She’arim was terminated

With horror, I read the opening sentence of the article “Former She’arim students thrive in first year of special program” (CJN, Jewish Toronto, July 9). It stated that “After Dr. Abraham Shore She’arim Hebrew Day School decided to close a year ago…” She’arim did not decide to close. It was terminated, destroyed, decimated.
I am thankful that the three schools mentioned in the article placed a number of the former students of She’arim, and I am more than delighted to hear stories of successes. But do not dare to imply that the closing of the school solved the problem of the many children in our community whose needs are now not being met. Tell me where the children are who were not accepted into the programs of these three schools because their attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or Asperger’s disorder or other issues were outside the narrow parameters of those delineated as acceptable for our Jewish schools. Tell me about all the children who are just now being assessed, who will have a very limited number of educational options open to them in the Jewish system. Tell me how long there will be programs at all in the schools, because they require a huge investment of time and services that does not contribute to the “bottom line.” Tell me who mourns the loss of the possibilities that will never exist for these children. And tell me, convince me, that the Jewish institutions in control of their destinies have done right by these children.
I suppose that at present – until the next cycle of parents takes up arms against the system and pressures for more complete and encompassing services – what exists will have to do. But do not distort the truth about how the present situation came to be.
Dori Levine
Former principal of Dr. Abraham Shore She’arim Hebrew Day School
Toronto

Lame, limp, lax… some words that come to mind when I read the reaction of Adam Atlas, Quebec Jewish Congress president, to the Centrale des syndicates du Quebec (CSQ)’s resolution to boycott Israel (“QJC questions union’s endorsement of Israel boycott,” CJN, July 16). He expressed “disappointment.” The enemy takes great pleasure in the CSQ’s stance, calling it “courageous and historic.” But the QJC? Merely disappointed. What more can you expect from an organization that is ashamed to call itself Canadian. Another shame.
Sheila Mediena
Montreal

    
The Jewish Susan Boyles are prohibited from singing in front of men (“Where are the Jewish Susan Boyles,” CJN, July 16). As a result, they whisper in synagogue, fearful of sticking out if they do have strong voices. Furthermore, we have religious girls’ schools full of wonderful sopranos and mezzo-sopranos who have never sung in their upper registers, because they have never had female models.
 There is more to Torah scholarship than the Talmud. The Jewish Susan Boyle must be given the chance to sing her song or prayer, full voice, heartfelt, somewhere.
Mary Ruth Gehr
Montreal

 
The article “Einstein lives on – at Hebrew University” (CJN, July 9)stated that the president emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hanoch Gutfreund, “said that Einstein’s most prominent association with the Zionist movement was his commitment to Hebrew U… In 1923, he travelled to what was then Palestine… to deliver a lecture on Mount Scopus, which is now part of the Hebrew U campus.”
For historical purposes, it is worth noting that on the same trip, Einstein “visited Haifa in February 1923… [and] agreed to head the committee [the German committee for the Hebrew Techniah in Haifa]. Thus Dr. Albert Einstein became the first chairman of the first Technion Society in the world.” (From Technion – the Story of Israel’s Institute of Technology by Carl Alpert.)
The Technion formally commenced classes in Haifa in 1924. After emigrating to the United States, Einstein campaigned to establish the American Technion Society. Einstein, who had retained his interest in the Technion ever since he had been chairman of Technion’s first society of friends in Germany more than 20 years earlier, sent frequent messages of encouragement.
In 1944, in a letter to the American Technion Society, he wrote: “It gives me real satisfaction to know that I took part in the founding of the society… I want to stress again that the Technion, as the only technological training and research institute in Palestine, is indispensable for the development of industry and every kind of practical work in the country. Its importance for the rehabilitation of our people after the war is obvious.”
Gary Goldberg
National President
Canadian Technion Society