The Vote: An End to Jim Crow Laws

This letter appeared in the Palm Beach Post 4-16-07

Felons can right Bush administration's wrongs

The administration of Gov. Charlie Crist is to be highly lauded for making the large majority of felons who have served their sentences eligible to vote in Florida ("Felons regain civil rights," April 6).

That action may in some ways undo the wrongs that have been unleashed on the United States and the world by the questionable victory of George W. Bush in 2000. A war with no end in sight in Iraq, poor care for wounded veterans, attacks on civil liberties, ignoring the reality of environmental destruction and an inadequate plan in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are only some of the consequences of that election. Those denied the vote must register and turn the tide of these disasters.

HOWARD LISNOFF

The True Meaning of Life

The True Meaning of Life

Passersby stopped and genuflected at the shrine of the holy incarnation of exotic sports cars. Cordoned off at the mall, beneath the warm Florida sun, one aficionado pointed out the nuances of body design to his family that seemed to be enthralled with such meaningless revelations of consumerism.

All The News Unfit To Print--Rejected by the NYT

April 4, 2007

To the Editor:
Re “My Life In The Army,” (Op-Ed, April 3): Robert Wright states, “I wish some people on the left had a deeper respect for the military, but lately the left isn’t where the most consequential disrespect has come from.”

When I entered basic training at Fort Gordon, Georgia in the fall of 1969, drill sergeants routinely referred to the Vietnamese as “gooks.” During one field training exercise one sergeant, who led the training exercise, cynically referred to serious shrapnel wounds displaying what appeared to be “joke shop” body parts he said could be surgically reattached to a wounded soldier. These issues of life and death could hardly afford laughable and cynical treatment from this NCO.

Wright also observes that, “People think of the Army as hierarchical, but compared with the private sector it’s a bastion of egalitarianism.” Compare the latter with an attack by some enlisted men and draftees against National Guardsmen and Reservists in the training cycle I was part of. Combat boots and uniforms were left slashed as a result of that foray.

It was Kent State in May 1970, however, that forever soured my view of the military. Consider also the massacres at My Lai and those carried out by a unit known as Tiger Force in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam during a seven-month period in 1967.

Abu Ghraib and Haditha are now places that can be counted as tales of carnage and dehuminization of both prisoners and civilians. How does any of this do honor to those who serve faithfully, who have been wounded and who have died? And where is the anemic peace movement supporting vigouously those who oppose militarism from within the service?
Sincerely,
Howard Lisnoff

Censored by The Jewish Voice and Herald--Rhode Island

March 13, 2007
Dear Editor:
Re “Refresher on Israeli history for President Carter,” and “Carter, history and the Jew,” (Opinion and Editorial, February 2), both critiques of former President Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid. Yehuda Lev states, “Israel has committed its share of errors in this conflict and also has much to answer for. He continues, “Israelis learned a bitter lesson in Gaza, when after evacuating all Jewish settlements in the Strip, they discovered that it led only to intensified shelling of Jewish communities in Israel proper.”

The United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel’s own human rights organization B’Tselem have all commented about Israel’s behavior in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. B’Tselem observed, as reported in Norman G. Finkelstein’s book Beyond Chutzpah On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (2005) that, “What renders Israel’s abuses unique throughout the world is the relentless efforts to justify what cannot be justified.” Finkelstein goes on to quote former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, reflecting on his observations from the Gaza Strip that, “I had seen children shot in other conflicts I have covered…but I had never watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport.” Also quoted in Beyond Chutzpah is Amnesty International’s report that states since the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, Israel “routinely tortured Palestinian political suspects.”

