Opinion

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Editorial

Cast Your Vote!

American Jews bothered to vote
series of election results
in the last elections for the con-
in the next 2'/2 months
gress in 1997. Because the U.S.
could largely determine
delegation is chosen by propor-
Israel's course for the next four
tional
representation, only 612
years, and you can help make the
votes
determined
each seat.
decisions.
In
other
words,
your vote
No, you can't vote in the
counts in these elections.
Palestinian Authority elections
If you care about Zionist
Jan. 25, and unless you're an
efforts around the world, you
Israeli, Israel's national elections
should vote for the congress.
March 28 are beyond your con-
If you care about Jewish edu-
trol. But the World Zionist
cation, you should vote for the
Congress is another story.
congress.
The United States will have
If you care about the work of .
145 of 500 elected seats at the
the Jewish National Fund and
meeting of the World Zionist
Israeli ecology, you should vote
Organization's governing body
for the congress.
when it convenes June 19 in
, If you care about diaspora-
Jerusalem. That's the second-
Israel
relations, you should vote
largest delegation, behind Israel,
for
the
congress.
and it gives American Jewry a
If
you
care about religious plu-
crucial opportunity to influence
ralism
in
Israel — or about the
policies from the Negev to the
preservation
of the special status
•
former Soviet Union to your own
of
the
Orthodox
rabbinate —
neighborhood.
you
should
vote
for.the
congress.
That's how far-reaching the
Above
all,
if
you
think
Israel
World
Zionist
the
proceedings of
does
and
should
matter
to
Congress are.
American Jews, and if you want
Known as the Congress or
the world to recognize that spe-
Parliament of the Jewish People,
cial relationship, you should vote
the WZO has a big influence on
for the congress.
how the Jewish Agency for Israel
If you haven't.registered and
spends its $350 million budget
you'll be at least 18 years old by
each year. But fewer than 89,000

A

the end of June, yOu have time
to get involved. Go to www.con-
gressofthejewishpeople.corn
and register online by Feb. 15.
To cover the administrative
costs of the election, you'll have
to pay $7 to register ($5 if you're
a full-time student).
The votes are due Feb. 28, and
the American Zionist
Movement expects to announce
the tallies for the dozen slates
March 6.
Nothing speaks louder than
apathy. If the American Jewish
community of more than 5 mil-
lion people produces fewer than
100,000 adults willing to take
10 minutes or so to vote for the
only democratically elected
global Jewish group, that result
will send a deafening message.
It won't matter which stream
of Judaism does best or whether
a secular group can pull off a
surprising electoral success.
Israel and the rest of the Jewish
world will learn only that we
don't care, so we shouldn't
expect anyone to care about us
— or our opinions. ❑

Dry Bones

THE ZIONIST STATE
CAN NO LONGER RELY
ON THE GENERATION
OF THE FOUNDING
GRANDFATHERS.

ARIEL SHARON'S
DEPARTURE FROM
ISRAEL'S POLITICAL
SCENE MEANS
THAT

r SO NOW WE'VE

PrNE SHOULD RAVE
CLONED THEM
WREN WE HAD
TIE CHANCE.

GOT TO RELY ON
OURSELVES FOR
LEADERSHIP?!

E-mail letters to the editor of no
more than 150 words to:
letters@thejewishnews.com .

www.drybonesblog.blogspot.com

Reality Check

Edge Of Despair

understand the power of a
photograph. Many times in
my career, a story I had writ-
ten was made infinitely stronger
by great pictures and haunting
images.
But there are times when a
picture, far more than mere
words, can reveal too much. I
believe one of those instances
came in a recent issue of Vanity
Fair magazine.
It showed anti-war activist
Cindy Sheehan sprawled across
the grave of hef son, Casey.
It was disturbing, and it was
meant to be disturbing. But it left
me thinking that this poor
woman, who has come apart
after her son was killed in Iraq, is
being manipulated by groups
even more heartless than they
accuse the Bush administration

I

of being.
I know something of the
despair that comes from losing a
child, and of wanting to put right
the circumstances that led to his
or her death.
But Sheehan's son was not
drafted and sent overseas against
his will. He chose the military
and, from the statements of other
members of his family, he
believed in what he was doing in
Iraq.
I won't debate the rights and
wrongs of her activism. If she
belieVes in it, then that's what she
has to do. What I do question is
the decision of the magazine to
pose her this way.
Vanity Fair is one of those hip-
per-than-thou publications,
directed towards an audience of
affluent, preppie residents of the

body convulsion.
East Coast and mem-
So when photogra-
bers of the entertain-
pher
Jonas Karlsson,
ment industry — or
at
the
behest of his
those who sincerely
editors,
had Sheehan
wish they were.
prostrate herself on
The cover of this
her son's grave, the
issue showed Naomi
intent was transpar-
Watts, King Kong's love
George Cantor ent. Especially when it
toy, in a scantily clad
_ Columnist
came under the head-
condition. There were
ing "The Best of the
also articles about
Best 2005," a section that also
problems at an exclusive prep
school, intrigue at the New York •included full-page pictures of the
cast of the TV shoWs Lost and
Times, some rich babe's fashion
business, what "really" happened Nip and Tuck and Steve Carell,
star of the film The 40 Year Old
to that Alabama teenager who
Virgin.
disappeared on Aruba in which
Not only does this trivialize
her stepfather and his friends are
the sacrifice of Casey Sheehan, it
made out to be a bunch of ram-
makes his mother appear to have
paging yahoos. That sort of
reached the point at which grief
thing.
Its tone goes beyond knee-jerk becomes dementia.
There is much to criticize in
liberalism. It is more like a full-

-

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the conduct of this war and it
will take another generation, at
least, before we know if it really
was a catastrophic mistake. Don't
trust the instant experts who
already know the answer to that
one. History reveals itself far
more slowly than that.
. There are indications that
Sheehan has served her purpose
and•the peace brigades will soon
seek out new martyrs for "The
Best of the Best 2006." But this
picture will always be part of the
visual record.
A mother's love is undying.
The editors of this publication
should have respected it more
than they did. ❑

George Cantor's e-mail address
is gcantor614@aol.com.

January 19 2006

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