At the last shlichim (Israel emissary) convention, I was introduced to an amazing family, the Tzemachs. They are an Israeli family who decided to temporarily close their family business, take a year off and use their private money to go on a journey around the world. But it’s not just a family vacation they are taking. In each country they visit, they are meeting with people from every community — primarily non-Jewish — to talk about their lives in Israel.

The Tzemachs grew tired hearing that Israel is the world’s “bad guy,” and decided it was time to show the world the truth about who we Israelis are. The truth is, we are not a bunch of ruthless warriors, we are people just like you — families mostly — who go to work, meet our friends for coffee and do other normal, everyday things like people do all over the world.

As excited as I was to hear about the Tzemachs and their year-long mission, their quest brought up some nagging questions. Why don’t the English or French or Americans need to do things like this? Why do we Israelis need to explain ourselves, to make sure that the world gives us “permission” to exist? And finally, do we really need to defend ourselves to the world?

After reading a lot on the matter, I discovered the ugly truth: Yes, Israel does need to defend herself. We are not like the English, French or Americans. In spite of the fact that all three of these countries had their share of oppressing people in other countries, as well as people who lived within their own borders, no one ever questioned their right to exist.

Yet here you have one tiny, Jewish state that gets all the attention when it comes to how it treats people. Many believe Israel is the cause of all the problems in the world, as if all of the world’s problems began only 63 years ago. The world press, from my point of view, is very one-sided when focusing on Israel. This leads people around the world to create a strong opinion about a country that they, in fact, know very little about.

Delegitimization of the state of Israel is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the fact that, instead of being a target only for Arab nations and third-world countries, people from western countries now oppose Israel’s existence. What troubles me most is that some of these Israel opponents are Jews.

The state of Israel wasn’t born from the Holocaust. It is actually the opposite: the Holocaust happened because we didn’t have a Jewish state to protect our people.

The Holocaust is proof that we should not have to justify our existence to anyone. Jewish people deserve a country just like any other people in the world, and the only legitimate place for us to do that is the land of our ancestors, our history and our heritage. In other words, the Land of Israel. From our perspective in Israel, it makes sense we are there. From our perspective, we do not have to justify ourselves. But with today’s world politics and perceptions, the reality is, we do need to justify our existence as a state.

This sad reality puts the pressure on all Jews, everywhere, to ensure the existence of the state of Israel will never be a question. Left wing, right wing — your specific beliefs don’t matter. What does matter is the existence of the state of Israel. Israelis and Diaspora Jews alike … it is a big part of our Jewish identity that we need in our lives.

I ask all of you to take action against the delegitimization of Israel. Speak out, learn more or join my Israel Advocacy group. You can connect to the advocacy group on Facebook (Israel Advocacy KC) or text advocacykc to 51818 to get updates on Israel. I also welcome you to contact me in person at or 913-327-8124.

It is difficult to place into a neat and tidy box custard-meister Jim Sheridan’s relatively novel restaurant concept Unforked (7337 W. 119th St., Overland Park, Kan. 66213). Is it a health food place? There is a salad premised wholly upon kale, after all. A Mexican joint? So much, it seems, is served within the confines of a taco (or quesadilla). For years, Sheridan dazzled us with dessert. We waited in long lines outside, enduring blistering heat and other elements, for delicious custard strewn with fruits, candies and various other mix-ins. With Unforked, however, Sheridan is reeling us in by simply making good food, fresh, with seasonal and/or local ingredients (to the extent possible).

Unforked is wholly casual in its approach. There is a drive-thru. Inside, food is ordered at a counter, from helpful clerks who are ostensibly “true believers” in the Unforked concept and product. Lines can be long, particularly at peak dinner times. Buzzers are given to diners, who are then (on busy nights) relegated to the mad scramble for somewhat limited seating in the bright dining area — where the walls are lined with white siding, as would appear on a house exterior. Televisions flash overhead. After the buzzers sizzle, diners return to the front of the restaurant to retrieve orders. Geez, whatever happened to sitting down and being waited upon? That said, the food at Unforked is generally well worth the effort.

