Michael and Ayelet,

I am one of your fellow Jews to whom your letter is addressed. As with many Canadians — Jewish and non — I live just north of the American border and follow your politics closely.

I’m not sure I understand your guidance to Ivanka Trump. I read it as you counselling her to tell her father he is dead to her. I’ve certainly heard the phrase used in that way. I have never thought of it as being “venerable”. Tragic, yes. Venerable, no. I know of little good that comes from giving a child, or a parent, such an ultimatum.

I wonder what both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and The Baal Shem Tov would do and suggest at moments such as the tragedy at Charlottesville. Both would not have hesitated to speak truth to power. And both, I think, would have counselled perpetual compassion for those who are morally lost, such as the current president of the United States. Rather than cutting off contact with her father Ivanka Trump should hug him closer, tell him how Judaism has shaped her life, remind him that “justice, justice shalt thou pursue”, that we are to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and believe that, even this horribly flawed man, her father, has the potential to do t’shuvah, to turn and find the right path.

Wishing you both a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Sincerely,

Shalom Coodin

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