Palin and Chabad

Two puff pieces for Sarah Palin in one issue of The Journal will not alter the fact that she is a radical right-wing ideologue who believes a woman who is raped should be prosecuted if she chooses not to bear the child of her rapist and who doubtless believes ours is a pseudo-religion and we need to convert ("Sarah Palin, Chabad Share Same Appeal," Sept. 10).

Palin sat through a Jews for Jesus sermon in her church and said or did nothing to contest its bile.

A quick study? Nonsense. Just listen to her babble. She is a stranger to the truth. Her multiple fabrications, too many to specify here, have now made her a laughingstock as her early positive ratings have plummeted.

The bubble has burst on Palin, and like Humpty Dumpty who to took that great fall, neither filmmaker Elan Frank or Chabadist Jonathan Marks can put her bubble back together again.

In the same issue, a letter from an Iranian Jew asserts she fears Sen. Barack Obama cannot be trusted to defend Israel. But on Page 21 there is reporting of news that Obama has introduced the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, which will close the large loophole that now allows American companies through their foreign subsidiaries to do business with Iran. The article cites that his legislation is opposed by the Republicans in Congress who want to continue the loophole that aids and abets Iran.

There is no contest between Republican and anti-Obama rhetoric and Obama's substantive actions that clearly aid Israel.

George Magit
Northridge


Unfortunately, I was in the middle of eating spaghetti when I read Jonathan Mark's "Sarah Palin, Chabad Share Same Appeal." I almost choked on my noodles as I read this insipid article.

In a nutshell: Marks admires Sarah Palin for the same reason he admires Chabad women -- both women "know their place" and neither are intellectually threatening. Marks trumpets the "humanitarian" Palin because, as he claims, she would rather rock a Down syndrome child to sleep than abort it.

Gee, Jonathan, Palin's a regular Mother Teresa, huh? Too bad Palin -- brave hunter of defenseless moose and wolves -- belongs to the political party that will do everything in its power to prevent a baby's abortion but will not lift a finger to help that child once it's born.

Love the zygote, hate the child.

Oh, and regarding Mark's question: Whom would you rather have a cup of coffee with, Palin or Nancy Pelosi? Pelosi, hands down. Unlike Marks, I am more interested in picking the brain of a woman with intellectual curiosity and a desire to improve the human condition."

Eran Lagstein
Los Angeles


How insulting to equate Sarah Palin with the women of Chabad. How many of these women would welcome pregnant Bristol Palin's boyfriend into their family when he calls himself a "f----in' redneck" and talks about how if anyone messes with him he'll "kick their f---in' ass".

Also, he talks on his My Space page about not wanting children. Surely the women of Chabad want more for their daughters than to marry a thug like Palin's prospective son-in-law.

Judith M. Brown
via e-mail


How dare Marks equate this vindictive, vengeful, unknowledgeable woman with Chabad women? Women of Chabad are intelligent, kind, caring and do have their homes open to those of differing opinions.

Chabad women do not condone killing of wolves by helicopters. They care about the environment. When asked about their beliefs, they give a caring, intelligent response without intimidation.

Palin, on the other hand, is the antithesis of that. She is not home with her children. She has let others raise them, witness her returning to work when her youngest was three days old, and still she is not with him, nor her other children.

She has fired and tried to destroy all those who disagree with her. And, her intellectual ability is nowhere near that of a woman of Chabad.

As for opening her home, not on a bet. How many Jews does she even associate with or blacks or anyone who does not believe as she does?

Her answers on all the talk shows indicate a lack of understanding of issues or of those who differ with her. That is a far cry from anyone in Chabad.

Shame on you. Do you really think Jews of any preference are really that stupid?

Janeen Weiss
Via e-mail


The Chabad rabbis and rebbetzins I have been blessed to know have been among the most caring, compassionate, honest and spiritual people in my life. There is no doubt that they have dedicated themselves to the holy pursuits of making all of us better Jews and of modeling the mitzvah of being a light unto the nations.
This is why I could not help but be appalled by Jonathan Marks' column comparing Sarah Palin to Chabad shluchot.

The values, which seems to permeate the lives of all the shlichim and shluchot I have known, are ahavas Yisrael, love for our fellow Jews; achdus, Jewish unity, and dan lecaf zechus, always judging people favorably.

Palin has taken every opportunity since her nomination to disparage and insult her opponents, their good works and their supporters and to hammer home the wedge of divisiveness, which has rent our country and turned us against each other.

Palin does not represent all that is good about shluchot, rather, she represents the values and attitudes they spend their lives fighting against.

Marks uses his column as an opportunity to insult and disparage those Jews whose observance, he thinks, is too much in their heads and too little in their kishkes. With his tirade against intellectual Judaism, Marks proves that he has forgotten the most important lesson of the talmudic struggle between beis hillel and beis shammai: this and this are the word of the living God.

Jonathan Kamens
Brighton, Mass.