5/12/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Happy Mother’s Day! I appreciated your Proclamation this year, especially your comments about your mom, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, & her lesson to you “that courage was the greatest virtue… (&) that everyone is equal & to lead lives defined by honor & integrity.”

            Next year, I hope to see the POTUS acknowledge Juliet Ward Howe’s (JWH) sentiments to mothers around the world. I have mentioned them to you before, & they bear repeating. “Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses & applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy & patience. We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country, to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.’” 

            Some folks in Israel share JWH’s feelings about war & on this Memorial Day, which is about to start in Israel, Combatants for Peace, a group of Palestinians and Israeli Jews, will come together to “harness their collective mourning, underscore the pointlessness of war & let people stand united to end the bloodshed.” They aspire to honor the memory of their deceased loved ones by looking forward & choosing reconciliation. They know that WINTA.

            I know you’d like the war in Gaza to end. The NYT points out that Bibi & his archenemy, Yahya Sinwar, are dragging it out for personal benefit. We know it will eventually be over. As the sages say, “this too shall pass.”

            I have a hard time imagining the God that would perpetuate such a thing. Have you read  Mordecai Kaplan? I am intrigued that the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism did not believe in a supernatural God that could bestow favor upon one nation. I am eager to read more.

            As usual, I ask that you to remember that the people of Burma need our help.

            BYBS,