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The Perils
Of Fanaticism

I commend Rabbi Avi Shaf-
ran's article on "The Perils of
Pluralism" July 11). It is honest,
forthright and eloquent. In al-
most all instances it parallels
many of my own feelings. I was
brought up on the Orthodox
tenets of Judaism and although I
consider myself to be non-
observant, my philosophical bias
leans towards that of the Or-
thodox.
I too, like Rabbi Shafran, feel
that ultimately we are all Jews
and that we need to learn to at
least be understanding of, if not
in agreement with, each other.
There is a point, however, that
Rabbi Shafran's article seems to
have not addressed. There are
those among us, be they ultra-
Orthodox, Conservative or Re-
form, who practice Judaism dog-
matically and hypocritically ne-
gate the basic ethics that are
Judaism. I refer most recently to
the secular and Orthodox Jews in
Israel today who are at war with
each other. My anger for what
they are doing takes no side. We
need to be united in a world that
continues to hold us in contempt
just because we are Jews. Instead
we are fueling the fires of their
hate.
I suspect that Rabbi Shafran's
article was motivated by the re-
cent condemnation of all or-
thodox Jews because of- the ac-
tions of a few. I support his
clarification but would like to
hear more from him on his feel-
ings regarding the Jew who ob-
serves Halachah piously while he
destroys the property and
threatens the safety of fellow
Jews who do not observe the way
he does.

Sheldon L. Smith
Southfield

The 'Former'
Is Very Active

"Purely Commentary" July 11
refers to "former Reform rabbi
Samuel Silver who now resides in
Florida."
Rabbi Samuel Silver is not a
former Reform rabbi. He is still a
Reform rabbi — he is a very
much alive, very active Reform
rabbi, who, in my opinion, is a
very unique rabbi who retired
from his pulpit in Connecticut at
age 65, moved down to Florida
and decided the retirement life
was not for him.
He created a new congregation
which, today, is about 300
families. They built a new syna-
gogue in Delray Beach, Fla. and
it is thriving — as a Reform
Jewish congregation served by a
popular Reform rabbi named Dr.
Samuel Silver — nothing
"former" about him!

Leonard N. Simons
Southfield

Jaffe Reveals
His 'Real Goals'

Hymie Cutler's letter (July 4,
"The Real Goals of Prof. Jaffe") is
loaded with inaccuracies, some
his own and some taken from a
superficial article by R. Medoff on
the New Israel Fund, recently

•

printed in Midstream.
As for the facts on what my
"real" goals are, let me note that I
believe in de-politicizing the
Jewish Agency by separating it,
unilaterally, from the World
Zionist Organization. I advocate
more control by donors and fed-
erations over the $420 million
they send to the Agency each
year, and much more personal
involvement by donors and fed-
eration leaders in their philan-
thropic effort in Israel and in
running the Jewish Agency.
I also feel very strongly about
the need to link up private
philanthropy with exciting,
struggling, grassroots, volunteer,
non-profit organizations who are
contributing to the quality of life
and social services in Israel.
Although I am proud to be the
first Israeli chairman and a co-
founder of the New Israel Fund,
for several years I have not been
directly connected with it, having
moved on to other, equally-
interesting catalytic social wel-
fare projects in Israel. Compared
to the Jewish Agency ; the New
Israel Fund is small potatoes (i.e.
less than $1 million spent in Is-
rael in 1986). In fact I proposed
that the Agency could easily
swallow the NIF by setting up its
own, independent, $20 million
non-political fund for innovative,
non-profit organizations over-
looked by present mainstream
philanthropy.
Private and direct donations
are becoming increasingly popu-
lar as more people question the
present political structure of the
Jewish Agency. I don't really care
whether donors receive their IRS
tax deduction by sending their
Israel-bound money via the PEF
Israel. Endowments Fund (342
Madison Ave., New York 10017)
or through the NIF. More than
half of the NIF grants are now
"donor-directed" (earmarked) ;
leaving little leeway for board-
directed grants. Once donors
know what organization or non-
profit activity they want to sup-
port in Israel, they can freely
choose either vehicle to get the
funds here, without overhead in
both cases.
The present NIF board mem-
bers are indeed a varied lot, but I
have never heard them polled re-
garding their political view on,
for example, a Palestinian state.
The IRS simply does not allow
anyone, including the United
Jewish Appeal and the Jewish
Agency, to use American charity
in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. I
personally resent that restric-
tion, because I'd like to see a
large Jewish presence in these
areas, and the U.S. government,
not the NIF board, dictated this
reality when we founded the
Fund back in 1979.
If Hymie Cutler is really seri-
ous about fighting for "A Safe Is-
rael," he shouldn't spend his
energies on the small fry New Is-
rael Fund. Actually, he should be
here with us, where most of the
serious action is taking place.
And bring the kids along too.

Prof. Eliezer D. Jaffe
School of Social Work,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem

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