Sun commentary an attack on Orthodox Jews

Could the recent commentary by Christopher Ervin and Evan Serpick, “Black and Jewish voters: a broken bond” (Oct. 24), be more hateful?

As a District 41 resident who has spent the better part of my life in this community, I have watched the Jewish community in this area stabilize over the decades. Instead of taking part in white flight to the suburbs, a growing Jewish community has anchored this area of Northwest Baltimore.

Programs at the Jewish Community Center, CHAI and even Jewish Community Services have improved the quality of life yes for Jews, but also for the entire community, black or white.

It’s easy to turkey shoot the Orthodox community simply because it is a “community.” Yes, it has two safety programs. Yes, it has an ambulance service. But yes, it also has property owners who pay city taxes just like any other Baltimore resident. And guess what, since the Orthodox community is committed to both Jewish and secular educational excellence, it sends its children to Jewish day schools while still paying high property taxes to help education in the community.

Have you driven around the district lately? Have you noticed that north of Northern Parkway are a number of synagogues and community institutions deeply rooted into improving the quality of life here?

Before you publish a commentary like this one, did you require the authors to fact check the number of alliances between blacks and Jews? Or is it just easy to find men in kippot and women dressed modestly to use as a target of venom?

The authors of this disturbing piece would hardly appreciate it if a column were written negatively stereotyping people of color or for that matter Jews who are not Orthodox.

This Orthodox community knows of the problems of this city. Yet it chooses to live here and raise families here. It contributes to the government and politics of this beleaguered city and those very connections of volunteer time, interracial cooperation and more should be the highlight of your columns, not a piece of antiOrthodox dribble.

Shame on you.