Good for Whom?
I have always considered Gershom Gorenberg’s extreme left-wing views to be good for the Arabs but bad for the Jews. Just recently, he collaborated with CNN [in the three-part series “God’s Warriors,” hosted by Christiane Amanpour] in their subliminal message that God’s Jewish Warriors (the settlers) were no better than God’s Islamic Warriors (the terrorist murderers). It was therefore fascinating to read his almost pro-Syrian “Letter from Jerusalem: Turning Syria” (August/September issue) at the same time as the Syrians were caught with their pants down—consorting with North Korea on acquiring nuclear weapons.

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A View on Interview
I take exception to the interview with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei (August/September issue). I refer you to Caroline Glick’s Jerusalem Post column of August 27. Glick shows in detail that ElBaradei “is a man of dubious integrity.” He did everything “to scuttle U.S.-British efforts to convince the U.N. Security Council to pass a new resolution approving the use of force against Saddam Hussein’s regime.” She also points out how ElBaradei “was undermining coercive diplomatic steps at stopping Iran’s nuclear program without war.”

In the future, I suggest more extensive research into a person’s background before featuring such an interview.

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Not So Fast
Remarking on Jews being a food-focused people, Adeena Sussman posits (in “Season to Taste,” August/ September issue) the inclination to indulge in “large meals laden with rich ingredients and salt” prior to Yom Kippur. No observant Jewish household would recognize this description. The pre-Yom Kippur meal is traditionally boiled, bland and boring. A typical menu might feature chicken soup with noodles, rice or kreplach, boiled chicken, boiled carrots and boiled rice. Nothing rich or salty here. Honey cake and tea make a perfect ending and usually result in a hunger- and headache-free fast.

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Who Is a Jew?
To say that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were both Jewish (“The Jewish Traveler: Kansas City,” June/July issue) is stretching the truth. Rodgers certainly was, but Hammerstein, whose father was a Jew and whose mother was of Scottish origin, was raised a Christian.

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Mall Brawl
In “Cut & Post: Attention Mall Shoppers” (May issue), Lisa Alcalay Klug mentions that “the inventor of the mall was a Jewish refugee from Vienna, namely, Victor Gruen.”

However, in 1847, the first shopping “arcade” in Europe was built in Brussels, Belgium. Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is a high-arching, glass-enclosed area devoted to commerce and it was the model for later arcades in London and Milan.

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Corrections
The article “All in the Family” (August/September issue), regarding the donation made by William and Karen Davidson toward construction of the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, incorrectly described the family relationship to Jonathan Aaron. Mr. Aaron is the husband of Karen Davidson’s daughter, Mary.

In the book section in the June/July issue, the name of the author of The Way Into Judaism and the Environment (Jewish Lights) was mispelled. The book was written by Jeremy Benstein.