That's the way It gets Edited

Some have asked me about my letter in the Jerusalem Post Magazine this past Friday. It seemed a bit, well, sort of just hanging there.

It read:-

Rabbi Froman - albeit with meritorious intent - exists in a fantasy world, which he would have others inhabit too.

Seems a bit nebisch, no?

Well, here was the original letter:-

The picture accompanying your cover story on Rabbi Menachem Froman ("Always look on the bright side", Feb 3), showing him extending his tefillin wrapped right arm in 1997 towards Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, is but part of the event. Yassin never extended his hand in return and they subsequently never shook hands.

That reality highlights the fantasy world that Rabbi Froman, albeit with meritorious intent, exists in and would have others inhabit as well.

Yisrael Medad
Shiloh

There was an inquiry about the letter, thus:

Jerusalem Post Letters wrote:

Re: letter for magazine

This letter is ok -- with a major reservation. Your underlying point, as we know, is correct -- that those guys, that guy included, feels no friendship for us. But look at Yassin's hand in the picture: It sort of hangs there, limp, and I'm wondering if he would have been capable of extending his hand had he wanted to. This point -- the extent of his paralysis -- needs to be checked and included in the letter, because if he couldn't have shaken Froman's hand, the letter doesn't work.

And I replied:

i am almost positive that I have seen Yassin in interviews on Israeli TV waving his hands around in gestures. i recall that the point was made at the time that Yassin made no attempt to move towards Froman and it was noted.

Oh, well. Next time.