Be ready for the cute names of menu items — including both salads we tried. Hail the Kale ($4.50, $7.50) was a simple and fresh salad in which kale (a spinach-like leaf, of sorts) was simply and effectively dressed with a light, lemon olive oil dressing and just enough parmesan cheese. The Thai Me Up ($4.50, $7.50) was a more complicated, but frankly terrific blend of juicy mangoes, carrots, string beans, coconuts and peanuts —interspersed with a strong cilantro essence that was a bit much for my taste (given a profound disposition against that particular herb, in all candor). As an appetizer, we also tried the Chipz ($1.70), an economical snack basket of house-made tortilla, taro and plantain chips, served with two “flavors” for dipping — out of a dozen possibilities. The habanero ranch we chose was only fair, with its odd aftertaste (and lack of creaminess that characterizes the best ranch versions). The creamy-avocado-cilantro sauce was superb, however — even with the shading of the dreaded cilantro.

Having grown up on Winsteads and Town Topic, and rounded out adulthood with Westport Flea Market and its fine burgers, the Unforked Pure Burger ($4, $6 for a double) failed to measure up. Though made from quality Angus beef sirloin, the patty was rather thin and lacked the heartiness and flavor of the better burgers in town. It’s less greasy, though, and presumably healthier — if those sorts of things matter. We preferred the Veggie Burger ($4.30), which was actually a delicious, perfectly grilled and marinated Portobello mushroom sandwich. The fries, deemed K Fries ($1.70), did measure up to those served at some of the better burger joints — small, crispy and satisfying.

What Unforked does quite well — and serves in intriguing varieties — is tacos (with either whole wheat, white corn or flour tortillas — all soft shell renditions). We sampled many of the offerings — some, again, riddled with cutesy names. The Pink Lady ($3.30), included tender steak contrasted with interesting, pickled red onions and queso fresco cheese. The Conquistador ($3.50), also featured the steak and was a little spicy, with a very well-executed chimichurri (a marinade with roots in Argentinean cuisine) and “blistered” onions, along with a bit of the queso fresco cheese. The Fundido Sirloin ($3.50) was like a Philly cheese steak on a taco, in essence — a pretty good one, too. The Cali ($3.50) included superior seared tilapia, with the stellar creamy avocado-cilantro sauce and pickled red cabbage slaw. This tilapia would have stood comfortably on its own as an entree at a (sit down?) restaurant that featured quality seafood.

The one chicken dish we tried, The BFF ($3), was the most Americanized Mexican taco we tried, with good grilled chicken simmered in salsa verde, with refried black beans and queso fresco cheese. Unforked does a very nice — albeit simple —Cheesy Quesadilla ($3.20), and an even better Veggie Quesadilla ($3.20), featuring many of the fine, grilled vegetables and ingredients offered within the array of tacos, laden with nice, ripe avocado.

Obviously, we had to have dessert. We knew Unforked would excel in that realm and we sampled three. Our favorite was the Wedding Cake Custard, though we were also immensely fond of the Chocolate Kiss ($3.50, $4.50, $5.20). The Wedding Cake Custard tasted like really good custard, for a couple bites — no real surprise, there. Then, we hit some icing. And some cake. And some more icing. Wow. The Chocolate Kiss was more “Ben and Jerry’s” in its approach, with chocolate chunks and chocolate chip cookie dough. Really excellent Ben and Jerry’s, though. We liked the flavor of the most unusual dessert that we tried, the Ricotta Pistachio Shake ($3, $6), and it was crammed with pistachios. It was a little thin, though, as shakes go.
We would undoubtedly come back for the food, rooted in fresh, quality ingredients. But we would stay, day after day, for the dessert. After all, this is Sheridan’s place.

Food:  3 stars
Service:  3 stars
Atmosphere:  2½ stars

Out of four stars

By now, everyone is aware of the infamous open microphone incident in which President Barak Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were overheard in a private conversation ridiculing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the G-20 summit in Cannes. After Sarkozy was overheard saying that he “could not stand Netanyahu” and calling him a “liar,” Obama replied “you are fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day.”

Obama’s lack of defense at the character assassination of a supposed ally should awaken Jewish voters to the inescapable conclusion that President Obama is not a friend of the Jewish state despite his recent efforts to change this perception.

