WHITHER THE TABOO?

THE RIGHT’S ROLE

The most important line in Amy Schwartz’s “The Vanishing Antisemitism Taboo” (November/December 2024), “the era of Trump…denatures taboo after taboo,” gets lost in her specific (and excellent) discussion of the lifting of the antisemitism taboo. The right-wing and corporate media do not place the increase in antisemitism on themselves and their integrality to the coarsening of public discourse but find a few left-wing targets, like college presidents, to punish.

We do not find any talk of antisemitism by right-wing actors on Fox News, who are more dangerous to American Jews than protesting students. The whole universe of antisemitism discussion has been politicized in an effort to move Jews to vote Republican, which they overwhelmingly did not do in the recent election.
Harlan Levinson
Los Angeles, CA

MULTIPLE DEFINITIONS

Amy Schwartz’s observation that “Once something is under the antisemitism umbrella, arguments aren’t needed” sums up the strategy of those who use false accusations of antisemitism as a tool for suppressing criticism of Israel. If it’s antisemitic to call the occupation “apartheid,” then there’s no room for debating whether it is or not. If labeling Israeli policies racist is antisemitic, then they are protected from criticism.

Ironically, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism was intended to prevent overgeneralizations and simplistic approaches to understanding antisemitism. IHRA is explicit that it is “non-legally binding” and should take “overall context” into account.

Unfortunately, IHRA is now used to strip away context and chill freedom of expression. Its advocates want it to be unequivocally legally binding, as Kenneth Marcus once told me. Marcus, who chairs the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, was responsible for incorporating IHRA into President Trump’s Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism at the end of the first Trump administration.

The newer definitions of antisemitism, like the Nexus Document and the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, were designed to push back against this weaponization. When the Biden administration stated that it “welcomes and appreciates the Nexus Document and notes other such efforts” (in addition to IHRA), it did more than sidestep the differences between them. By embracing the value of multiple perspectives, it affirmed the importance of recognizing nuance and respecting the complexities at the intersection of issues related to Israel and antisemitism.
Jonathan Jacoby
National Director, The Nexus Project
Los Angeles, CA

ASK THE RABBIS

CREMATION VS. BURIAL

I found the latest “Ask the Rabbis” column (“Is Cremation Still Off Limits for Jews?” November/December 2024) to be very informative. My wife and I, both 76, have been discussing whether we want to be buried or cremated. All our grandparents and earlier relatives have been buried, as were her parents, sister and a nephew. My father told us he wanted to be cremated and the container with his ashes was buried in the family plot; eleven years later my mother’s wishes to be cremated also were followed, but this time we were able to sprinkle some of her ashes around the home in which she grew up and at the two homes that my parents owned and raised my siblings and me in. My wife and I haven’t made any decisions about what we would like our children to do for us, but, after reading all of the rabbinic comments, I’m still leaning toward burial.
Stephan A. Elman
Bethesda, MD

DON’T FORGET AQUAMATION!

This does not have to be an either-or decision. Traditional burial and cremation are only two options that are now available for those who have died. Another one is aquamation—a process that uses water instead of fire to break down a body. According to Sierra magazine, it’s the second-most ecological way to deal with a deceased person; the first is burial in a shroud in a natural cemetery without liners, etc. Aquamation is legal in most, if not all, U.S. states, and is only a bit more expensive than traditional cremation. There is also terramation or composting, whereby the body is placed in a vessel with organic materials to break it down, which is also becoming legal in more and more states. It is less costly than even a “plain pine box” burial but more expensive than cremation or aquamation. My Reconstructionist rabbi has performed services for people who have been composted, and the funeral home where I have arranged for aquamation will have Tahara (purification) for me with the local Chevra Kaddisha.
Tish Levee
Lacey, WA

NO SPACE AT THE CEMETERY

My parents, grandparents and other family are buried in a tiny Jewish section at the furthest edge of a large cemetery in western Pennsylvania. The section was purchased maybe 150 years ago by the Reform congregation. Jews have not been permitted to be buried elsewhere in the cemetery. No burial spaces remain in the Jewish section. I’ve visited the graves many times but live hundreds of miles away. My wife intends to be cremated, as do I, and our plan is for our children to either bury or scatter our ashes in that section. How typical is our situation?
David Marlin
Washington, DC

VETERAN WORKAROUNDS

Arlington National Cemetery is a U.S. Army installation, not a Veterans Administration cemetery. It restricts ground burials to extend its period as an active cemetery by several decades. For example, those who earned a Silver Star or higher for heroism, those killed in action, or retired military are eligible. Any veteran with an Honorable Discharge may have cremated remains placed above ground in a columbarium.

Many Jewish veterans not qualified for ground burial have had remains cremated over the decades. Conservative rabbis who have conducted burial services have not been happy about the situation but have performed their duty.
Les Bergen
Arlington, VA

ON THE LOOKOUT IN LISBON

When I read Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s article about her trip to Lisbon (“Searching for a Shul in Lisbon,” November/December 2024), I was reminded of an experience I had in 1973. As tourists in Lisbon, my husband and I were standing on a sidewalk searching our city map for a post office. A man came up and asked if we were looking for the synagogue, which was across the street hidden behind an unmarked wall. We agreed to a tour and learned that the man was the rabbi and that he was from South Africa. He told us that because the political situation in Portugal was very unstable at the time, the synagogue did not show its location to the public. I am glad to hear that a Jewish population still exists there.
Carol Berman
Reston, VA

MOMENT DEBATE POLL

We asked Moment’s followers on X to weigh in on the last issue’s Moment Debate. The majority answered “Yes.”