ESSAYS | Letters to the Editor

The Sephardi lntellectual
Zeek Magazine. Sept. 2005

That the title of this commentary has often been perceived as an oxymoron is the place where we need to begin—with the myth actively propagated for at least a hundred years by Ashkenazi political and academic leaders in Europe, the United States and Israel.

More than fifty years ago, my father and three of his brothers—Moroccan Jews living in France—went to fight for the newly independent state of Israel. Although my father then spoke fluent French, English, German and Hebrew, along with some Yiddish, Spanish, and Italian, Polish-born fighters—also recent immigrants to Israel—insisted on addressing him pidgin Hebrew as though he were incapable of understanding them, and among themselves they called him a “shvartze.” For them, as well as most Ashkenazi Israelis, to be North African or Middle Eastern meant being culturally backward and unenlightened.

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O.J., Culture Wars and the Criminal Justice System: How Race Polarizes Us All
Criminal Defense Weekly. Nov. 18, 2002

Sometimes it behooves us to look back in hindsight, the better to look forward and see the forest from the trees. In October 1995, a predominantly black jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman; but in February 1997, a predominantly white jury held Simpson liable in the slayings.

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The Brutal Art of Bullfighting: Three Writers' Take on Tauromachy
Best of Writers at Work 1995. (Northwest Publishing 1996); Blue Penny Quarterly. Summer 1996

By Jordan Elgrably

Richard Ford and Barry Gifford were in Spain on book business when they decided they'd go to the bullfights. For the authors of Wildlife and Wild at Heart, respectively—two novels with a subtext of violence—it seemed like the right thing to do. Though Richard and his wife Kristina had lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for nearly a year (the setting for Ford 's second novel, The Ultimate Good Luck), he 'd never been to a corrida, while Gifford had last seen violence in the ring in Mexico at the age of eleven and claimed to remember it vividly. With true afición he talked Ford into going.

Now that the moment of truth was at hand, however, Ford had a worried look on his face—from these first row seats the gore was palpable. Gifford watched with intense concentration, his hands steepled up against his nose, as the matador raised the weapon of death and sighted along the blade. Ford glanced away. "Oh, God," he grumbled. Did he really want to see this?

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Letters to the Editor

Jewish Writing
Jewish Journal. July 23, 2004

While it’s true that Jewish American writers are writing in English — as French Jews write in French and Hispanic Jews in Spanish — you don’t have to write in a "Jewish language" to be a Jewish writer, any more than you have to be Ashkenazi to be concerned with the challenges of Diaspora.

Just look at the recently deceased Arab Jewish writer of Iraq, Samir Naqqash. He spent the greatest part of his life writing about his exile from Baghdad and wrote exclusively in Arabic — yet another "Jewish" language. Naqqash, who died July 6 in Petah Tikva, Israel, wrote about the struggle of Arab Jews to adapt themselves to life in Israel; he wrote of relations among Muslims, Jews and Christians in Iraq, and his work has been widely published in the Arab world — an exceptional fate for a Jewish writer.

Jewish writers must be, in my view, universal humanists first and foremost, as were several of Naqqash’s influences: Sartre, Faulkner and Naguib Mahfouz among them.

Jordan Elgrably, Director, Levantine Cultural Center



Facing the Refugee Issue in the Middle East
Los Angeles Times. May 14, 2003. pg. B.12

The first step in any peace process is the complete cessation of hostilities on both sides, so in this sense, Trude Feldman is correct when she argues that it takes two to wage peace (Opinion, May 11). However, the argument she puts forth is retrograde, if for no other reason than that the paragons of Israeli virtue she cites, Golda Meir and David Ben-Gurion, never intended to make peace with the Palestinians. Meir was the prime minister who famously said there was no "Palestinian people." Ben-Gurion's Zionism was informed by Vladimir Zev Jabotinsky's "iron wall" principle, which suggested only an "iron wall" solution with the Palestinians was possible, since coexistence could never be achieved.

The next major step in any genuine peace process requires both sides to take full responsibility. To date, Israel has never acknowledged its responsibility in the dislocation and expulsion of the Palestinians. Until that day arrives, Israel and its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will continue to enforce de facto apartheid over the two peoples.