These actions on the part of the Israeli government are not “errors,” but rather the well-documented dehumanization of Palestinians that have continued since the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank began in 1967. The abuses have included the bulldozing of homes in the West Bank and Gaza, denial of access to water, lack of medical facilities for Palestinians, greatly diminished opportunities for Palestinians to work in Israel proper, the establishment of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory, and the construction of a wall that cuts through territory occupied by Palestinians in the West Bank. While Israel has suffered the horrific actions of suicide bombers, the death toll of the second Intifada has been one Israeli killed for every three Palestinians who have met the same fate. These topics are hotly argued in Israel, as part of democratic discourse, however, the Israel lobby in the U.S. has bristled at any rational discussion of Israeli policy toward the Palestinian people and the vicious reaction at the publication of Jimmy Carter’s new book was hardly unexpected. There is an obvious disconnect in the U.S. within some segments of the Jewish community in being able to reasonably discuss Israeli democracy on the one hand, and the taboo of discussing Israel’s very different and unacceptable treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In Shein’s opinion piece, he concludes, “Few in Jewish history have stood with us when we—alone—faced a world arrayed against us, lusting for our downfall or even death.” Thankfully, anti-Semitism is generally a relic of the past in the U.S., and collectively we make up the religious group with the highest income in this country, and usually live lives free of fear. While there exist pockets of
anti-Semitism in the larger world, Jews worldwide have generally been able to live lives free of the horrors of Germany of the 1930s and 1940s. This writer wonders how much contemporary anti-Semitism is fueled by Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Anti-Semitism is wrong anywhere, just as is discrimination against Palestinians!

In Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip it is long, long past due for a reasonable approach to the settlement of this seemingly endless dispute. All parties need to renounce violence against one another and stop the heinous dehumanization that is so antithetical to the Jewish tradition of peace and rational discourse. Painting Jimmy Carter, a fine president and tireless worker for peace, in libelous and slanderous terms will do nothing to bring about peace in the Middle East! Accusing American Jews who criticize Israel as being self-hating, disloyal and anti-Semitic does nothing but diminish Judaism in perhaps irrevocable ways.
Sincerely,
Howard Lisnoff

A Writer Confronts Censorship

There are two types of censorship. For anyone who writes there is the kind imposed by others such as editors. The latter is quite common, especially in traditional media. Another more subtle form of censorship is self-censorship that the writer imposes on himself or herself in order to make written expression acceptable to a particular public. Both forms of censorship are injurious to the search for truth through the written word. They harm both reader and writer.

Congress must take action to diminish access to guns

Once again the censors strike! Compare the link to The Palm Beach Post and the original letter below!

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/02/16/a23a_lettersfile0216.html


Dear Editor:
Re “ Get the killer guns…” (Editorial, February 4). You write,"There’s profound disagreement about whether to enact new gun laws,” in reference to possible legislative action to regulate assault weapons that are usually cited as the cause of multiple deaths such as drive-by shootings in Florida.

The gun debate needs to be fought at both the state and national levels. Your editorial correctly states that the debate over gun control has long since been “hijacked” by the National Rifle Association, and that Congress needs to take immediate action to dramatically reduce access to guns in the U.S., especially among criminals.

In Florida the debate over the Second Amendment right to bear arms became nearly a lost cause twenty years ago when guns and gun licenses proliferated when citizens were given the right to carry concealed weapons. A recent editorial in The New York Times, “A Day Without Guns” (January 30), points out that licenses to carry guns in Florida skyrocketed from 25,000 to 410,000 during that twenty-year period. To add insult to lethal injury, a majority of legislators in Tallahassee saw fit to enact a law that allows for guns to be used for self-defense through deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary.”

The result of the combination of illegal and legal arms flooding the streets of Florida, along with the free ride that Congress and the state have given to the NRA, has led to documented instances of felons being granted the right to carry concealed weapons. Acts of violence have been committed on the thinnest of pretexts by those legally carrying weapons, while street violence continues to soar.

