A dubious contest
It seems that in a recent poll conducted by the Israeli Society of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s new justice minister, was voted “best-looking female in the Knesset.” (“New Israeli justice minister doesn’t shy from controversy,” May 14.)
I am wondering if the new justice minister’s name was, say, Amir Shaked instead of Ayelet, would he be voted “best-looking male in the Knesset”?
Ellie Presner
Cote St. Luc, Que.
Who should pay?
In a letter to the editor (“Funding for schools,” May 14), Murray Rubin wrote, “Canada is a secular country, and the idea of supporting the Jewish separate schools with public money is outdated.”
The facts are that Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan pay 40 to 60 per cent of the costs of secular subjects in Jewish day schools. Ontario is the outlier in Canada, a province that talks the talk of multiculturalism, but doesn’t deliver.
Of course, we should look to the Jewish community to make day school education affordable for middle-income families. Again, the fact is that UJA Federation of Greater Toronto contributes $10 million a year to tuition subsidies. But it simply isn’t enough and hasn’t increased for years. Tuition costs, meanwhile, are rising three times faster than family incomes.
In Montreal, with provincial government funding in the picture, tuition costs are a third lower than in Toronto. As a result, more than 50 per cent of Jewish children attend day schools, compared to 32 per cent in Toronto.
We should never stop telling the Ontario government that it is unjust to refuse to fund secular studies in the Jewish day schools. The status quo in Ontario is an affront to conscience. We must make Jewish education in our community affordable for every family that wishes to send its children to a Jewish day school.
Jeffrey Stutz
Toronto
Intermarriage and continuity
Paul Golin’s grandmother was right when she said that by “marrying someone non-Jewish, you’ll be finishing Hitler’s job,” (“Intermarriage is an opportunity, Oraynu speaker says,” May 14).
Golin is obviously trying to rationalize his choice of marrying outside of the faith with his ideas around reframing intermarriage in a positive light. Sounds like he’s proud that he gets to have his cake and eat it, too, with the best of both worlds.
Clearly, he values his own needs above Jewish continuity, or he would have asked his spouse to convert. Choosing to marry Jewish is critical to our survival as a people.
I lost both sets of grandparents in the Holocaust and missed an opportunity to hear their wisdom. The moral of the story, Mr. Golin? Your grandmother knows best. You should have listened.
Debbie Bauer
Toronto
Pope’s motives are suspect
In April, Pope Francis invited a delegation of rabbis from around the world to discuss anti-Semitism. These rabbis supposedly represented the Jews of the world. He asked forgiveness from the rabbis for the actions and/or inactions over the centuries of the Catholic Church in this regard.
Why did the Pope apologize? Was it a ruse? A facade? To blindside the Jews to his true intentions? What are his intentions? To see peace between Palestinian and Jew? Was it to lull the Jews into a false sense of security? I believe it was the latter – for shortly after that meeting, the Pope embraced Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, calling him “the angel of peace” and then supporting a Palestinian state.
This is where he dealt the Jews the ultimate betrayal. What in the Palestinian-Arab pledge “to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth” does he not understand? Or could this possibly be part of the church’s plan, to dominate the Holy Land, Judenfrei?
So even while the Catholic church praises murderers, the U.S. Presbyterian church plots, world condemnation of Israel (and the Jews) continues and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement gains momentum, Israel exists and flourishes.
May God continue to bless the Jewish nation. Hopefully one day all this madness will come to an end.
Bess Lokach
Richmond Hill, Ont.