It seems that Obama’s recent strategy of publicly adopting pro- Israeli stances, and avoiding public confrontations, condemnations and humiliation of the Israeli prime minister has only been a temporary public relations ploy to hold on to Jewish votes and donations in his re-election campaign. Obama has been publicly reassuring Jewish supporters of his commitment to Israel’s security and repeatedly pointing to the high level of security and diplomatic cooperation with the Israelis. However, privately he has been undermining Israel by agreeing with European leaders that the Israeli prime minister is to be blamed for the lack of progress toward peace in the Middle East while at the same time giving the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas a pass.

A reality check reveals that Obama’s view of the Israeli prime minister is distorted, whether by personal bias or selective memory. In fact, since Netanyahu came to power three years ago, the prime minister has bent to Obama’s will on many occasions. He agreed for the first time to commit his Likud party to accept a Palestinian state. He froze West Bank settlement growth as well as any buildup in east Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital. This is something no other Israeli leader has ever agreed to do, including dovish prime ministers such as Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Netanyahu removed dozens of roadblocks, agreed to dismantle illegal outposts and eventually accepted Obama’s territorial formula for a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders with land swaps.

Moreover while Netanyahu accepted the Mideast Quartets’ call, which included France and the United States, to return back to negotiations with the PA without preconditions, Abbas said no. But much worse, Abbas has rejected numerous personal appeals from Obama not to take his bid for statehood to the United Nations. This may force the United States to use its Security Council veto, which is something Obama seems to dread.

For almost three years, until he began his re-election campaign, Obama has been involved in public confrontations, condemnations and humiliation of the democratically elected Netanyahu. At the same time he has been silent and respectful to Abbas, a corrupt and undemocratic Holocaust denier, who has never ended the anti-Jewish incitement in schools, mosques and the media.

Those Jewish Obama supporters — who claim that despite his apparent personal dislike and disrespect to Netanyahu Obama is still a friend of Israel and can be trusted to ensure its survival — delude themselves. Respect for and a cordial relationship with a democratic ally demand that the president accept the democratic selection of Israel’s leader and treat that elected leader with courtesy and respect. Anything else is a slap at the Israeli people.

It is even more humiliating when one witnesses the great personal rapport that Obama has created with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. Turkish media outlets reported that after Erdogan’s mother died last month, Obama was among the world leaders who called him and the two “spoke for 45 minutes about their feelings.” The Washington Post reported that since the summer the relationship has been on the upswing and the two leaders speak often and frequently agree on policy in the Middle East.

It would be interesting to know if Obama agrees with the Erdogan policy toward Israel. Since the summer, Turkey has expelled the Israeli ambassador, downgraded diplomatic relations and suspended long-term military agreements with Israel. In September it even threatened that Turkish warships would accompany the next flotilla to Gaza.

Only fools will ignore the alarming signs of Obama’s animosity and Jews are not fools. Each Jewish voter must decide if they can trust Obama with Israel’s survival for four more years.

Shoula Romano Horing was born and raised in Israel. She is an attorney in Kansas City and a national speaker. Read more on her blog www.shoularomanohoring.com.

“Motti” by Asaf Schurr (Dalkey Archives, 2011) $13.95
“Heatwave and Crazy Birds” by Gabriela Avigur-Rotem, 2011) $15.95

Two new novels by Israeli authors have recently been published in the Dalkey Archive Press Hebrew Literature Series. The first, “Motti” by Asaf Schurr is a low-key tale of a stereotypical loser. Motti, an elementary school teacher, lives alone with his dog, Laika. The only excitement in his life comes from his daydreams about falling in love with his neighbor and his regular Wednesday night outings with his friend Menachem. Menachem, on the other hand, is a boisterous drinker with a wife and two children. When, on the way home from the café, Menachem hits and kills a woman, Motti doesn’t think twice about claiming responsibility for the accident. After all, Menachem has a family to support. Motti has nothing.

Sentenced to prison, Motti misses his dog but continues to dream about his neighbor, listen to the stories of one of the prison guards and receive visits from Menachem for a while. Prison, it seems, is very similar to Motti’s life in the outside world in its lack of excitement. Schurr’s gentle depiction of a gentle man gives the reader a very different picture of a passive Israeli who does a good deed for which he is severely punished.

