Let’s Even Those Hands
Gorenberg is again using a Jewish organization to present and promulgate his opinion that settlements are illegal, and he does this under the guise that he is doing his job as a journalist and is even-handed. If he believes settlements are illegal, fine, I respect that. But if he claims to be evenhanded, then why not acknowledge that others disagree and present another point of view? There are many whom he could have quoted, including Arthur Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, who helped draft Resolution 242. Goldberg was very clear that the resolution does not obligate Israel to withdraw from all the captured territories.
CAMERA is an advocacy organization and does not claim to be even-handed. Its self-imposed role is to combat anti-Israel propaganda, lies and distortions, of which I am sure Mr. Gorenberg is well aware. There is a lot of honest reporting and justified criticism of Israel, but I am afraid that Gorenberg, in his attempt to be even-handed, has crossed the line.
Mayer Jacobovits
New York, NY
Diplomacy and Religion
A Historical Perspective
In his October/November 2007 column, “Can Religion Lead to Peace?,” Marshall Breger decries the reality that religion is not part of foreign policy and diplomatic endeavors. He complained that there were no rabbis, imams and priests present at the Oslo peace process signings.
I question his notion that involving religion in diplomacy will somehow help things. Christian wars against Jews and Muslims litter history. It is obvious that when some religious adherents get stirred up they cannot avoid attacking each other. It hardly appears that religion is a source of peace. Of course, diplomats should study and understand religious differences so that they can figure out how to calm outbreaks of religious violence.
Bertram Rothschild
Aurora, CO
Rabbis on Psychiatry
An Enlightened View
As a psychiatrist, I was most impressed with the enlightened and humane responses given by your panel of rabbis on the matter of Judaism’s view of psychiatry. Indeed, I would venture to say that the rabbis know more about psychiatry than most psychiatrists know about rabbinical Judaism—which is a shame, since the Judaic world-view has much to offer my profession. Maimonides, for example, was arguably the “father” of modern cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychosomatic medicine. It is to the credit of your panel that the treatment of psychiatric disorders is given an honored place in Judaic ethics.
Ronald Pies, MD
Professor of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, NY