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Bullying Is Serious
The IN deserves great appreciation
for publishing "No Place For Bullying
in God's World" (Nov. 4, page 21).
Bullying has been a subject too long
denied in our Jewish community.
Rabbi Steven Burg, the international
director of NCSY, the youth program
of the Orthodox Union, cares enough
for our youth to call for zero tolerance
for bullying in all forms.
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein of
Congregation Beth Ahm in West
Bloomfield recognized the seriousness
of this problem and included an open
letter in the Beth Ahm bulletin to
Jewish teens and college students from
Rabbi Steven Wernick of the United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
It is a letter to be shared by parents,
educators and young people.
What begins as "harmless" bullying
may lead to physical, psychological or
sexual harm. The reasons for bully-
ing usually have no specific cause or
reason except for the need of the bully
to have power. Parents, teachers and
rabbis have a moral obligation to edu-
cate against bullying, to encourage the
bystander to stand up against bullying
and empower our children to protect
themselves and know there are those
who will stand up against bullying. To
ignore bullying is to be responsible for
the harm it does.
Micki Grossman
Farmington Hills
\ IT'S EASY!
,—
.71SH NEWS
Oversimplifying Islam
We have enough problems without
oversimplifying a complex issue or
mischaracterizing Islam or what
Muslims, particularly those who live in
heterogeneous western societies, like
ours, believe (Editor's Letters, "Don't
Discount Shariah," Oct. 21, page 5).
Shariah is the body of Islamic law,
and it is analogous in structure and
adherence (not content) to Halachah
(Jewish law). Indeed, not only does the
word Shariah derive from Arabic roots
meaning the "way:' so does the word
Halachah derive from Hebrew roots
for "going" or the "the correct way"
(That is not uncommon; that is also
what the Tao means.)
Writing about Shariah in the way
you did would be equivalent to a
Muslim saying that all Jews must abide
by Halachah as interpreted, say, by
the haredim in Israel. We might well
expect Modern Orthodox, Conservative,
Reconstructionist, Reform and
Humanist Jews to be offended by the
parallel oversimplification.
The issue is not Shariah; the issue is,
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6
November 11 • 2010
as the report you cited suggested, the
internecine conflict within Islam between
fundamentalists and moderates.
This is not to downplay the concerns
about Islamic fundamentalists or the
concerns that arise when governments
in the Arab world see their role as
enforcing religious law. In particular,
the fundamentalist interpretation
of Shariah (especially when state-
sponsored) is troubling for the world.
Moreover, the modern Islamist inter-
pretations of jihad have no equivalents
in Halachah.
But there is plenty in the literal words
and fundamentalist interpretations of
the Torah or the Talmud, particularly
those of the fundamentalist West Bank
settlers, that would still give a modern,
non-fundamentalist Jew pause.
Our task is to encourage and support
the growth of Islamic moderation, par-
ticularly at this time in the history of
Islam, just as we encourage and support
Jewish moderation. Tarring an entire
religious community with the extrem-
ist view, primarily because we have not
bothered to understand what Shariah
is, does not help that effort at all.
Jeffrey M. Lipshaw,
associate professor
Suffolk University Law School
Boston
Fact Check Political Ads
It is a relief that the election is over.
The voters have been inundated with
character assassinations, misleading
information and untruths.
The press would better serve the
community, Israel and the Jewish
people if it continually listed non-par-
tisan websites such as FactCheck.org ,
MichiganTruthSquad, AIPAC, J Street
and Mideast Report that evaluate the
truthfulness of the ads and the third-
party groups that pay for them.
Deanna Tachna
Birmingham
Corrections
• There was an incorrect date and
other errors in "T'chiyah Cites
Gurewitzes" (Nov. 4, page 47).
Congregation T'chiyah will honor
Harold and Mary Ellen Gurewitz at
11:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, at the JCC
in Oak Park. RSVP to Roz Schindler,
(248) 541-7218 or www.tchiyah.org .
See expanded story on page 55.
• In "Yes, B'nai Moshe" (Oct. 28,
page 8), Adele Staller and Barbara
Cook should have been included as
bus guide leaders from the Jewish
Historical Society of Michigan.