In Gabriela Avigur-Rotem’s “Heatwave and Crazy Birds,” a not-so-young woman is returning to Israel more than 25 years after she ran away. Loya Kaplan has inherited from her father’s colleague and friend the house in which she grew up. And it appears that most of her school friends are still living in the same neighborhood — some married, some divorced, and all curious about where she has been for 25 years. As the novel unfolds, the reader learns of Loya’s complicated relationships with her father, his friend Davidi, and Davidi’s son Nahum.

This is the story of a woman trying to recover her life, discovering the history of her parents during the Holocaust, reconnecting with her best friend, Ora. This is not an easy book. The author’s prose is beautiful and beautifully translated by Dalia Bilu, one of Israel’s preeminent translators of Hebrew to English. However, Loya’s story is revealed in fits and starts, interspersed with her memories of archaeology, which her father taught her, and intertwined with the birds that come to her house. This novel of a woman whose roots have withered will, however, reward the patient reader; and what Loya eventually discovers will make the reading journey worth the time it takes.

Andrea Kempf, a librarian at the Billington Library at Johnson County Community College, has reviewed books for many publications, including Library Journal and The Jewish Chronicle.

QUESTION: I am the father of one of your students at Rockhurst University. This is a strange avenue of posing a question to you. My daughter came home from one of your lectures in the course you teach there and in discussing her studies mentioned that you said that in Jewish law contraception or birth control on the part of the Jewish man is forbidden under virtually all circumstances. We are passed child-bearing age so this is irrelevant to us personally; however, I was shocked to find this out. I am surprised that no one talks about these things.

ANSWER: Yes, this is a strange route for my receiving a question sent to me. There are not very many Jewish students at Rockhurst University, but your daughter is obviously one. In our introduction course to Judaism we discuss lifecycle events and included in that are issues like contraception and abortion. Most Jews, even better read and intelligent ones, are shocked to find out that Jewish law has a whole gamut of views on both contraception and abortion.

Most traditional and Orthodox Jews will, under many circumstances, practice contraception. If you look around the community you will see that except for Chassidim or exceptionally pious Jews, generally speaking, the size of families of most religiously practicing Jews is not unusually large. Obviously, most modern Orthodox and traditional Jews are practicing some form of birth control during their child-bearing years.

This topic is discussed extensively in the Talmud and elsewhere, including many religious rulings and articles that have been written throughout the Middle Ages and in modern centuries as well.

What I said is correct. Namely, that under virtually all circumstances male contraception is prohibited in Jewish law. This is not a sexist, male chauvinist issue! I want to be very clear about this. In Chapter 9 of Genesis when Noah and his family exit the Ark after the Flood, G-d commands “Noah and his sons to populate the world and fill it.” What the verse is talking about is that after the Flood, Noah and his sons are commanded to really “repopulate” the world. The standard interpretation of that verse as well as other episodes in Genesis, including Judah and his sons in a separate incident involving a woman known as Tamar, leads the rabbis and Jewish law to mandate a prohibition against male contraception. Since “Noah and his sons” were commanded to “populate the world and fill it,” that verse is seen as preventing men from any form of contraception.

The danger of a column like this is that this is a very involved and somewhat complicated topic and I am not doing justice to it or the analysis of it by a short response, which this column necessitates. I devoted close to a half an hour in my lecture to this very topic so obviously my response here has to be very brief and perhaps unfair to an intelligent discussion of the total theme.

Since the Torah does not address women at all in that verse or these discussions, the rabbis that do permit contraception in a Jewish marriage say that birth control, therefore, should be left in the hands of the women. In this day and age with wonderfully effective forms of female contraception in a whole variety of ways, without going into details in this column, contraception can very successfully and satisfactorily be practiced in any Jewish marriage by the wife.

Thanks J-LEAD

In the Oct. 27 issue of The Chronicle, an article submitted by KU Hillel titled “KU Hillel’s J-Lead gives college students ownership over Jewish programming” This program has been a great opportunity for college students to understand grant allocation and lay leadership opportunities that will exist for them in their communities after college.
J-LEAD, a program of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, has provided the funding to KU Hillel and allowed this opportunity for students. The KU Hillel program was named in honor of the Jewish Community Foundation’s program. We have been very appreciative and feel that through this opportunity we are able to encourage development into Jewish adulthood for our own Kansas City community and beyond.

