Jewish Generosity Should Support Jews
A recent issue of the Jewish Exponent discusses the then-upcoming trip of the Philadelphia Orchestra to Israel (“Orchestra, Patrons Head to Israel for Major Tour,” May 31). I was particularly impressed with the statement from Ryan Fleur, the Orchestra’s interim co-president, who said that an influencing factor in the decision to travel there was that many of the patrons of the Orchestra had expressed a strong desire for this to happen.
An inspection of the list of contributors to the arts in the Delaware Valley reveals the great generosity of the regional Jewish community. It would be waste of this largess if we did not use it to promote Jewish causes.
Saul Axelrod | Philadelphia
Nothing to Like About Azerbaijan
The two authors of an ode to the country of Azerbaijan surely live in an Orwellian world where bad is good and aggressor is victim (“Two Countries with Miraculous Pasts Contribute to a Shared Future,” May 31). Their reference to “Armenian aggression and terrorism at the western border of Azerbaijan” is Orwellian “newspeak.” It is tiny Armenia that is sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaijan, two countries guilty of pogroms and genocide against their Armenian minorities over the last 150 years.
One would expect more sensitivity from Jewish writers toward a kindred ethnic minority whose genocide at the hands of Turkic barbarians was a forerunner of the Holocaust. The clear impression the article left is that either the authors are woefully ignorant of history or more probably were richly rewarded for their biased and patently false affirmations.
Viken Evereklian | Havertown
Column Was Spot On
Joshua Runyan’s column in the May 24 Exponent about “Philadelphia Jews Behaving Badly” was one of your best. It related to one of my own thoughts, which I repeat from time to time when it seems appropriate: Just because some of us are geniuses doesn’t mean all of us are geniuses.
Benjamin H. Bloom | Wynnewood
