Letters, the Week of Feb. 4, 2016

Elise McAfoos rants about non-kosher recipes (“Recipe For Disaster,” Jan. 21) and complains that the “premier Jewish news resource should be setting its standards to represent ALL Jews in our community.” I do not keep kosher, almost every Jew I know or am related to does not keep kosher, so to imply that only Jews who keep kosher are real Jews is totally absurd. I thought that the issue of “who is a Jew” had been argued into oblivion years ago. I do not follow dietary laws because I do not wish to. In essence, the Exponent advocates inclusion of ALL Jews of ALL different opinions and lifestyles.

I have been reading the Exponent for many years, since I would go to my Bubbie’s on Friday afternoons in the ’60s. I read it while sitting on my grandpa’s recliner and eating the vegetables of the chicken soup my Bubbie was cooking for Shabbat dinner.

I was really upset when I read Rachel Kurland’s article (“What It’s Really Like to Attend the Matzo Ball,” Dec. 31). I have never read an article that stated so many Jewish stereotypes and self-deprecating remarks. Those remarks were certainly not humorous to me. There are many groups that use those stereotypes to make fun of Jews. To have one of our own tribe poke fun by using stereotypes of cheapness and romantic undesirability seems quite unfunny to me. To read them in the paper that has “What It Means to be Jewish in Philadelphia” under the title disgusts me.

These are the sentences that I find extremely offensive:

1) the only thing better than two Jews meeting their beshert is one Jew getting free drinks

2) a tiny Jewish man (I can see a short Jewish man, but tiny has such a negative connotation in desirability)

3) an ad for the Matzo Ball offering a $5 discount — so Jewy

Usually, I find your articles entertaining; why did you have to use these three sentences? What did they add to the article?

This week’s edition (Jan. 28) was truly extraordinary — not one, not two, but five articles dealing with music, both Jewish and secular! From the musings of Cantor Jamie Marx on the direction of synagogue music within the Reform movement, to this past weekend’s concert by the Kehillah of Old York Road featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein, to the upcoming appearances at three area synagogues (including my own Temple Sinai) of Rahel Musleah, journalist and performer of Indian Jewish music, Jewish music is alive and well in the Greater Philadelphia area. Kol hakavod — all honor — to the Exponent for prominently showcasing the vitality of our musical heritage.