Malinda Kimmel,
Assistant Director of Jewish Student Life
KU Hillel

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths and yet is one of the least funded by the National Institute of Health (2 percent of the overall budget). As some of you may recall, my mom Barbara Hersh died from this terrible disease in November 2006. I did not know anything about pancreatic cancer at the time of her diagnosis. But sadly within the 145 days until she died, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the disease. The reason why pancreatic cancer (PC) is thought to be a “death sentence” is that there are no early detection tests available and once symptoms are present, it is typically stage IV — there is no stage V. Who is at risk? The short list includes Ashkenazi Jews, which is why I continue to try to educate our community. Ninety-four percent of people with PC will die within five years of being diagnosed. The majority of those people die within three to six months of diagnosis. PC statistics have not changed for the better by more than 3 percent in the past 40 years. I hope with awareness and funding this will change in my lifetime. November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month; to learn more and find ways to help please visit www.pancan.org.

Michelle Hersh
Phoenix, Ariz.

Spineless insanity?

On Oct. 30, Israel’s oldest newspaper, Haaretz, reported: “A Saudi royal offered a $900,000 reward to anyone who captures an Israeli soldier, on Saturday. Prince Khaled bin Talal, the brother of business tycoon and Fox News co-owner Walid bin Talal, told the Saudi-based broadcaster Al Daleel that the captive would then be released in exchange for Arabs held in Israeli prisons.
“Khaled’s offer comes days after the prominent Saudi cleric, Awad al-Qarni, put $100,000 on the head of every Israeli soldier.” (visit http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/saudi-royal-offers-900-000-reward-for-capture-of-israeli-soldiers-1.392666 for the entire article.)
On Oct. 20, 2010, President Obama authorized more than $60-billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia. (http://www.fpif.org/articles/tracking_the_saudi_arms_deal).
Is this a mere paradox? Or, spineless insanity, or craven complicity in the destruction of America’s sole, genuine ally in the Middle East?
Arab ‘allies’ provide Americans over $60 billion reasons to “drill, baby, drill” on-and off-shore the USA, ASAP.

J. Scott Brown
Leawood, Kan.

Imagine one morning you and your family are awakened by shouts and screams. Then suddenly, the police break into your house. They start breaking the china, destroying the furniture and shattering windows while showing great satisfaction in their destruction. Then you and your family are told to get dressed and are taken to the police station for no apparent reason. On the way, you see your synagogue in flames and your neighbors throwing rocks at it.

On Nov. 9, 1938, mobs burned synagogues, destroyed Jewish homes and businesses, vandalized Jewish hospitals, orphanages and cemeteries and dragged thousands of Jewish men, women and children into the streets where they were beaten and humiliated. The Germans later called this night Kristallnacht — The Night of Broken Glass — because of the tons of shattered glass that scattered throughout German cities after it had taken place. The Jews began to call that date the beginning of the Holocaust because of the tremendous violence, which started on that night and grew even more dreadful as time had passed.

On Nov. 7, 1938, the Third Secretary of the German embassy in Paris, Ernst Von Rath, was murdered by Herschel Grynzpan, a 17-year old German-Jewish refugee. Herschel wanted to avenge his parent’s expulsion, together with 15,000 other Polish Jews from Germany, to Zbonszym. The Nazis used the murder as an excuse to start the mobs and riots that began the “final solution,” the extermination of Jews.

The German government attempted to disguise the violence of those two days as a spontaneous protest on the part of the “Aryan” population. But, in reality, Kristallnacht was organized by the Nazi chiefs and their thugs with technical skill and precision. The Nazi chiefs commanded the Gestapo and the storm troopers to incite mob riots throughout Germany and Austria.

Kristallnacht marked the beginning of the plan, to rob the Jews of their possessions for the benefit of the Reich and then to sweep them forever from the German scene. Furthermore, thereafter, Jews had no place in the German economy, and no independent Jewish life was possible, with the dismissal of cultural and communal bodes and the banning of the Jewish press.

During the week after Kristallnacht, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Berlin reporter called that night “The worst outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in modern German History.”

During Kristallnacht, more than 1,100 synagogues were destroyed, as well as 7,500 Jewish businesses and countless Jewish homes. Several hundred Jews were killed and 30,000 were arrested and sent to the concentration camps at Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Dachau, where thousands more died.

