I would like to echo the feelings expressed by David Sloviter (in a letter earlier this week) and express my disappointment with the leadership of Northampton for canceling Chief Kasper’s training trip to Israel. This is a particularly sensitive time to have made such a move. If the reason for arranging the trip in the first place was not political, then canceling it now because of political considerations feels, at best, ill-timed and insensitive.
Like many Jews, I do not agree with all of Israel’s policies. But when you visit Israel (and I lived there for five years) and witness in person the fullness of Israeli life — which includes collaboration between Arabs and Jews in education, agriculture and medicine, to name a few areas — you realize how complex the situation is, and how little we really understand. And how gentle we should be with our judgments. What is certainly clear is that Chief Kasper could have learned a lot about security, had she taken the trip. And perhaps a few other things as well. I’m sorry the opportunity for her to go has been withdrawn.
Randi Stein
Amherst