Readers discuss kosher butchers and Simone Zimmerman.
Kosher Butcher Metaphor Falls Flat
In response to a letter from Rosalyn (Lyn) Linker of Springfield in your April 28 issue (“Religious Liberty for All Kosher Butchers”), I would like to point out that private business owners, like the kosher butchers she cited as examples, are indeed free to sell or refuse to sell any products. What they should not be free to do is to discriminate among their potential customers.
If I own a clothing boutique, I can decide not to sell shoes, just as a kosher butcher can decide not to sell non-kosher meat. What neither of us can do is to refuse to sell the products we offer to any person who wishes to purchase them on the basis of that person’s race, religion, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation.
So, if a woman comes into my store to buy a wedding dress, I cannot refuse to sell her one because she plans to wear it to her wedding to another woman. But if she wants shoes to go with the dress, I don’t have to provide her with those, because I don’t offer shoes for sale to anyone.
Doris M. Cohen | Audubon
Want to Engage Zimmerman? An Idea: Tell the Truth
In the April 21 editorial, “The Dilemma of Simone Zimmerman,” the writer concludes with the statement: “We better figure out a way to engage the Simone Zimmermans of the world, and fast.” The proper method of engagement: Tell them the truth, not the fairy tale put forth by the so-called Palestinians.
The Mandate for Palestine, now enshrined in international law by Article 80 of the U.N. Charter and preceding documents, gave and gives “the Jewish people” the protected right to settle anywhere in what was Palestine between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. Thus, the continuing claim that the so-called West Bank is “occupied” territory is patently frivolous. At best, it is “disputed territory” until a formal pronouncement, in accordance with Article 80 requirements, is made.
Once the truth is established and implemented, all alleged Palestinian rights to sovereignty in Judea and Samaria fade into obscurity. Moreover, and perhaps more to the point, once-specious Palestinian claims are rejected, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, as well as others of like ilk, lose the underlying basis of support for actions taken against Israel.
Arthur S. Safir | Warminster
I’m Upset Too, but Leave Butchers Out of Debate
Regarding the letter from Rosalyn Linker (“Religious Liberty for All Kosher Butchers,” April 28): Can someone please explain to me how anyone can compare what is sold in a product-specific store to a store that refuses to sell one of their products to a customer for any reason?
This is like saying it is discrimination for a car dealer not to also offer furniture. If a shop says “kosher butcher,” no one would walk in there and demand pork products, would they? They would go to a store that advertises that they carry the products they want to buy.
So why does the writer bring kosher butchers, who are usually Jewish, into an issue that has nothing to do with what they sell, anyway? I, too, am very unhappy with the direction our country has taken.
Ron Kall | Philadelphia