Today, many historians can trace a pattern of events, occurring before that night, which would suggest that such an atrocity was to happen. In 1933, when the Nazis took power, German anti-Semitism adopted quasi-legal forms. One of the new anti-Jewish forms of action, which had begun with the Nuremberg laws of 1935, included the separation of the Jews from the daily structure of German life. The Jews, systematically, were deprived of their civil rights; they were isolated from the general populace through humiliating identification measures. The Nazis boycotted the Jewish shops and took away their jobs. Then they made the Jews declare the value of their possessions. The Civil Service and the police often arrested the Jews and forced them to sell their property for a pittance.

One may ask how could the entire world stand by and allow such a disaster to occur. The fascist or authoritative regimes in Italy, Rumania, Hungary and Poland were governments who approved of this pogrom and wanted to use the pogrom as a case to make their own anti-Semitic policies stronger in their individual countries. The three Great Western powers — Great Britain, France and the United States — said the appropriate things but did nothing to save the Jews. Hitler, in the late 1930s told the world to take the Jews but there was just no one willing to take them in. Even in our own country, President Roosevelt and his administration kept on expressing their shock over the terrible events which were occurring in Germany and Austria, but when it came time to act and help save the refugees by bringing them to the United States, the United States government refused and replied by saying that they have no intention to allow more immigrants to enter the United States.

Looking back at Jewish history, every Jew should be cautious and alert to any hints which might be seen now. Kristallnacht teaches us many things. Among them are that we must remain vigilant and not permit even the smallest seed of anti-Semitism to take root.

Rabbi Bernhard H. Rosenberg, Ph.D., is a Kansas City native and a child of Holocaust survivors. He is the rabbi of Congregation Beth-El in Edison, N.J.

Gilad Shalit was born in Naharia, Israel, in 1986. He joined the IDF in 2005.

One year later, in 2006, a small group of Hamas terrorists dug tunnels under an IDF post, resulting in an attack of Kerem Shalom, near Gaza. During the resulting fight, two soldiers were killed, four wounded and one soldier — Gilad Shalit — went missing. He was kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Twenty-four hours later, Hamas took responsibility and demanded the release of 1,000 Palestinian terrorists from an Israeli prison. Now, more than five years later (1,934 days for those of us counting), Shalit is free.

Shalit was held in a dungeon with no human rights. In contrast, the Hamas terrorists in the Israeli prisons were given the chance to study, watch cable television and were able to see their families.

Since the first days of his kidnap, the Shalit family did everything they could to make sure their son remains in our thoughts. Television news programs in Israel did a daily count of the number of days Shalit was in captivity. The entire Jewish people — in Israel and in the diaspora — prayed for his safe return. There was great hope, but we all knew there would be a high price to pay.

The law in Israel says that Israel’s citizens have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court if they don’t agree with the government’s decision to release terrorists. Along with this, the government publicly releases the details of the exchange and the names of the terrorists to be released. Several appeals to the Supreme Court were made by bereaved families, which explains why Shalit wasn’t released until several days after the announcement was made last week.

Now, we wait for more terrorist attacks. While we celebrate Shalit’s release, Israelis understand that terrorists who murdered babies, children and innocent civilians, lynched soldiers and planned to bomb busses packed with people have been set free. And we know they will try and do it again.

It is important for us to understand the meaning of the deal:

From the Israeli perspective, the Israeli government tried to reduce the price Israel had to pay, which is why Shalit spent more than five years in captivity. Another factor is the situation in the Arab world. The lack of stability in the Arab world, and in Egypt specifically, could have allowed Hamas to move Shalit to Egypt and, from there, to an unknown destination. Both reasons pushed the Israeli government to set a deal now — before it’s too late.

From the Palestinian perspective, the pressure on Hamas was grave. Hamas is the government in Gaza, so it has to be pragmatic at times. New terrorist organizations in Gaza are putting political pressure on Hamas to show results. One of these results is to honor their promise to bring their prisoners home. We also must remember Abu Mazen in the West Bank — with the rivalry between Hamas and Fatah in the background — the deal is a victory for Hamas. Hamas kept its promise.

In order to try and reduce the damage to Fatah, Israel did not release prisoners like Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah terrorist more popular than Abu Mazen himself. Releasing those terrorists would mean danger to Abu Mazen’s control. For Israel, that could mean the loss of a potential partner for peace.

