Letters to the Editor

The Hebrew critic

To the Editor:
I truly believe that the one legacy left by the previous editor was the introduction of a Hebrew column. I use it often to help improve both my understanding and use of the language. There are however two vexing points that must be brought to you attention.
The first is the font used to print the column most weeks. Several people have commented to me and I join them in hating the font, which makes reading the column troublesome. I’ve also been told by a friend that he ignores the column completely because of the terrible print style being used.
The second problem is somewhat more egregious. The Hebrew is hardly modern day usage and needs to be examined before printing. I’ll cite one glaring example. In the October 7 edition Rabbi Himelstein writes about the majority of Israelis going to “batei knesiot” to mourn those who fell in the Yom Kippur war. In modern Hebrew that would imply that they go to churches! For many generations, “knesia” means church...”batei knesset” is the correct wording and some proofreading should catch and correct such errors.
I hope that you will bring these points to the attention of the new editor when s/he is hired. It will only improve an otherwise excellent feature of your paper.

Murray Altman
West Hempstead

Editor’s note: We appreciate this letter. It demonstrates the passion of a reader for accuracy and clarity. Keep them coming!

ADL defends its pledge

To the Editor:
There has been some distortion of our announcement of the ADL-AJC “National Pledge for Unity on Israel.” The pledge is not intended to discourage raising questions about a candidate’s support for Israel or the policy decisions of the current administration regarding Israel. In fact, ADL has been outspoken in questioning and even criticizing U.S. policies and positions toward Israel during the last three years. We will continue to raise concerns about those policies and positions when we believe it is warranted, just as we will be supportive when we feel that is appropriate.
In the best tradition of American political debate we strongly encourage measured and thoughtful expressions of different points of view regarding U.S. policy toward Israel. What prompted ADL and AJC to launch this initiative was a desire to ask participants in the political discourse to avoid harsh and personal rhetoric or tactics in the form of attacks on political opponents’ positions on Israel.
Our principal concern in calling for the pledge is to put Israel ahead of politics to reinforce the broad-based support of the American people for Israel and to project it as bipartisan whenever possible.

Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Anti-Defamation League