To the Editor:

The great Winston Churchillian speech is over. Whew, we fretted it wouldn’t perform up to our expectations. We thought maybe the House of Representatives would not like it. We thought that Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu would bomb.

Well, he didn’t. He didn’t bomb his speech, nor did he bomb the Iran reactors. He sure did receive a helluva lot of ovations and attention though, and congressmen, both of Republican and Democratic persuasion attentively listened in rapture as he rambled on about the insecure world we will inherit tomorrow because of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

All such discourse is indeed necessary and primary in all discussions and dialogue with Iran and others in the Middle East, as indeed elsewhere. And that is why the USA is pursuing continued negotiations and continued threats of continuing sanctions with and against Iran.

But where the Prime Minister of our great State of Israel failed—as he has failed on previous occasions when he appeared before Congress and received similar ovations from American lawmakers—was to advocate for the American Jew now sitting 30 years in an American high security prison in North Carolina.

Why? Because we have lost—or maybe we have never possessed—the moral high ground of justice, dignity, and humanity purported by Judaism.

Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was wonderful, if you liked to hear someone bash Iran, but it was shameful because it did not mention Jonathan Jay Pollard.

Netanyahu supposedly came to America to educate congressmen about an Iranian nuclear threat, and he was loud and pompous about that in his message. But he neglected to educate the elected of the great USA concerning the injustice of Mr. Pollard’s continued incarceration. In fact, he was timidly silent about how Mr. Pollard is rotting in prison, dying a slow death. He illustrated scenarios about the threat a nuclear Iran could present to the world in general, and the Middle East in particular in the next few years, but did, or would not, account for the wellbeing of Mr. Pollard in that same time period. Perhaps Jonathan won’t survive that same time span, as we know that he is ill.

In short, he came to the USA to talk about Iran as if he were the lead negotiator, when, in fact, he wasn’t, yet failed in making the case for Pollard, when he should’ve been his main advocator.

Such shame should also be heaped on American Jewish “leadership,” both political and clerical, insofar as it clamored for attention and was swept to perverse degrees of Iranian fear and phobias, while not remembering a golden opportunity to plea for Pollard.

Talk about the American-Israeli relationship? Talk about saying Tehillim for the sick and infirm?

There is not a moment to waste, Jonathan is wilting. Put off the concocted Iranian scare, as America has your back, as best as she can. And President Obama is our true friend. Only we are to blame for why Mr. Pollard is rotting.

Dr. David Subin

To the Editor:

Hi, I read the Jewish Link every week, as well as purchase many things from soda scan. This week I was so happy to see two pictures of family members in the SodaScan “pic of the week” section. However, much to our disappointment, both pictures where captioned with the incorrect name. The pic of the week with a teenager helping another skater is not Aaron Abacasis but actually Andy Schenker. Additionally, the picture at the bottom right was not Zachary Rosenblatt coaching but actually Yossi Schenker.

Debra Schenker

Editor’s note: We apologize for the caption errors. Somewhere, obviously, something went awry.

To the Editor:

You know, perception is everything. When people use the signifier, ‘Dr.’ and dispense medical advice, we think MD. We think that they spent many years in college—an undergraduate degree, a medical degree and then years learning in the field. They’ve practiced in hospitals or doctor’s offices and they have a license from their state, saying that they have been approved to dispense medical care and advice.

So, when I open the Jewish Link and I read a letter from Dr. David Subin, where he stated, “…there is much exaggeration and hyperbole made in the media in general and this article in particular as to the efficacy and effectiveness of vaccines, their purported and championed place in history as to the eradication of certain communicable diseases, and the threat to the general population…” I sit up and take notice. Does this guy know what he’s talking about?

Now, I’m a great supporter of vaccines. As a mom to a child with egg allergies (some vaccines are grown in eggs), I have to greatly weigh which is more important, that my child gets the protection from a vaccine, knowing that he may react to the egg component or take my chance without the vaccine’s protection. Aside from the flu vaccine, my child is up to date with all of his immunizations. The flu vaccine, whose protection varies from year to year, still keeps me up at night every time I see my friend post about her niece who lost a leg and has had many surgeries and extended hospital stays after  contracting the H1N1 flu virus.

But now, I’m reading this letter from Dr. David Subin telling me and JLNJ’s readers to not trust the “efficacy and effectiveness of vaccines.” He’s telling our rabbinic leaders and schools that we should dilute our herd immunity with children who are not vaccinated. What about those children who can’t be vaccinated due to immunodeficiency diseases, allergies and the like? Should we open them up to polio? Was that such a mild disease? What about measles that not only affects the carrier but also can be transferred to nearby fetuses? These and more than a dozen more vaccines can help prevent some of the worst diseases this world has ever seen. No one who lived through the early 1900s during the polio epidemic is anti-vaccine. They all rejoiced when Salk introduced his vaccine. Why are you trying to bring these diseases back?

But really the hardest part of this letter is the fact that Dr. David Subin is not in fact an MD. Rather, he’s a DC—a doctor of Chiropractic Medicine. And, just as I wouldn’t go to a doctor of English literature for a heart valve replacement, I don’t think we should follow a doctor of chiropractic medicine regarding our vaccine choices. But don’t worry, if I know of someone with a backache, I’ll know who to recommend.

Miriam Rosenfeld