This victory for the Palestinians has future consequences as well. Hamas is a terrorist organization, so Israel is potentially giving them a huge incentive to kidnap more soldiers and civilians. And the released terrorists will become heroes. Eventually, they will want to prove their status by initiating more terrorist attacks against Israelis. On the flip side, we must remember that terrorists continue to kidnap and attack Israelis. So perhaps incentives will always exist for these terrorists.

The Palestinian terrorists discovered the soft underbelly of the Israelis long ago — the importance of human lives. They know Israelis will do anything to release their soldiers. So Hamas created a “price list” for kidnapped Israelis. With a live soldier bringing in the “best price,” all the way down to body parts, which would bring in lower “prices.”

For the Israelis, the release of Gilad Shalit or any captive soldier or civilian, is of supreme value. Beyond the mitzvah of redeeming the captives, it is extremely important for future soldiers to understand that, as they are risking their lives for the state of Israel, the state of Israel will not abandon them in their time of need. It just becomes difficult when we all know that more Israelis will ultimately pay the price with their lives because of the trade for terrorists.

As Israelis have been compelled to do in the past 150 years, ever since the first Palestinian terrorist attack in 1851, we know there is never an easy or “clean” way to deal with terrorism. Everything is complex, there is always good inside the bad, and bad inside the good. Gilad Shalit’s case is no different. We are all happy that Shalit has been released and that he’s alive and well with his family. But we also feel compassion for the many bereaved families in Israel and worry for what is yet to come.

Lilach Nissim is the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s Israel emissary.

Beware of J Street

The Jewish community should be made more aware of J Street, the organization of Jews which proclaims itself to be “pro-peace, pro-Israel” while publicly advocating pro-Palestinian positions with such fervor they might as well be wearing kaffiyehs.

Very disturbingly, many rabbis are adherents of J Street. The J Street website exhorted these rabbis to use the High Holidays as the occasion to present the J Street playbook to their congregations. This was done to least one major area congregation, on Kol Nidre, the solemnest night of the year, to a captive audience in attendance under compulsion of conscience, destroying the possibility that most of his congregants could approach Kol Nidre with anything like the appropriate mindset.

From the bimah, this rabbi endorsed almost every single Palestinian demand. Stop building housing in Jerusalem itself,  the very capital of Israel! Give them a chunk of Jerusalem, which has never in history been an Arab capital of anything. Go back to the 1967 borders, with “land swaps.” Israel is tiny. Just what land would he swap? And why? The Arabs launched two aggressive genocidal wars against Israel, with the announced goal of exterminating not only Israel but also its entire Jewish population. Just when in all human history has any entity that engaged in two genocidal wars of aggression and lost them both been given land back?

The settlements, of course, must go. Why? If indeed there is a future Palestinian state with Jewish settlements within its borders, shouldn’t those settlements be able to exist in peace, just as Israeli Arabs have their own settlements within Israel?

J Street adherents give aid and comfort to Israel’s enemies. When rabbis in particular endorse Arab demands, the Arabs gleefully proclaim, “See, see, look at all those rabbis that support our position. Obviously, we are in the right!” J Street supporters are soul mates of Neville Chamberlain — appeasers who seem to believe that giving the Arabs everything they ask just because they ask it, will bring peace to Israel. They have already forgotten World War II, where giving Hitler the Rhineland, Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia did not bring peace. It brought Auschwitz.

Lee Levin
Overland Park, Kan.

Where are the Jews?

In the Sept. 29 issue of The Chronicle, I wrote an article published on the opinion page titled, “How to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” I also sent the article to five friends in Israel.

All five of those friends had something to say about the article. Three of them, in addition to their comments, also wanted me to tell them about the reaction of the local Jews to the article. Subsequently, I wrote to them that there was no reaction at all.

Hearing this, one of my friends wrote, “Are there any Jews in Kansas City? If there are, are these Jews Jewish? I hope this will never happen to them. However, it is possible that, at some point in the future, some (all?) Kansas City Jews will be seeking a safe haven. When they arrive at our shores, we will receive them with open arms. So it goes.”

Zeev Dickmann, Ph.D.
Overland Park, Kan.