The Middle East Viewed From an L.A. School

Kudos to Barry Siegel for his insightful “Lessons in Division” (Aug. 3), on the Jewish Orthodox school Shalhevet. Like Israel itself, Shalhevet is a model of adherence to Jewish tradition, democratic values and a modern openness to diversity. The educators, parents and students portrayed in the story have much to be proud of. The place for teaching the viewpoints of others is, indeed, a school. But, if Xander Maksik wanted to give his students a sense of the feelings of some Palestinians and the behavior of some Israeli soldiers, did he not also want to teach about the much more prevalent Palestinian education to murder and the much more prevalent Israeli army commitment to decency?

Alice Greenfield

Sherman Oaks

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Though the article on the Shalhevet school, with its student body of 380 students, was somewhat interesting, it did not merit the Sunday lead story, plus five full pages. Why isn’t The Times doing lead stories and five full pages on our economy since the tax cuts, or what is happening with Enron now, or Saudi Arabia’s involvement with Al Qaeda and the Bush administration’s protection of it? I’d like to see five full pages on what Vice President Dick Cheney is up to. Please get your priorities straight. The Shalhevet story belonged in the California section, on Page 4.

Andrea Scharf

Los Angeles