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More on Jewish Amsterdam
I enjoyed reading Tim Miller’s article about Jewish Amsterdam (“A trip to Jewish Amsterdam,” Sept. 25), and would like to add my perspective as a Jewish Pittsburgher who has recently spent considerable time in Amsterdam. My wife and I have experienced a vibrant Jewish community with representation of Jewish communities from around the world. It includes the Liberal Jewish synagogue that we attend, which has over 1,000 family memberships, many additional synagogues, kosher markets and restaurants, youth and adult educational programs, and other communal institutions. In the aggregate, they reflect an impressive “rebirth” of this community.
I also want to mention the Resistance Museum. It offers an excellent overview of the Nazi and post-war periods, including discussions of people who collaborated with the Nazis, those who did not but tried to ignore the death and trauma surrounding them, and those individuals who actively resisted. There are many meaningful memorials and extensive activities to see in Jewish Amsterdam, and I encourage readers to plan a visit if they have not already seen it. As with most places, staying outside the usual tourist areas allows a better view of the authentic city.
James Schuster
Pittsburgh
Stronger than hate
In the Chronicle’s Oct. 23 edition, Yedidya Harush explained what drove him to run toward danger when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023: “This is what we were taught as children … We were brought up with the values of loving your brothers, neighbors, friends, and even those who you don’t know” ( “Oct. 7 survivor and IDF reservist brings story of heroism to Pittsburgh”).
This beautiful statement reminded me of an essay written in July 2014 by Dan Gordon in reaction to a previous Hamas war. “In the Company of Heroes” highlights an address to young soldiers by Maj. Gen. Avigdor Kahalani, a war hero “as close as Israel has to Patton or MacArthur.” Because the country was so united behind its soldiers, they had high morale and did not need a pep talk. Instead, Kahalani told them something “extraordinary”:
“We never taught you to hate … not this army, not the Israel Defense Forces. … And there are armies in the world who do that. And I don’t know, maybe it works to a degree, maybe by hating the enemy, you are a fiercer fighter. … But we never taught you that. … You know why you’re here. It’s not to hate anybody. It’s to defend your people, your homes, and your families. Each of you holds that fate in your hands. But it’s not about hatred.”
In words that seem eerily to describe the later attack in 2023, Capt. Gordon then addresses the people of Gaza:
Despite a cruel and vicious war forced upon us by Hamas, “we don’t hate you. We don’t wish you ill. We want only to live in peace side by side with you. … Ask yourselves why Hamas never built you any shelters to protect you. They’re great at digging tunnels. … They’ve dug them under our border, intending to murder as many of our civilians as possible … not soldiers, not warriors, but our women and children and old people.”
To Palestinians, he further says:
“We’re not going anywhere. You won’t defeat us. You won’t destroy us. … We won’t withdraw from the Middle East. Because we live here. Our religion wasn’t born in Poland. It was born here. Our language wasn’t born in Russia or America or France or Ethiopia or Yemen or Morocco. It was born here. And I promise you, we won’t become war-weary. We can’t afford to. Just stop trying to kill us. Because we don’t hate you. We don’t teach our children or our soldiers to hate you. … The only thing we want [as we proclaim in our national anthem], is “to be a free people … in our land … the land of Zion, Jerusalem.”
In memory of the precious lives lost at Tree of Life in October 2018 and of all the lives lost in Israel since October 2023.
Andrea Chester
Pittsburgh
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