Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., May 16, 2008 Iyyar 11, 5768 | | Israel Time: 03:09 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Letters to the Editor What I've always felt Advertisement Regarding "Faking it when the siren sounds," May 7 Please pass on to Tamar Rotem my gratitude for her article. In all the years that I have been in Israel (from 1947), I have always felt exactly what she depicts, but was unable to express it - and there were very, very few people to whom I could admit it. Now she has put into words how I feel. Naomi Mayberg Kfar Sava Inappropriate for Memorial Day Regarding "Faking it when the siren sounds," May 7 Tamar Rotem demonstrated a lack of tact, to say the least, in publishing her revulsion for the symbolism of conferring two minutes to the memory of the fallen, on the same day dedicated to it. To many, this demonstration of people's solidarity in their pain is comforting, and ridiculing it hurts. Maybe she would get a better perspective of her tactlessness by reading her own article, modified as follows: When my child put on a kippa at the Kotel, I was shocked. I understood that the fruit of my education is also the product of the religious education industry, absorbing their rules and orders. Perhaps because I was educated as secular, I am not at peace with the Kippa thing. Similarly, I am not used to Yom Kippur and Pesach ceremonies, the matzot, the shofar sound. When the shofar sounds, I am revolted by that scream and I try not to be near. When I do, I look around, wondering how this works. How does everyone fast on Yom Kippur? I rebel against the commandment to fast one day, and the next to return to normal. The secular who eat on Yom Kippur are accused of contempt for the religious and disrespect for the tradition; defiance to such a sensitive matter is problematic. But in the school where I went, they taught that visiting the sages' graves, or repenting one day only, are "non-Jewish customs": We should behave honestly all year. My objection, however, is to the custom, not the repenting. Bianca Schlesinger Tel Aviv An end to religious coercion Regarding "Free Israel!" May 7 It was indeed exhilarating to read Benjamin Lau's call to "free Israel" from the tyranny of the ultra-Orthodox, non-Zionist rabbinate that now controls state-sponsored Judaism in Israel. It would certainly be an improvement to have Zionist rabbis serving as judges in the rabbinic courts. However, Rabbi Lau does not go far enough. To truly "free Israel" from religious tyranny and grant Israelis the religious freedom they were promised 60 years ago in the Declaration of Independence, there must be an end to religious coercion, an end to the monopolistic control that the Chief Rabbinate exercises over such matters as marriage, divorce and conversion. The rabbinate must be privatized so that individuals have the right to choose their own rabbinic authorities according to their beliefs, or to ignore them. Only when Israelis have the same religious rights as are accorded to citizens of every other Western democracy will we be truly free. Rabbi Reuven Hammer Jerusalem The problem is radical Islam, not British nationalists Regarding "Is Boris Good for the Jews," May 9 Daniella Peled closed her article with the sentence, "It is the BNP that poses the greatest danger to tolerant, multicultural, loud and lovable London." How wrong she is. True, the British National Party is a threat to the political life of Britain, but the real danger is the admission and rise of radical Islam in England. Ken Livingstone, as mayor of London, went out of his way to introduce and allow the most provocative imams to incite hatred and terror in his city. One result was the terror attacks on the buses and underground system of London. Another result was the success of the BNP in the recent local elections. This was a reaction of normal Londoners who are fed up, if not alarmed, by the aggressive nature of a prominent section of Muslims in Britain. The BNP breathes on the oxygen provided by the Islamists. It is the Islamists who are the greatest danger today in Britain. The rise of the BNP is the reaction of a population whose mayor appeased and supported those who are the true enemy of a tolerant society. Stem the source of the problem and the BNP will wither away. Barry Shaw Netanya Bookmark to del.icio.us   Animated massacre Animated Israeli film at Cannes explores Sabra and Shatila massacre. Kowtowing to funders When papers are sponsored, can their reporting be truly independent?

Read & React Barak: It won't be long before Israel stops rocket fire Responses: 123 Bush: We must be firm in face of those who murder innocents Responses: 116 Israel dismayed over allies' burgeoning trade with Iran Responses: 96 MI Chief: Rockets could reach Be'er Sheva within two years Responses: 72 Abbas: It's time to end the Nakba of the Palestinian people Responses: 95 More Headlines 22:54 Driver: I personally handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash 01:27 Israel: Bush means business on Iran nukes 02:39 ANALYSIS: Who wants to stop Iran? 02:57 ANALYSIS: Was Bush's Knesset speech a swipe at Obama? 22:16 Qassam rocket strikes Sderot synagogue; no one hurt 02:35 Israel protests UN chief Ban Ki-Moon's use of term 'nakba' 20:39 Philly Jewish paper accused of kowtowing to its funders 16:53 Israeli film at Cannes explores 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre 20:09 Bush to Knesset: U.S. stands with Israel, Masada will not fall again 16:45 Hezbollah declares crisis over after Lebanon gov't climb-down 18:19 Reuters demands explanation from Israel for death of cameramen 18:57 Obama says Bush politically attacked him in Knesset address Previous Editions Select Day 15 may 14 may 13 may 12 may 11 may 09 may 08 may 07 may 06 may 05 may 04 may 02 may

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