Dear «Title» «Last_Name»:

I write you to express my disagreement with your op-ed in the Ann Arbor News that suggests that those participating in the Saturday vigils are ill mannered and that their protest is illegitimate. Increasingly churches and synagogues have chosen to engage in political action, weighing in on a wide variety of issues. I have no quarrel with churches taking political stands. To the contrary, I believe that it is right, proper, and in keeping with the America's secular political tradition for religious institutions to do so. However, after venturing into the profane realm of the political it is disingenuous for them hide behind the sacred when their political positions are publicly challenged.

Conservative Judaism has long been "?dedicated to strengthening the connections between North American Conservative Jews?and the State of Israel." This is the same sectarian Israel that Bishop Tutu has described as an apartheid state and the UN and other watchdog groups have repeatedly cited for human rights abuses. It is the same Israel where ethnic cleansing dressed up as "population transfer" is an acceptable topic for public discussion. Recently the International Court of Justice condemned Israel's separation wall as a violation of international law.

While many Jews in Israel and the US have spoken out against these excesses and called for a just peace, most American Jews including most Conservative congregations have chosen to remain silent and support Israel right or wrong.

Your letter accuses picketers of disrespect stating that, "People go to houses of worship to contemplate difficult issues in their lives and in the world?" It is true that the goal of the picketers is not to preserve congregants' equanimity. Rather it is to invite them to adhere to the best principles of their tradition and confront, however painfully, moral and ethical inconsistencies. I am confident that this same charge informs your role as a religious leader as well it should.

Finally it is asserted that the picketers are "impeding meaningful dialogue." For decades there has been no dialogue, meaningful or otherwise. Those who questioned Israeli policies or raised the issue of justice for the Palestinians were shouted down with cries of "anti-Semite" or "self hating Jew." Thankfully, this kind of intimidation is less and less effective and more and more people are willing to challenge the dominant paradigm that demonizes the Palestinians and rationalizes their continued victimization.

In closing the issues being raised by the picketers are far too profound to be swept under the rug for the sake of politesse. These courageous folks have every right to confront those who support the immoral occupation. They should not only continue but expand their struggle.

Respectfully yours,