Legacy of Esther’s Children
Jewish Journal. June 21, 2002

Gina Nahai’s review of "Esther’s Children," ("The Legacy of Esther’s Children," June 7) demands to be challenged, because it leaves readers with the clear impression that life for Jews in Iran was nothing but a long history of oppression, persecution and even death. In fact, Jews prospered in Iran, were often as educated as their Muslim counterparts and had access to the highest levels of society. Today, someone like Homa Sarshar is nearly as known and respected among L.A.’s Iranian Muslims as she is among fellow Jews.

The 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran resulted in the deaths of thousands of Muslims, yet fewer than a hundred Jews ever experienced physical punishment, and the minority population that has experienced the most persecution in Iran are the Bahais, not the Jews.

Nahai’s perspective conforms to the "lachrymose" version of history that positions Jews of the Islamic world as impoverished uneducated victims. The more complex truth is that while millions of Jews were killed in Christian Europe, Middle East Jewish populations largely thrived until the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. We would all benefit from exploration of Middle Eastern Jewish history and culture that comes from a perspective of rapprochement and coexistence, rather than this old-school Orientalist approach.



International Herald Tribune. July 19, 2001

Henry Siegman is to be congratulated for his moral and intellectual honesty. There was a time when many of us who argue for coexistence were thrilled to participate in Arab-Jewish dialogue. However, just as Palestinian hopes were dashed by a disingenuous peace process manipulated by U.S. and Israeli negotiators, so have our efforts been undermined as would-be peacemakers. Israel has not pursued a meaningful course toward coexistence with the Palestinians, but has continued to build settlements and maintain a military stranglehold over the occupied territories. The ''iron wall'' approach to Middle East relations has not brought the peace and security we all desire. The only alternative for a free Israel is a free Palestine, and the longer this is delayed, sadly, the more people will die.

Jordan Elgrably.Open Tent Middle East Coalition, Los Angeles.



Mideast Peace
Jewish Journal. May 25, 2001

There is a 900-pound gorilla in almost every Jewish living room ("Requiem for a Dream?" May 18). There is a troubling lack of Jewish ability to be truly self-critical when it comes to the State of Israel. Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, its settlements are illegal, its treatment of the Palestinians is deplorable. Too many American Jews are afraid to dissent from the party line...

There is no humane occupation. Israel has committed too many violations of human rights over the past several years for American Jews—normally so concerned about international law and justice—to turn a blind eye. Furthermore, I absolutely reject the insipid suggestion leveled by your reporter that those of us working in the trenches "don't have all the answers." We do have a few compelling answers about how to stop the violence: Treat the Palestinians with dignity, give them the same rights Jews demand the world over. Honor your agreements. Stop destroying their homes, confiscating their land and bombing their cities and towns. Stop collective punishment, including curfews and arrest without due process. Abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention—to which Israel and the United States are signatories. You want peace? Seek justice. You want peace? Make room for Palestine; it's long overdue.

Jordan Elgrably, Co-Director, Open Tent Middle East Coalition

Your Letters: Three Responses

Jordan Elgrably
Jewish Journal. June 1, 2001

Jordan Elgrably (Letters, May 25) places all the blame on Israel for the lack of Israeli-Palestinian peace. He calls on Israel to ”make room for Palestine” and give the Palestinians their due rights. It seems that like so many Israel-bashers, Elgrably conveniently ignores the offer of independence and statehood for Palestinians which Israel offered last summer and which Arafat spurned.

Israel did not seek to occupy the Palestinians, who were occupied by Jordan and Egypt for 19 years, but when those two nations went to war against Israel in 1967, the Palestinians unavoidably came under Israeli rule and must remain in that state until they make peace. It all depends on the Palestinian leadership, or lack of the same.

Bob Kirk, Los Angeles

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Jordan Elgrably’s letter would be comical if it were not so tragic. Israel gave Palestinians its territory under the Oslo accords in exchange for the solemn Palestinian pledge to renounce violence and settle disputes through negotiations. Arafat instead started his guerrilla war against Israel, especially targeting children. He now complains that according to the Oslo accords, which he has constantly violated, the territory he received from Israel in exchange for ”peace” was not given in exchange for anything.

At Camp David, Arafat was offered the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank without Jewish settlements, and he turned it down. The only rational reading of his conduct is that he does not want peace. He wants the total destruction of Israel. Since it is too early for him to admit this to the world for strategic reasons, he will continue the charade of ”negotiations” when it is convenient and terror when it is tolerated.

