That some of the respondents to Rachel Loewith Rochwerg’s letter (HJN, May 26, 2021) have expressed anger, outrage, and sadness in reaction to her sentiments is not too surprising. What would be encouraging though is if their well-intentioned, informed, and passionate counter-arguments were to influence her to re-think her beliefs and perhaps modify the content of what she is evidently passing on to her children.

 

Unfortunately,  faux ‘progressive’ thinking, which is so prevalent these days, has shown itself to be remarkably resistant to proven facts, reasoned debate, and geopolitical context, resorting instead to the virtue-signaling platitudes of so-called ‘social justice’ and the scourges of moral relativism, historical revisionism, and critical race theory. Hopefully, Loewith Rochwerg is insightful enough to realize that adherence to these orthodoxies and intersectionalities is anything but constructive when Jews or Israel enter the discourse and that, accordingly, she might seek to ensure that what she expresses does not, even unintentionally, play into the hands of those who seek to harm the Jewish collective, both within Israel and in the Diaspora.      

 

While the HJN should be a destination for diverse opinions, there are those who would argue that not even the remotest perception of demonization of Israel should be given a forum in its pages, most particularly at a time when antisemitism is surging worldwide - fueled, to a great extent, by seemingly limitless expressions of flagrant anti-Zionism.

 

It is notable that none of the several letters to the editor has lent support to Loewith Rochwerg’s position, which would seem to suggest that our community at large likely does not agree with her viewpoints.

 

Lawrence Hart