Reader ‘distressed’ by local legislator’s vote

I was deeply distressed that a member of St. Louis’ Congressional delegation –one of only 36 members of the U.S. House — chose to vote against HR 867. This bill rightfully rejects the United Nations’ Goldstone report as biased and unfair. Representative Clay defended his vote by saying that he did not want to besmirch the reputation of Goldstone, who worked tirelessly once upon a time to free Nelson Mandela from imprisonment in South Africa. Who exactly is Rep. Clay representing in Congress? I don’t recall Mr. Goldstone electing Representative Clay to Congress. If it is Nelson Mandela that Representative Clay seeks to represent, would Mr. Mandela — a man of supreme conscience — condone the thousands of missiles launched from Gaza on civilians in Sderot and other Israeli residential communities? I believe that it is time to have a respectful, public sit-down with Representative Clay to better understand why he so blatantly ignored a key segment of his constituency and cast his vote in favor of yet another U.N. diatribe against Israel.

Susan Feigenbaum, Ph.D.

Town and Country

Editorial ignores dissenting voices in Council vote

I was surprised that the Nov. 11 editorial, “Shooting Craps,” failed to mention the names of the County Council persons who voted for or against the rezoning proposal for yet another casino in the county. I live in Council Member Barbara Fraser’s District. Readers of the Light should know that she and Greg Quinn voted “no.”

The editorial points out that the new casino would be built near the historic Columbia River Bottoms Area, a beautiful recreation and natural resource for the St. Louis region. Council Member Fraser, whose leadership helped pass Prop N — the Clean Air Act — voted against the Casino bill precisely, as the editorial states, because it is not the kind of progress nor image that we want to project to the rest of the country.

County residents who want to take action and agree with the editorial should thank Ms. Fraser and Mr. Quinn for their “no” votes and express their disapproval to those who voted “yes.”

Rosalyn Borg

University City

JEI’s Project Noah

On behalf of the Jewish Environmental Initiative (JEI), a committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), we wanted to thank the St. Louis Jewish community for so thoroughly embracing this year’s “Project Noah: A Week for the Environment,” held the week of Oct. 18.

This was a week in which the Jewish community came out in force to show its awareness that we are all responsible for saving life on the planet.

JEI also was honored this year to include Project Noah events as part of two larger climate change events: the Global Climate Healing Shabbat initiative and 350.org, a global grassroots campaign to stop the climate crisis.

Project Noah is only one of the activities of the JEI. JEI has many resources available to help Jewish congregations and day schools become more environmentally sustainable and to assist everyone in the Jewish community to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. For more information, go to the JEI Web site at www.jcrcstl.org/jei.php#two or call 314-442-3894.

Rabbi Randy Fleisher, JEI Chair

and Gail Wechsler, Director of Domestic Issues/Social Justice, Jewish Community Relations Council