Letters to the editor: Week of Nov. 26, 2014
Published November 26, 2014
Time to focus on human trafficking
On “Black Friday,” the traditional big shopping day after Thanksgiving, the malls are packed with young girls. While they’re out there having fun and being with their friends, are they safe? An increasing number of vulnerable young girls are approached by predators every day. They prey on their insecurities by offering love and attention, before trapping them into a modern form of slavery — as victims of human trafficking.
When you are shopping on “Black Friday,” think about this. Traffickers typically prey on 12- to 14-year olds. One young survivor met her abuser at a New Jersey shopping mall while hanging out with her friends. She became part of a $32 billion a year global industry, each dollar representing a sister, daughter or child.
She could be yours.
National Council of Jewish Women –St. Louis Section has mobilized to fight human trafficking.
Signs of human trafficking include not making direct eye contact, appear malnourished, has few or no personal possessions, is not allowed to speak for him/herself, shows signs of restraint, abuse or torture. If you suspect a young person is being trafficked at the mall over Thanksgiving, or at any other time, NCJW encourages you to call the National Trafficking Hotline at 888-3737-888.
Rosalyn Borg and Sarah Martin, Co-Chairs, Stop Human Trafficking Task Force of NCJW – St. Louis
Commentary crosses the line
Congratulations to the St. Louis Jewish Light: You have gone over the top this time by printing Alon Ben Meir’s most obscene commentary (“The Real Danger to Israel’s Security is Netanyahu,” Nov. 12 edition).
In the article, Ben Meir places the danger to Israel’s security on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shoulders. This is the most ridiculous statement a clear-thinking person could make. Ben Meir dosen’t mention the murder of innocent Israeli students, which precipitated the Gaza conflict; the constant rocket attacks on the Israeli population; the vehicle murder of Israelis waiting at a train station; the knifing of passersby; the constant drumbeat of hate; or the striving by Iran to become a nuclear power.
The animosity toward Jews and the existence of Israel did not start with “occupation” and the “settlements.” It started long before the 1948 partition of the land between the Jews and the Palestinians.
As the saying goes, “this is a free country,” and each person is entitled to voice his or her opinion. But this time your staff has crossed the line in printing and providing a forum for Professor Ben Meir’s diatribes. The name of your newspaper is the St. Louis Jewish Light, and not the Hamas Daily.
Jerry Koenig, Chesterfield
Mikvah column resonates with reader
Thank you to Ellen Futterman for her beautifully written, informative and inspiring account of her experience at the Sylvia Green Memorial Mikvah on the Millstone Campus (“Getting Immersed” News & Schmooze column, Nov. 19).
I admire her courage, in this most modern of worlds, to seek knowledge in places not so “modern.”
I applaud Ms. Futterman and the Light for all they add to the conversation in the community no matter the topic.
Eedie Weis Cuminale, Overland
Thanksgiving thoughts
Only after I got married did I celebrate Thanksgiving. My parents fled from the Holocaust in Europe and had no such holiday, and it also did not exist in South America, where we spent World War II. When I came to the United States, the holiday was all about turkeys and pilgrims and pumpkin pie, none of which held any meaning for me or my family. As I had my own family and my children were growing up, I wanted my children to feel grateful for the blessings we were lucky to have, and I encouraged them to say out loud what they were thankful for. Today, Thanksgiving is a big deal for my children and their families and I think it signifies how much we have become an American family.
The Pilgrim story is told and written by Caucasians and not Native Americans, and now we know it is not as warm and fuzzy as we may have once believed. Although my family was not a part of what the Europeans did to the indigenous people of our country and their land, I still carry some guilt about way Europeans took what they wanted as if it belonged to no one. We have a way of writing history in a way that makes us feel comfortable with the story we tell ourselves.
Jews in the United States are very fortunate to be free and we should be grateful for all that we are able to enjoy. Therefore, it may be all the more important for us to acknowledge that there is a people who paid a price for this privilege of ours. Some of them are Jews, some of them are Americans and some of them are the indigenous people who had to give up their lands for us.
Liz Lippa, University City
Mastering the crossover
Last week, as Jews around the world prepared to welcome Shabbat following a very violent, stressful and heartbreaking week in Israel, I am taken back to a story Charlie Harary shared with the men on the Jewish Women’s Renaisance Project Israel trip this summer. He explained one of the most important skills the Jewish people must possess is a crossover, much like Michael Jordan: We have to be able to go one way, with all our might, but at the last second, flip the switch and go the other direction.
The skill helped make Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player ever, and it’s a skill that Jews need as well. After a week in Israel that included a horrific and gruesome murder of four rabbis in shul, pedestrians hit by cars, rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at the police and more, we were privileged to be able to welcome in another Shabbat. After honoring those we lost, we were ready to sing and dance and enjoy time with our children, our spouses, our friends and the Jewish community.
We had seen the worst in people, and with Shabbos, we were able to see the best in people.
Will Israel ever see peace?
I don’t know the answer to that, but what I do know is as long as we continue utilizing a crossover that Michael Jordan would be proud of, we will survive and thrive. This is Israel! This is my Israel! Am Yisrael Chai!
Mike Minoff, Olivette
