Letters to the editor October 7
Pittsburgh dallies on delis
During a recent week’s vacation in Los Angeles, my significant other and I were privileged to enjoy four great Jewish-style delicatessen meals, visiting Nate ’n Al, Jerry’s Famous, Canter’s and Greenblatt’s.
Like so many within our community, I wonder how it can be that a city like Los Angeles can boast of so many great delis while Pittsburgh is largely left out in the cold.
We have delicious Jewish-style deli foods at our Smallman Street Deli and Food for Thought, but there is no large delicatessen restaurant where one can go throughout the morning, afternoon and into the late hours of the evening to enjoy items from a menu which contains hundreds of choices.
I have heard so many people ask, as I do, is there not room for one Weinstein’s-style delicatessen in all of the Pittsburgh area?
Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair
Observations on observance fall flat
Please stop referring to Orthodox Jews as “observant Jews” (“Synagogue event proves ‘clean’ comedy can also be funny,” Sept. 23). This sort of language is very divisive.
We now understand that in matters of prejudice, it should not be up to the group who is put upon to quell the bigotry, but on those whose compatriots are committing the breach. And we currently teach our children to call out discriminators and those who use words that unfairly mark one person as somehow better than another, so we should follow similar guidelines ourselves.
The Orthodox are no more “observant” than are the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist or any other subdivision, group or individual, organized or not. Nor are they more “religious,” though this sort of language often gives some persons leave to feel that they may express that opinion.
The particular story in this instance suggests that “many observant Jews” want “clean material” in their comedy. Is that a religious precept? Is that an “observant” behavior, to eschew blue comedy? Is repressiveness a virtue?
We are all Jews. We all study, interpret, learn, reinterpret and study some more. There is never to be a final interpretation of any ritual, rite, rule or law (a precept taught me by an Orthodox rabbi). We must continually discover and apply our knowledge.
Please use appropriate language. Let’s not be divisive.
Audrey N. Glickman
Greenfield
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