‘There Was None Like Him’

Long discredited (and to anyone in the least familiar with his writings, self-evidently ludicrous) “reports” of Maimonides’s conversion to Islam hardly constitute a “puzzle” [“There Was None Like Him,” Eric Ormsby, Arts & Letters, October 10, 2005].

The celebrated Jewish sage did maintain that Islam does not constitute idolatry and that it might even come to be seen as a positive development in the context of world history for its spread of monotheism among the formerly idolatrous residents of the Arabian Peninsula.

He, moreover, counseled that Jews who are being forced on penalty of death to accept Islam (an unfortunately all-too-common occurrence during his time) perfunctorily do so rather than be killed, as would be required by Jewish law in the case of an act of idolatry. But he made his attitude toward Islam entirely clear, and it was anything but an embracing one.

As to Maimonides’s son’s “immersion” in Sufism, Rabbi Abraham promoted a contemplative, mystical approach to Judaism. Contemplation and mysticism may well have been, and may well be, part of Sufism. But they are also part of Judaism. Rabbi Abraham explicitly stated that he was simply accessing an authentic part of ancient Jewish tradition, which he was.

RABBI AVI SHAFRAN
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
Manhattan

‘Watchdog Cites Charity Failure’

I was very disappointed to read Josh Gerstein’s recent article “Watchdog Cites Failure at Charity” [Page 1, September 28, 2005]. It is an inaccurate appraisal of both the Clinton Foundation and the foundation’s activities.

The story quotes freely from a Better Business Bureau Report, based on two-year-old data, suggesting that the Clinton Foundation is not in compliance with the bureau’s criteria for foundations. Unfortunately, while referencing outdated data and arcane accounting structures, it neglects to mention that the Clinton Foundation actually is currently in compliance with those very criteria.

The article further suggests that the Clinton Foundation is solely focused on the narrow aim of building a presidential library. That is simply not true. The library is completely built, essentially paid for, and running very successfully. As a result, 95% of the Clinton Foundation’s 2004 funds went to programmatic activity in our HIV/AIDS Initiative, Small Business Initiative, and other important programs.

Omitted from this piece is the quantity and quality of the Clinton Foundation’s work around the world. On HIV/AIDS treatment alone, the foundation spends over $15 million internationally and employs over 200 people worldwide. Currently, two out of every five people in Africa and the Caribbean on life-saving antiretroviral medicines – over 200,000 people – are accessing these drugs through the Clinton Foundation’s agreements, which make available the world’s lowest priced antiretrovirals to people in the developing world.

This article is unfortunate and is an unfair representation of the Clinton Foundation and the work it is doing throughout the world to help those in need.

JAY CARSON
Communications Director
Office of President Clinton
Manhattan

‘Opponents Accuse Clinton’

Chronicled in your piece about Senator Clinton [“Opponents Accuse Clinton of ‘Hypocrisy’ on Border Controls,” Meghan Clyne, National, October 6, 2005], the senator’s decision to lobby against stricter immigration controls across the Canadian border is all the more mystifying when you consider that the 2000 Los Angeles International Airport plot, hatched by an Al Qaeda operative in Montreal, was foiled by the vigilance of a Canadian Border Patrol officer.

With Canadian law enforcement insisting there are Al Qaeda cells still active in Montreal, perhaps Mrs. Clinton should elicit her husband’s views on this topic before proceeding further with this clear threat to our national security.

AMANDA BOWMAN
President
Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License
Manhattan

‘Whose Mainstream?’

Like beauty, mainstream is in the eye of he beholder [“Whose Mainstream?” Herbert London, Opinion, October 6, 2005].

The two New York senators are no doubt in need of a trip to the ophthalmologist’s office. They probably are in need of a new set of contacts to correct their nearsightedness.

Those of us who live and vote in New York State are under a big disadvantage being represented by these two people who define the political landscape through deteriorating eyesight.

We can only hope, pray, and vote that the junior senator will be put out to pasture in 2006 so that we no longer care what her vision prognosis is.

NANCY BARELL
Registered Democrat
Manhattan

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