The intent of the framers of the Constitution through the Second Amendment was to have a militia armed to protect against the meddling of foreign powers. Even if hunting is taken into account as a reasonable exception to gun control, what possible defense can a reasonable person offer when kids are killed on the streets by stray automatic rifle fire; police have to deal with guns being brandished during routine traffic stops, and the rest of us have to consider that even a minor disagreement in Florida can lead to gun violence that may be upheld by the courts?
Sincerely,
Howard Lisnoff

The Shul by Sylvia Lisnoff

The Shul

There are people who have passed it practically every day of their lives and haven't the vaguest notion of its purpose although it had stood there for a good part of the century on the town's main thoroughfare. It has a perfectly good name, Beth Sholom, but much of the mail is addressed to the "Jew Church." But whatever it has not meant to the gentiles, it was the hub around which radiated the lives of the Jewish townspeople.

It is a simple, attractive building in the neo-classical style, a large Star of David the only adornment on each of the stained-glass windows. Entrance is gained through heavy, double wooden doors over which is carved the Decologue. The inside with its warm mahogany woodwork and lofty arched ceiling, is pleasing to the eye though is eerily still, the cold pervasive. The heat has been turned off and pipes drained as an economy measure. The synagogue's only function now, is for the three days of high holidays, and it is doubtful that that will continue for much longer. It has become very difficult to get the required ten men for a minyan. If you stand very quietly, you can conjure up a million memories. They come flooding at you in torrents-the solemnity, the gaiety, the sorrows, the comedy …

There is Mrs. Goodman arriving for Kol Nidre, aided to her seat by her husband. Her whole life has radiated around her illnesses, imagined or real. She never learned that a whole world existed outside of her own body. Everyone knows what to expect of her but if she lives to be a hundred and twenty, she will never understand why people do not react more sympathetically to whatever happens to her and why they avoid her like a plague. If the truth were known, she is barely aware of how they feel. Her head is too full with herself. On this night she is already deathly pale. It will not be long-she has yet to disappoint us. Although it is only a couple of hours since everyone has started to fast, as soon as the rabbi finishes the opening prayer, she will slide to the floor in a dead faint. No one gets frightened-it has become a tradition. The smelling salts are ready and her husband is prepared to escort her home, only a few yards from the synagogue.

On the front bench sits Mrs. Berg, the congregation's matriarch, sobs emanating from the depth of her being. As she reads the Yom Kippur liturgy, she takes every sin listed as her very own-she implores the Almighty to protect everyone from the enumeration of the ghastly means of death that can be visited upon us, who are only flesh and blood. Her sobbing becomes more intense, her body racked by tremendous shuddering. She pleads for atonement for all of Israel.
It is Simchas Torah, the gayest of holidays. Ordinarily quiet, unassuming, introverted Shlomo, plied with drink by the congregants, dances and sings. Everyone is delighted. Who deserves more than he, this one night a year-barely able to eke out a living-a new mouth to feed every couple of years? Tonight belongs to Shlomo.

Little Meyer, so small for a Bar Mitzvah "borcher," stands on the platform ready to deliver the words prepared for him by his teacher. He is bravely holding back the tears of nervousness that threaten to flow any second. His mother, bursting with pride, looks at him with adoration. Her concern that he will be short like the men in her family is banished for this day. She needn't have worried-he will be a six footer at maturity.

For years and years the shul had never been blessed with a wedding. Actually, it was too small for the amount of people a family would invite for the nuptials. Another problem was that there were no accommodations to serve the wedding dinner. So the ceremony was usually performed in a rented hall where the dinner would also be served. Consequently, there was much excitement and joy among the townspeople when Linda announced, room or not, she was getting married in the shul. Despite the fact that the guests were packed in like sardines in a can, it looks like a scene from the Arabian Nights: gossamer wisps of material entwined with pastel shaded flowers bedeck the chupah and the shul. It indeed looks like the setting for a storybook princess.

It is the worst snowstorm of the century. On more man is needed to make up the minyan for Hershel's Bar Mitzvah. It seems that will be impossible. Suddenly, the door flies open and there stands Mr. Hertzberg, the storm whirling about him. He looks like a snowman, icicles hanging from his bushy eyebrows and mustache. He is in his seventies and has trudged, uphill, three miles through he blizzard. Only a man with his deep abiding faith could perform such a feat. A miracle has come to pass.

