Letters to the Editor

The truth about Passover

To the Editor:

While Dan Fishback and his family were sitting down to mourn world oppression at his seder ("Peace at Passover," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 4/8/02), the State of Israel was in shock and mourning over the massacre of 27 innocent Israelis who wanted nothing more than to engage in exactly what he was doing -- having a seder.

Dan, yours is not the only Jewish family thoughts are with oppressed people all over the world. Every seder includes a remembrance of the suffering that the Egyptians had to undergo so that the children of Israel could leave Egypt -- a symbol that we can not be fully happy as long as our victories entail the sufferings of others.

While I am truly impressed by your ability to look beyond the mere sufferings of the Jewish people at the seder, I am rather taken aback by your seeming inability to see the clearer meaning of Passover.

Passover is a holiday of freedom. It is a holiday of liberation. But it is also a holiday of our freedom, our liberation. It is a holiday in which the Jew shouts out to the world, "Look at us! We're still here! And we are nobody's slave. We are not held captive by anyone!"

Our first responsibility, before we can have the luxury of liberating the world, is to make sure that we, ourselves, are free. Before we can care for anyone else, we must make sure that we are healthy enough to give help.

The suffering that the Palestinian people have undergone and are still undergoing are enormous. Much of that suffering is a result of Israel's policies and existence.

But the suffering that innocent Israelis are experiencing at the hands of Palestinians is not something that can be ignored, as you unfortunately do in your column. It seems that you have forgotten everything about the seder except those few drops of wine we spill.

At the seder, we mourn the fact that Egyptians had to suffer. But we do not mourn our own freedom. We celebrate it. We unite behind it. And we defend it.

Ari Vander Walde

Medical School '04

Focus on the whole To the Editor:

The Greek community has come under intense scrutiny as of late, and rightfully so, for some of our members have made dangerous decisions in clear violation of both University and Greek organization anti-hazing and alcohol rules.

This we do not deny. We accept full responsibility for these actions and readily face the consequences of any mistakes that we have made.

Yet, to claim that Greeks "perpetuate a culture of irresponsibility with alcohol" ("Responsibility lacking," DP, 2/9/02) is unmerited. Most do not realize that many of our transgressions are actually self-reported and that Greeks, unlike other student groups on this campus, have their own mechanisms to sanction ourselves when we break the rules. Our extensive judicial system enforces not only the regulations of the University but also those that we ourselves have implemented and hold in high regard.

Furthermore, there is much more to Greek life than alcohol and parties. Greeks are leaders of student government, athletes, performers, artists and scholars. We contribute more hours of community service and raise more money for charity than any other organization on this campus and in the process, we build lifelong relationships with both friends and faculty.

With that said, in any attempt to change "campus culture" it is unfair to single out Greeks. While there are extremely serious social problems on this campus, Penn must investigate not just how to make Greek life at Penn a safer endeavor but that of the entire social scene here as well.

We as the Greek community stand behind all of our members and hope that the recent actions of some of our organizations serve as lessons learned not just for Greeks but also for the University community as a whole.

Alison Ng

Wharton '03

Janet Temko

College '03

Alison Ng is president of the Panhellenic Council and Janet Temko is executive vice president of the Panhellenic Council.

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