â€˜Our universal causeâ€™

Erica Brown claims (July 22) that as a people we have no platform. But it is not that there aren’t causes, but rather there is apathy and no passion.

It might seem that adversity is what defines us. The generation that came forth from the Holocaust was highly motivated to help their fellow Jews, and this was propelled into the next generation. But as we distance ourselves from catastrophe, certainly in the recent 70 years, we have become complacent and comfortable.

There are many causes for which we Jewish people could be more passionate: the displacement of 8,000 Jews from Gush Katif, the capture and non-return of Gilad Shalit, the 2006 Lebanon War, Iran’s nuclear danger and promise to destroy Israel, the delegitimization of Israel and therefore the Jewish people.

Every time we let another cause slip by, it allows our enemies to inch ever closer to our Jewish core.

Today in Europe, we are battling to keep the right for ritual slaughter and supply our people with kosher meat. And then there is Durban III. It is coming to New York City Sept. 21. This is nothing less than Israel- and Jew-bashing in our own backyard. The parshiot and megillot we read throughout the year are not bedtime tales; they tell our history, a history that has repeated itself countless times over the years and is repeating itself today.

Media attacks on Israel/the Jewish people are probably the worst. They disseminate awful propaganda. With the Internet there is no way to find the source of baseless attacks. Although every once in a while there is a story such as the one about the anti-Semitic poster written about in a Geneva paper (Google vosizneias geneva poster). Pictured is a Jew shot in the head with an arrow and the caption, in French, reads: “Save Switzerland: Shoot Straight!” If that is not a call to kill Jews then what is? .

To Erica Brown my message is: The very continuance of Judaism is our universal cause and the gathering place should be everywhere.

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