Itzie and Miriam stand on the "bimah" facing the rabbi. They are being united in holy matrimony. Itzie is already in his fifties. Although his mother has turned away many eligible women, she is getting old and worries that he will be left alone and unable to cope. It is a quickly arranged match, and although they are already standing under the canopy, the mother has misgivings and has instructed the little, wizened rabbi, called out of retirement to perform the ceremony, to make an addition to the traditional vows. The rabbi asks the bride, "Do you promise to be good to your in-laws?" If the truth be known, it helped "ve a taite banches"-like bleeding helps a corpse.

There is Berly tugging at the curtains hung to separate the women from the men as required in the Orthodox tradition. He peers over his dime store glasses, which sit on the bottom of his nose, and looks over the curtains. He likes to look at the women and they knowingly smile at him.

The children are seated around the oblong table, their seders and writing tablets opened before them. Mr. Gold, the teacher hired to instruct the children twice a week in Hebrew subjects, and prepare the boys for Bar Mitzvah, stands at the head of the table. He is pleasant and patient-not the prototype of the European rebbe who thought you could instill knowledge with the aid of a switch. Today the lesson is an explanation of the rules of Kashruth. He tells his pupils that any part of the pig is forbidden: ham, pork, bacon. As he mentions bacon, Ian, the class clown, makes smacking sounds and gleefully rubs his stomach. Mr. Gold gives him a long dark look. The students titter.

Terror overcomes the congregation when Mr. Goldberg, from a neighboring community, who asked if he could attend services, stands up during the solemn prayers of Yom Kippur and loudly proclaims he is taking his family and leaving. He tells those assembled that they are living in the dark ages and he will have no part of it. He considers himself enlightened and takes offense at the separation of the men from the women and the chanting of prayers in the traditional Hebrew. A pall settles over the congregation. …An empty building, inhabited by ghosts from the past.

In the beginning before there was a shul, services were held in the house of one of the members. As the Jewish population grew, a large barn-like structure was rented. When they started to prosper a search committee was formed to seek a suitable building to purchase. This was by no means a simple task. First there was a monetary limitation. There were those on the committee who thought in grandiose terms. Then there were those who looked at the situation more realistically and had to spend much of their time explaining that the whole affair had to be approached modestly. There was also the problem of location; each committee member desiring it to be in close proximity to his home. Finally a compromise was struck and moderation reigned: a building at a moderate price in a central location and to top it off, a mitzvah earned. The building purchased: a barroom!! What better deed than to turn a saloon into a house of worship, ranking only second to turning a church into a synagogue.

The preparation for the dedication of the shul was the most exciting event the Jewish community ever participated in. There was a committee for every eventuality: program, entertainment, refreshments, invited guests. The day of the happy event arrived; every member of every family was bedecked in his or her finest clothes. The weather matched everyone's mood: warm and bright. The line of the procession started at the home of the member who donated the Torah. He carried the Scrolls at the head of the line of march. With him, the invited rabbis and honored guests representing neighboring congregations and Jewish affiliated organizations. A band imported from Boston followed playing appropriate marshal music. Young Mutke carried a velvet pillow upon which was placed the key to the building. Then followed the rest of the congregation with their families and friends. Many gentile townspeople gathered on the sidewalks and watched the parade, wondering why there was no statue of the Virgin. Handbills were distributed inviting everyone to join the celebrants. The inducement of promised refreshments and entertainment enticed a few of the more daring of the onlookers to join the group.

It was a plain wooden building, indistinguishable from the others around it. The key was handed to the eldest of the visiting rabbis. He had the honor of officially opening the shul. Everyone crowded into the building-there was barely room to move. No one took notice that the Oran Kadesh, where the Scroll was placed, was on the north wall instead of the prescribed eastern wall. Who in the congregation knew north from east-they were men of business, not astronomers?

The shul Sylvia Lisnoff writes about is now only a memory.