Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 September 1967 — Page 29

Mday, September 29, 1967

Freedom of the Press All letters to the editor should be addressed to The Jewish Post and Opinion, Cll North Park Are., Indianapolis, Ind., 46204. The letters should be typed and should be concise. Anonymous letters will not be printed. No letters will be returned. Short letters set preference.

Rabbi Neusner Charged With "Tearing Down" Torah

Failure Of Christian Clergy To Respond Doesn't Call For Abandoning Dialogue

Editor, POST and OPINION: I was very much disturbed by the statements of Prof. Neusner in your issue of September 15. There, Prof. Neusner suggested that as a result of the silence of Christians during Israel’s recent peril, we must conclude that Jewish-Christian dialogue has been a failure and that we should terminate our participation in dialogue activities. He stated that he had ’’hoped for better things” but had ‘‘erred on the side of optimism.” Many of us had "hoped for better things” from the Christian community. Certainly we were hurt and disappointed by the fact of their silence. Many of us erred “on the side of optimism.” That our hopes were higher than reality proved warranted. However, does not mean either that the dialogue process itself is valueless or that nothing positive has come from it. While there can be no question that we have not succeeded in bringing even those who have been participating in the dialogue to anything like a full under-

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standing of Jewish attitudes and ideals, we have, in many cases, created partial understanding, often where no understanding existed before. To have hoped that the rather small Jewish-Christian dialogue of the past three years would completely change attitudes of either side about the other was, and is, naive and unrealistic. The fact that changes come slowly, often far too slowly, does not mean either that they do not come at all or that we should not attempt them. I, for one, am prepared to continue in the process of interreligious dialogue. Perhaps I will be less optimistic that my personal contact with others will immediately give them an appreciation of my religion and my people which they and their people had been unable to acquire in any other way. Perhaps I cannot help remembering that they did not stand up when the hour called for them to do so. Perhaps, in short, I will be more realistic in my hopes and goals. I will go on, however, conscious that even if it is not my lot to complete the task of bringing about full understanding between Jew and Christian neither am I free to desist from doing my part. RABBI HENRY BAMBERGER Vassar Temple 140 Hooker Ave. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

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Editor, POST and OPINION^ I ought to open this gripe by calling your attention to the lateness of arrival of the POST and OPINION at the newsstand on 42nd Street these past weeks, where I have been picking up my weekly copy since I first discovered your lively newspaper last February (and never missed a week.) Now that I’ve mentioned this, my real reason for writing is a letter to the editor which appeared in today’s (Sept 3) issue, signed by Rabbi J. Neusner, which calls on us readers or shul-goers to swallow everything that comes out of the mouth of a professional rabbi. If we modern Orthodox Jews took that advice, we’d be swallowing all the balderdash spoken and published under Rabbi Neusner’s name which disregarded the great rabbis of old, the rabbis of the Talmud and the Shulhan Aruch, whom he always tears down. It seems that Neusner thinks that the title “rabbi” is enough to be listened to. He forgets that the first sine qua non is piety, viz., that a rabbi be at least as pious as the humblest Jew. Can Rabbi Neusner really say

that he is? If he can’t, then let him go to shul this month of Elul and beat his breast in complete penitence and humility before the Ribono-shel-Olam, whose Talmud and Shulhan Aruch he has been selling short so loudly and so arrogantly. E. GORDIN 204 Rockaway Parkway Editor’s note: Mr. Gordin uses Rabbi Neusner’s letter to attack him, while conveniently

overlooking the contents of the rabbi’s letter. Rabbi Neusner took issue with a Center executive director who called a rabbi a publicity hound, although not in so many words, fri- objecting to the display of a stuffed bear on the Center’s premises. Does Mr. Gordin believe that Rabbi Neusner misinterpreted Jewish tradition in his stand, and if so why does not Mr. Gordin not present his position instead of merely belaboring the rabbi in general terms?

High Holy Day Prayer Books Free

Editor, POST and OPINION: We have available 123 copies of Phillips Machzor for the New Year and 96 copies of Phillips Machzor for the Day of Atonement. Any congregation desirous of having them may receive them

merely for the cost of freight charges. Please publish this in your next edition if possible. RABBI LEE A. KIVEL 3600 Washington Avenue Evansville, Indiana 47715

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Editor’s Note In the letter from Rcrbbi Richard Rubenstein in last week's issue taking issue with the response of Pan Am to his original letter, the word, "not" was omitted from the second sentence. The sentence correctly is: "I am not convinced by the letter of the Vice President in charge of Public Relationss of Pan American Airways."

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