Israel reflection devoid of affection
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Letter to the EditorOne reflection on Israel focused too much on shortcomings

Israel reflection devoid of affection

Imagine a 70th anniversary party where one guest decides not to reminisce about sweet or heroic moments in the celebrant’s life, but instead to rehash the celebrant’s shortcomings.

June 14, 2018, 2:23 pm 0 Edit
Part of the value in choosing Jewish day school education for your children is that "there's a very good chance that they wind up at some point, during or right after high school, in Israel, and everything they've learned they can now visualize, they can touch, they can see," said Margolis. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Part of the value in choosing Jewish day school education for your children is that "there's a very good chance that they wind up at some point, during or right after high school, in Israel, and everything they've learned they can now visualize, they can touch, they can see," said Margolis. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Imagine a 70th anniversary party where one of the guests uses the occasion not to reminisce about sweet or heroic moments in the celebrant’s life, but instead to rehash what she perceives as the celebrant’s shortcomings and the differences she has with her (“We need to have the difficult conversations,” June 1). Not much of a friend, you’d think.

Yet that is what Stefi Kirschner did with the space she was invited to use to comment on Israel’s 70th anniversary. She couldn’t find anything uplifting or inspiring in Israel’s history. Instead, she used the occasion to reiterate well-known grievances and disagreements she has with Israel’s behavior and lecture the community on the need to engage in what she ironically describes as a conversation that is “forbidden,” even as she repeats it in a Jewish community newspaper.

The Chronicle describes the reflections it printed as the submissions it received from a “broad swath” of “leaders” who were invited to comment. How sad and depressing that this response would be one so devoid of affection for the land that has been in our hearts and dreams since time immemorial.

Ann Sheckter Powell
Squirrel Hill

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