J.Post January 4: Deeply Troubled

Sir, – I was deeply troubled by two aspects of the article by Rabbi Steven M. Bob (“The ‘tikkun olam’ president,” Comments & Features, January 1).

The writer informs us that he is a co-founder of Rabbis for Obama. This seems to be in gross violation of the principle of separation of church and state.

As rabbis, they should support worthy causes based on values, but they must also totally eschew the endorsement of a partisan political candidacy.

Are we to expect rival groups like Rabbis for Gingrich or Rabbis for Romney? Suppose the membership of Bob’s congregation holds differing political views – are they to be excommunicated? Suppose the other candidate wins? 

Second, I am concerned by Bob’s certainty about Obama. While I do not at all deny the important defense, political and economic aid provided to Israel by the United States, I remain uneasy. I sense that many questions concerning Obama remain open, and my unease relates to the well-being of both the US and Israel.

[Barak Obama was a member of a church for twenty years,whose Pastor Wright was an antisemitic bigot who abused his pulpit with attacks against Jews and the damning of America, without any apparent opposition from Obama. Obama's behavior toward Egypt's Pres. Mubarak not only failed to bring about 'tikun olam' but helped destabilize the entire Middle East and encouraged the rise of the Moslem Brotherhood.Obama's crippling of Israel's ability to negotiate by insisting on 1947 indefensible borders places a serious handicap on Israel and does violence to 'tikun olam'.]

ZEV CHAMUDOT 
Petah Tikva