and that in the post-war period, Iraq will resemble
Japan more than Afghanistan.
It’s easy to question French motives for wanting to give the inspectors
more time. It is more difficult to avoid the conclusion that this time
around, notwithstanding its history of fecklessness, Europe may have it
right.
These matters are, alas, all of a piece. Our power is unprecedented, our
arrogant foolishness its Achilles’ heel. We run the risk that the
short-term result of our obsession with Iraq will be real damage to the
Western alliance. Contemplate, then, if you’ve the stomach for it,
the prospect that a war against Iraq will be the opening battle of a protracted
war of the West against Islam, and that in that war, “the West”
will, with the exception of the United States, be a reluctant participant.
Terrible, terrifying — yet that may be where we are these days heading.
|
CARL ALPERT US born Carl Alpert has lived and written from Israel for more than 40 years. |
Buy
Israeli Products
An
easy way to support Israel is to buy at least one Israeli grocery product
whenever you grocery shop. If each of us did so it would give the grocery
the message to stock more Israeli products and help Israeli producers.
If your grocer doesn’t carry many Israeli products, ask the manager
to add more to the store shelves. Here are some brands to look for: Osem,
Kedem, Gourmet, Man, Adin, 778, Jump, Telma, Avvio, and Wissotzki.
Stan and Emy Black
Swampscott
Risk
of War, Perils of Peace
We live in trying times fraught with dangers and we are acutely aware
of the risks of wars, but forgetting about the perils of peace. Presently
we live under a mushrooming cloud of international terror, facing the
danger of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of fanatic
terrorists. Sooner or later biological, chemical or atomic weapons will
fall into the hands of terrorists, causing destruction of apocalyptic
proportions. Time is on the side of the terrorists.
During the Cold War period there existed a balance of terror and this
balance is gone now and there is no deterrent. The price of inaction could
be great and it is imperative to remember to balance the risks of war
with the perils of peace.
Alexander Kimel
Pompano, FL
Weiner
Lauded
I
feel that Robert Weiner is the most qualified attorney on the North Shore,
and whomever he represents will be represented in the the most ethical
and just way. He is a superb attorney as well as an outstanding human
being and I have the privilege of knowing him for many years.
Carol Greenberg
Marblehead
Thanks
to Historical Society
I
am writing this letter to let the Jewish community know about the generosity
and wealth of information available to us at the Jewish Historical Society
of the North Shore. I am teaching sixth grade children about immigration
at Temple Emanu-El. I called the society and spoke to Mrs. Weinstein about
the information I needed.
Within 45 minutes, she had found the information and arranged for me to
pick it up. Not only were the pictures applicable to our needs, but the
children were fascinated with pictures of Hester Street in New York. Later,
Dr. Richard Winer, society president, spoke to us and brought a video
about the first Jews to immigrate to the North Shore.
In Temple Sinai, Marblehead, where the Historical Society is housed, is
a world of information available to us. Take your children, your grandchildren,
and yourself and discover some fascinating things about our Jewish culture.
Donna Krivis
Peabody
'News
Q' Bias Alleged
Regarding
The Journal’s 'NewsQ' question (Feb. 14): “Should We Invade
Iraq?” it seems ridiculous to have 3 in favor and 1 against. Why
not 2 and 2?
In this way, the paper (or maybe just the reporter) is obviously stating
its/her own politics and not doing good journalism.
Lee Moore
Project Coordinator
The Shalom Center
(Editor’s Note: The reporter interviews 4 to 5 people and seeks to
faithfully reflect their views. In this case they lined up 3 to 1.)
Why
is Pollard Still in Jail?
Does
anyone remember Jonathan Pollard? He is currently serving the 18th year
of his life sentence. There has been much controversy over his case. Some
say he got what he deserved. He spied against the United States, so he
should remain in jail. If this is true, where is the fair justice? For
example, why is it that men having done worse and lesser crimes are free?
Michael Schwartz, a Lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, was
caught selling secrets to Saudi Arabia, yet he never served a day in prison.
One of the common responses is that the circumstances of these cases are
different. What difference? Didn’t they both sell secrets to allies
of the US? Maybe the stolen material was of unequal value. If this were
true, why have Pollard’s defense lawyers still been unable to see
all of the reported evidence?
The Torah teaches us about justice and judges, “…and they shall
judge the people with righteous judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment,
thou shalt not respect persons, neither take bribes, for a bribe blinds
the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice,
justice shalt thou pursue…” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20). In the same
portion, we learn about the cities for manslaughter offenders. There,
the offender is supposed to live, until the reigning king passes away.
Maybe Jonathan Pollard will have to wait for these reigning “kings”
to also pass.
Adam Ackerman
Haverhill