First, thank you to Melissa Hamilton, a caring, soft-spoken violist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, who went through much soul-searching before reaching the decision to bring the music of Leo Smit, a Dutch Jewish composer who perished in Sobibor, to the attention of Bryan Davis at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.

Although not Jewish, Ms. Hamilton has long been sensitive to anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. I don’t know how she managed to bring a German maestro — he came especially to participate in the event — to conduct her fellow symphony musicians, how she managed to get those musicians to participate, nor how she got the chair of the Dutch Composer’s Guild to come as well.

Thank you to Mr. Davis for bringing the idea to the Yom HaShoah committee; we embraced the idea immediately. And last, but certainly not least, much gratitude to Professor Beth Nakhai and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim who have co-chaired the committee for many years with devotion and strong leadership.

—Billie Kozolchyk

A few years ago I was one of many cultural Jews in Tucson keeping up with traditions in a secular humanist way on my own. Then a bunch of us formed the Secular Humanist Jewish Circle, which is a growing community, now one of 27 such groups (and more on the way) affiliated with the national Society for Humanistic Judaism.

Many Jews are not “looking for God in their lives,” as Rabbi Ain says in the AJP article. Many of us are looking for a sense of community and Jewish identity without God in our lives. Rabbi Miriam Jerris, president of the Association of Humanistic Rabbis said, “People who belong to Humanistic Judaism put human concerns at the center; whether or not a god exists is not relevant to how we relate to the world. We relate through observation and scientific inquiry. There is no way to prove the existence of God. Absent proof, we live our lives with what we know.” And what we know is that a life of dignity requires us to do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because a supernatural being said so.

Fortunately, the umbrella known as “Judaism” is large enough to include us Humanistic Jews. Obviously rabbis such as those quoted in the article who see no future for Judaism without God have a vested interest in the success of their beliefs. However, we feel that groups such as the local Secular Humanist Jewish Circle actually bring inactive Jews back to the fold and thereby strengthen Jewish ties in the community.

For more information, see shj.org.

—Becky Schulman

I am straight, and I initially attended mainly because of a (lesbian) friend who is new to town and wanted to go to a Seder with her partner. However, it turned out to be one of the best Seders I have ever attended. Rabbi Miri Fleming and Marc Paley did a great job making the Passover story relevant to today.

Additionally, it turned out to be a very positive first Jewish experience for both my friend’s partner and my girlfriend (who is very much an athiest but thought it was great). I plan on making it a second Seder tradition in the future.

—Tony Zinman

One key omission, how to pay for the huge cost of “Obamacare”?

Jews have been in the forefront of giving throughout the ages; it’s “tikkun olam” multiplied ten-fold. Our liberal bent tells us we must help all, and paraphrasing Omar Khayyam, “live fully while you may, and reckon not the cost.”

Does Kaufman have any idea of what the Federal government has spent starting with LBJ’s “war on poverty” in 1965? How about mass funding for education? Or helping welfare recipients with guidelines to gainful employment?

It’s trillions of dollars, with dismal results. More poverty exists today, our educational standards are below that of many countries, and welfare is running wild. Food stamps are at an all-time high.

The U.S. is broke! Our debt has recently eclipsed our GDP (Gross Domestic Product). We keep printing money we don’t have and the day of reckoning will be down the road for our children and grandchildren. Can the U.S. become another Greece in the immediate future? Yes!

I’d like to see the private sector work toward a health care program encompassing some of the points made by Kaufman. It can be done with good will by all parties. Class warfare, gender warfare and race warfare should not be in the equation.

Liberal Democrats like Nancy Kaufman turn a blind eye to reality, and the Obama administration continues on its cycle of reckless spending.

I fear for our country.

God bless the U.S.A.!

—Sid Brodkin

There’s an old French proverb, “Autres temps, autres moeurs.” English equivalent: “times change.” I thought of that saying after hearing about the world’s response to the recent murders of three Jewish children and a teacher at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse, France.

This horrific incident called to mind the tragic fate of 76,000 Jews living in France, including 11,000 children, during World War II.

After the war ended, it took 50 years for the government of France and the Catholic Church to officially acknowledge their wrongdoings:

• 1995 — then-President Jacques Chirac was the first French leader to formally admit France’s betrayal of Jews during the Holocaust.

• 1997 — Olivier de Berranger, bishop of Drancy, apologized for the church’s silence as thousands of Jews were deported to extermination camps, primarily Auschwitz, from the holding camp in Drancy, outside Paris.

• 1998 — “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah,” was published by the Catholic Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, under the authority of Pope John Paul II. In this document, the Vatican asked Catholics who failed to take action against the Nazis to repent.

Fast forward to March 19, 2012. When news of the killings was reported, immediate condemnation took place not only in France but around the world; not only from Jews but from Muslims, Christians including Pope Benedict XVI, and the religiously unaffiliated. Swift action on the part of French police prevented more planned deaths.

Even as we mourn the victims of this latest tragedy, we take heart. Is it possible the world is looking at the Jews with new eyes?

— Barbara Russek

Please forward this to as many people as possible or visit and share his Facebook page, “David Needs a Kidney.”

I hope that a kind soul will step forward and possibly save the life of a husband and father.

— Alfred Schreier

I attended both of his lectures and was impressed with the large crowds … completely filled halls for his lectures on language and education. Dr. Chomsky was introduced as one of the most cited intellectuals in the world according to the New York Times.

I am surprised at the lack of response to his presentations by the Tucson press but especially that the Jewish Post would not inform the Jewish community about the nature of his lectures, his standing ovations, the enthusiastic responses of his audiences and the nature of the question period that included so many young people.

— Yetta Goodman, UA Regents Professor Emerita

I was shocked to read about some of our fellow Jews’ treasonous statements — “U.S.- based Mossad agents to take out a president.” That statement is a threat to all Jews wherever they may live, and may contribute to acts of anti-Semitism.

We have existed as a Jewish people because our mission is to make the world a better place — tikkun olam.

Have they no shame?

— Sylvia Paley

I was especially shocked by unchallenged sentences such as, “it doesn’t take much discussion in certain Jewish circles to find those who see something far more sinister in Obama than a president whose policies are bad for the Jews and Israel.” There also have been “certain Jewish circles” that were responsible for assassinating Yitzhak Rabin.

Heilman has gone out of his way to find extremists who utter outrageous statements such as, “I think Obama’s overriding goal is to have Israel destroyed.” He has used the Atlanta incident to fan the flames of vicious and totally undeserved attacks on our president.

— Robert Varady, via azjewishpost.com

President Obama in my opinion has been extremely patient with the rudeness of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israeli government, and the “ultra religious circles” who are actually against the very existence of the State of Israel.

— Charles Fleming, via azjewishpost.com