Saddened by Colleyville
Regarding “After Colleyville, community renews focus on security,” (Jan. 28): It is truly sad for me when I hear we need to learn from history, as history repeats itself again and again. For 5,000 years, Jews have tried to get people to like them, to understand them and to not be a bother to mainstream anti-Jew society. When bad things happen to or in the Jewish community, there is not real outrage. We just take it as, well, that is just the way it is.
I was in Pikesville visiting and got a haircut while I was in town. In a Jewish neighborhood at a business probably owned by a Jew, the woman who cut my hair, probably not Jewish, made disparaging comments about Jews. When Jews hear things like that, we just say we need to educate them and there is no real outrage. Our response, as a worldwide community, is to pray harder, hide or do nothing. I am just wondering when Jews will stand up, not for kaddish, but to unite for each other. One small change everyone can do is stop using “code words” like antisemitic or Anti-Defamation League. Use words that people can easily understand and are more forceful like Jew Hate and Group for Jewish Rights. I live less than half an hour from Colleyville and all I heard was “more understanding,” and “we got lucky.” I agree we got lucky, this time. Sadly, there will be many more next times.
Steve Uman
Dallas
What rabbi really meant
A more accurate title for The Seen article on Jan. 28 would have been “Pamela Adlon wrongly informed that her great-great-grandfather was a rabbi on ‘Finding Your Roots.’” Her ancestor was described on his child’s tombstone as “Rav” or “Reb,” which is simply a title of respect, the equivalent of “mister” (as in “Reb Tevye” in the song “If I Were a Rich Man.”)
Bob Jacobson
Pikesville
