Letters Orthodox Expression Orthodoxy always seemed alien to me. Having non-observant parents and living in Bad Axe probably contributed to that belief. So it was with consternation that I accepted my son Doron's decision to live an Orthodox life in Israel. The ideology still puzzles me yet I am amazed and very touched by some of the customs. One in particular unfolded during my last trip in February. While my daughter-in-law Sarah was preparing for Shabbat, cooking cholent, chicken, fish and many side dishes, the call came. The goal was to enlist 40 women to bake challah. The task was performed with love and hope for an ill child in the neighborhood who developed epilepsy at age 8. No medication seemed to help him. I asked myself, "What good could bak- ing challah do for this child?" Prayers are always said over the challah as it is being prepared, yet this time, as the dough was kneaded, as it rose and baked, I found myself intensely focused on this child's plight. Multiply my thoughts by at least 40 more. Mental and physical energy evolved into a phenomenon of forceful, power- ful prayer. On Shabbat as we consumed the challah, the child's quest for healing became an integral part of our family. This whole experience was highly enlightening to me as an example of the devotion within this community to help- ing those in need. That commitment is not unusual in the Orthodox community in Israel. Geraldine Spilman Orchard Lake Arab Propaganda The thinking of groups like Combatants for Peace is dangerous and uninformed ("Blaming The Occupation," Feb. 1, page 23). The "blame Israel" for everything is good public relations for the Arabs, but it doesn't make sense historically. Perhaps the leaders of that Palestinian/ Israeli dialogue and anti-occupation activist group Sulaiman Al Hamri and Elik Elhanan would like to explain why Arabs were rioting and trying to kill Jews sto in 1919, 1921, 1929 and 1936-1939, long before there was an Israel? Also, the Arab states will not accept the "Palestinians" into their country but want to keep them as victims so they can be used as pawns against Israel. More Jews have been disenfranchised and driven out of Arab states without com- pensation than "Palestinians" who have had to leave Israel, but little is mentioned about them. The Arabs have better PR than Israel. The bottom line is that the Arab states want Israel to disappear. Ending the occupation will do nothing but contribute to that end. S. Freeman Novi More About Crohn's As a specialist in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), I read with great interest your article "Living With Crohn's" (Feb. 8, page 13). I am heartened to see that your community has worked so tirelessly and successfully to combat these illnesses. However, perhaps it is also time to combat some falsities. IBD is not associated with personal- ity type. Patients with IBD may very well have more anxiety or depression when their disease is active, but in no way is an IBD patient's personality the cause of the illness. IBD is not the result of diet. In essence, diets and personalities may change as a result of having a chronic ill- ness, but do not cause chronic illness. Moreover, surgery for ulcerative colitis is not a panacea. A study from my alma mater, the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv, reveals that 5 percent of patients who undergo removal of their entire colon for UC will develop Crohn's of the small intestine. Moreover, 35 percent of the patients who undergo an internalized pouch procedure will have nocturnal soil- ing. The goal of therapy for IBD is to allow the patient to have a normal life. Remicade, by far the most effective of all the biologic drugs on the market, has rev- olutionized how we approach IBD. More biologic drugs are on the way. Our patients with IBD actually have an IMID (Immune Mediated Inflammatory Disorder). These Which household items, which may contain chometz (leavening), may remain in the house during Passover? —Goldfein •qs!iod ainpuini pue lu!ed Ixem nog se yens 'salq!peui :JeMsuy 6 March 8 . 2007 This Month In History: Jewish Civil Rights March 3, 1812: A progressive edict concerning the civil status of the Jews is enacted in Prussia on the strength of the chancellor, Karl August von Hardenberg, who stated that he was not prepared to approve any law which was based on more than four words: equal rights, equal duties. March 4, 1849: Centuries-old residency restrictions are abolished in the Czech region of Moravia. On March 17, another law organized Moravian Jews into 27 autonomous political communities. March 17, 1808: Napoleon Bonaparte signed an edict attempting to force the Jews of France to integrate with civil society. The so-called "infamous decree" followed the French Sanhedrin, a congress of Jewish notables convened by the emperor to construe government policies as binding religious doctrine. Through coercive tactics such as deferring debts owed to Jews by Christian peasants, heavily regulating trade, and restricting Jewish exemptions from mili- tary service, the reformist government pushed Jews, particularly in the Alsace- Lorraine region, to adopt family names and submit to a special religious author- ity that enforced the general legal and economic structure of the country. March 20, 1911: The mutilated body of a 12-year-old boy was discovered in a cave on the outskirts of Kiev. The right-wing press and anti-Semitic groups immediately launched a vicious campaign accusing the Jews of using the mur- dering of the boy for ritual purposes, the so-called "blood libel" that had been the pretext for persecutions of Jews for centuries. Obligingly, the chief district attorney of Kiev disregarded police information pointing to a gang of local criminals and instead looked for a Jew on whom to blame the crime, through whom the entire Jewish people could be publicly indicted. Mendel Beilis, the Jewish superintendent of a local brick kiln, was soon arrested and sent to prison, where he remained for more than two years. The trial of Beilis took place in Kiev in 1913, resulting in his acquittal. Bernard Malamud's 1966 novel The Fixer is based on the Beilis case. Indeed, the weeks before the Passover celebration were frequent occasions for blood libels against Jews. After the grotesque murder of four citizens of Endingen, Germany, in March 1331, Rabbi Elias and his two brothers were accused of ritual murder, tortured, put on trial, and burned at the stake. Soon after, all of Baden's Jews were expelled. Taken from: Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd Edition, (c) 2007, www.encyclopaediajudaica.com , © 2007, Thomson Gale How to Send Letters We prefer letters relating to IN articles. We reserve the right to edit or reject letters. IlLEMET 'cha Don't Know it ,Copyright 2007, Jewish Renaissance Media disorders include psoriasis and rheuma- patient is not to blame. It's in their toid arthritis. immune system. Never give up hope. The days of our children needing to These drugs are miracles and more drugs take 14 pills a day is coming to an end. We are on the way. As Abba Eban said, "As a can now offer our patients more effective Jew, if you don't believe in miracles, you're therapy in the form of Remicade when not being realistic." given for 12 hours over an entire year as Mark Fleisher, M.D. opposed to ineffective pills taken four Borland-Groover Clinic times a day. Crohn's and Colitis Foundation If only we can remember that the Jacksonville, Fla. Letters of 225 words or less are considered first. 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