We want to hear from you! Please email letters to the editor to letters@hadassah.org. 

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Critical Junctures

The September/October 2023 issue of Hadassah Magazine continues Hadassah’s tradition as a broad-thinking Zionist organization. The articles on Golda Meir by Deborah E. Lipstadt (“Golda’s Genius”) and Uri Kaufman (“When Golda Pulled Off the Impossible”) reminded me of two aspects of her strength at critical junctures in Israel’s history.

The inclusion of Sherry Amatenstein’s article on dual narrative tours, with her (too-brief) description of some of the people she spoke with and organizations contributing to intercommunal work, brought an important perspective that few other Zionist organizations would have covered. It is not critical that one agree with all statements, but it is important to listen to other perspectives. 

Jerome (Jerry) Langer
Highland Park, N.J.

Wearable Air Bags

Carol Saline’s September/October article, “Stop That Tumble Before It Happens,” was a thorough description of the enormous problem of falls in seniors. The issue is important to me as a senior and because both my parents died from complications of falls.

However, I believe that mitigation of falls is not enough. Air bag technology is starting to be modified for devices that can be worn by seniors at risk of falls. We need to mobilize tech companies to commit further to developing these products. We need Medicare, when devices become widely available, to help defray some of the costs. We need journalists and politicians to advocate for these products. And we will need advocates to push for compliance among seniors to wear them. 

Jay Luger
Forest Hills, N.Y.

Pioneering Women

Thank you for highlighting Rebecca Gratz in the September/October issue (“Namesake, Aunt and Inspiration”). Gratz College was so excited to welcome, in June, an actual Gratz family member into our building for the first time ever. It was even more exciting since we have recently launched the Rebecca Gratz Digital Collection of letters and documents from the private life of one of America’s most prominent Jewish feminist pioneers.  This digital collection was created, in part, in memory of Dianne Ashton, Ph.D., professor of world religions at Rowan University, a pioneering scholar of American Jewish women and the leading biographer of Rebecca Gratz. 

Mindy Cohen
Gratz College
Melrose Park, Pa.

St. Thomas’s Jewish Son

Thank you for the profile in the September/October issue of Rabbi Julia Margolis, the new religious leader of the historic Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas (“On St. Thomas, Finding the Presence of History and God”). People visiting Charlotte Amalie might also want to know about Camille Pissarro, the renowned French Jewish artist born and raised in St. Thomas and considered by some the father of Impressionism.

Beryl Rosenstein, M.D.
Pikesville, Md.

Budapest Nuptials 

I was fascinated by the July/August 2023 story “Jewish Heritage Along the Danube” and its mention of the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest, also known as the Great Synagogue, the second-largest synagogue anywhere. (Jerusalem’s Great Beth Midrash Gur is the largest.)

My maternal grandparents were married there 129 years ago. I had the joy of entering its sanctuary in 2008 carrying a copy of their wedding invitation, written in German, the formal language of the Austro-Hungarian empire. A rough translation of it reads: “Adolf Spitzer and wife are pleased to invite you to the wedding of their daughter Ilona and Mr. Ignatz Schwartz, which takes place on September 16 (Sunday) at 3 in the afternoon at the Temple (Tobacco Street).” The word “dohany” is Hungarian for tobacco.

Walter Gray
Middleton, Wis.

Change Is Not a Bad Thing

In response to Anita Diamant’s July/August commentary “Things Change,” one reader from Livingston, N.J., wrote a letter to the editor questioning whether Diamant’s position on change should be considered a good thing.  In 1950, my family became the 40th Jewish family in Livingston. My parents were founding members of Temple Beth Shalom, and my mother was the first president of its sisterhood. Rabbi Samuel Cohen was our esteemed rabbi and Cantor Henry Butensky our esteemed cantor. I attended Monmouth Court and Roosevelt schools and graduated from Livingston High School. There was little to no diversity in the schools, gender was not discussed, and intermarriage was rarely evident.  

Today, the town is diverse. There are LGBTQ+ organizations; being gay or transgender is not a shanda. Intermarried parents often choose to raise their children in the Jewish faith. Yes, the times are changing, and being more accepting, sincere, sensitive and open to others is not a bad thing.

Diane M. Lieberfarb
Avon, Conn.