Reasoned response

While the Holocaust makes us ever vigilant in speaking out against verbal or physical expressions of hatred against Jews, we must remember that it was state-sponsored, systematically enforced murder as opposed to the unequivocal condemnation by the governments of the countries in which the Barcelona terrorist attack and the Charlottesville white supremacist chanting took place. In fact, the racist views of the Ku Klux Klan and other fringe groups have probably never had as much negative fall-back as in the present time.

In “The future of Spanish Jewry” (Our World, August 23), Caroline B. Glick infers that the attack in Barcelona was a precursor to possible anti-Jewish actions, and she encourages Jews living in Spain to immediately move to Israel. Whereas making aliya or even buying apartments in Israel are wonderful for Jews from all over the world, these possibilities should not recuse them from fighting against antisemitism and, indeed, all bigotry wherever they might be living now.

To put things into perspective, we should note that the Bible from the very Touro Synagogue that Chaim Steinmetz refers to in “No compromise on antisemitism” (Comment & Features, August 23) recently made news in the US, not for the eloquence of George Washington, but for the civil lawsuit between two Jewish entities claiming ownership.

Reasoned response and not panic should be our goal in fighting hatred and pursuing justice everywhere in the world. MARION REISS Beit Shemesh