Until liberal Jews realize that this is the harsh reality, their misperception of the situation will continue to lead to the undermining of Israel by giving aid and support to the myth of ”peace” with the Palestinians. The only thing you can negotiate with someone who wants to kill you is the time, place and manner of your death. Arafat only wants war, and at the end of the day, Israel’s only real option is to give him what he wants.

Ronald Norman, Los Angeles, Shefa Fund

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Jordan Elgrably
Jewish Journal. June 8, 2001

The venom spewed forth by Jordan Elgrably’s letter (Letters, May 25) demonstrated his ignorance of the situation in the Middle East. His credibility would have been somewhat enhanced had he spoken with equal venom of the Palestinians and their heinous acts, but his attacks are directed at the Israelis.

He must have been spelunking when the Clinton/Barak plan was put forth. We were all aghast at the profound changes offered to Arafat and even further aghast at Arafat’s refusal of the plan. After all, that plan would have given the Palestinians virtually all they putatively had been seeking, including a generous approach to the refugee problem. The inevitable conclusion, it seems, is that the only plan that would satisfy the Palestinians is the destruction of Israel.

Since Elgrably is interested in cultural exchange, a worthy cause, perhaps he should best spend his time trying to remove the anti-Israel venom from Arab children’s schoolbooks. If he succeeded, he would, indeed, be worthy of an award.

Jack Salem, Los Angeles

Progressive Mizrahim
Los Angeles Times. Aug 14, 2000. pg. 6

* Re "Rabbi's Remarks Outrage Jews and Arabs," Aug. 7:
Israel's Shas Party doesn't represent all Sephardim/Mizrahim (Middle Eastern Jews). There are, in fact, numerous progressive Mizrahi organizations working for peace, and many Sephardim/ Mizrahim have positive relationships with Palestinians. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and his followers do not represent all Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews, either in Israel or in the U.S. We do not all consider Arabs our natural sworn enemies; we do not all believe in reincarnation; and many of us are university-trained professionals who are outspoken about the need for political, economic and cultural cooperation among all Middle Easterners, regardless of religion.

Jordan Elgrably, New Assn. of Sephardi/Mizrahi Artists & Writers Int'l, L.A.



The System Hasn't Changed in 24 Years
Los Angeles Times. May 19, 1996. pg. 9

Both Ed Humes and Dennis McLellan are to be commended for focusing on the outrageous fortune of L.A.'s juvenile delinquents ("Shock Therapy," May 2).

It saddened me to learn that nothing has changed in juvenile court since I made several appearances there in 1972. As an out-of-control Echo Park teenager, I racked up five arrests that year, yet the system continually turned me back on the street with no punishment until at last, following car theft charges, a judge assigned me a year's probation.

That was the turning point: a benevolent probation officer, whose name I can no longer recall, taught me that I was unique, important and valuable, and that even if my parents weren't giving me the affection and acknowledgment I so badly needed, I could still do great things with my life. There ought to be more probation officers like the one who rescued me from a life of crime and perhaps an early death.

Brando's Comments Draw Fire, Support; Jews Should Lead the Call for Diversity
Counterpunch. Los Angeles Times  Apr 22, 1996. pg. 3

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Distrust of U.S.
Los Angeles Times. Nov 21, 1995. pg. 8

Re "Diplomacy on the Defensive," Nov. 14: This article highlights the what, where, who and how of besieged American diplomacy, but it falls short on the why. Could it be that foreign citizens look upon Americans with distrust for good reason? For decades now, Congress and the executive branch have supported repressive, authoritarian regimes in Central and South America—an outgrowth of the Monroe Doctrine. And in the rest of the world, the U.S. has sought economic and political hegemony.

Our talk of human rights abuses by other governments begins to seem hypocritical when you look at the factual history of CIA meddling in the affairs of foreign countries, and when you learn of the U.S.-based multinational corporations that have unfairly exploited foreign labor and resources, the picture grows clearer still. U.S. official and business interests are no friends of the average foreign citizen. Little wonder our diplomatic corps is experiencing worldwide hostility.

U.S. media are mostly silent on American abuses abroad and are therefore implicit collaborators in making America an international pariah in the eyes of the have-nots.

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