EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore FappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton ‘Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.J. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn].0. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, Momcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103.rnEditorial Phone: (815)954-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5813.rnSubscription Department; P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc., One Media Way, 12406 Rt. 250rnMilan, Ohio 44848-9705rnCopyright © 1997 by The Rockford Institute.rnAll rights reserved.rnChromcks (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnmonthly for $39.00 (foreign subscriptions add $ 12rnfor surface delivery, $48 for Air Mail) per year byrnThe Rockford Instihite, 928 Nortli Main Street,rnRockford, IL 51103-7061. Preferred periodicalrnpostage paid at Rockford, IL and additional mailingrnoffices. POSTMASTER: Send address changesrnto Chronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Monis,rnIL 61054.rnThe views expressed in Chronicles arc thernauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectrnthe view? of llie Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressedrnstamped envelope.rncnrpoiciesrnVol.21, No. 12 December 1997rnPriDled 111 the United St>ex niAmejK-.irnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn Bilingual Education On Secular JudaismrnIn his September correspondence (“Letterrnfrom Nueva York: The Ehte of EIrnBronx”), Robert Herman rightly focusesrnon the separatist aspect of “bilingual” educationrnas practiced at Hostos CommunityrnCollege and elsewhere in the UnitedrnStates. This pernicious pedagogy isrnwell on its way to creating an unbridgeable,rnpermanent gap behveen Hispanicsrnand the larger American society—if itrnhas not done so already.rnAfter six years of teaching English atrnHostos, I tendered my resignation twornyears ago. I had come to feel that I wasrnan unwitting cog in a conspiracy to creaternand perpetuate a vast population ofrnsemieducated, semiliterate Hispanics. Irndecided that I could not continue to perpetraternthis educational fraud upon thernHispanic population of New York City.rnAs educators in the United States, it isrnour responsibility to teach our studentsrnEnglish—that tongue which is the perfectrnblend of Saxon clarity and Latinrnsweetness, whose majestic and dulcetrntones have resonated in the works ofrnChaucer and Shakespeare through therncenturies —a language we should bernteaching our students to love and cherish,rnnot to hate and despise; a languagernstudied avidly and spoken joyfully everywherernin the world—everywhere, that is,rnsave in the New York City school system.rnI have taught in Italy, Japan, Korea, andrnTaiwan, and in all these countries myrnstudents were always very enthusiasticrnand dedicated to perfecting their English.rnOnly here in New York are studentsrntaught to contemn our gloriousrnEnglish tongue.rnThe “bilingual” educators nationwidernhave failed in their duty to their students,rnand this failure threatens the bonds of nationalrncohesion that unite us as a people.rnAmerica has become what TheodorernRoosevelt warned against; “a tangle ofrnsquabbling nationalities.”rn—Kevin BearyrnNewYorIi,NYrnf> ,s c /• / />rnm – 5459rnFor many years I have read ProfessorrnNeusner’s polemics with profit and delight.rnI have marveled at his skill in combiningrnan arcane discipline withrnprovocative rhetoric. Despite this respect,rnI nonetheless find myself disagreeingrnwith Neusner’s November essayrn(“Jews Without Judaism”) about “irreligious”rnJews. For one thing, it is problematicrnto treat Jews like a Christianrncreedal community. Jews as a grouprnhave never been bound primarily (andrncertainly not now) by individual adherencernto theological doctrine. They havernalways defined themselves as a nationrn{am yisrael) to which one belongs first byrnblood ties and then by the performancernof communal rituals.rnSpinoza, whom Neusner cites, makesrna similar observation in the TractatusrnTJieologico-Politicus, where he contrastsrnthe ethnic and collectivist aspects of thernOld Testament to the individualist andrnuniversalist New Testament. Thoughrncertain exceptions can be found inrnprophetic Judaism (as Spinoza himselfrnnoted), Spinoza’s contiast between Jewsrnand Christians seems generally true.rnJewish concerns are for the fate of a nationalrncommunity that is held togetherrnpartly by ritual obligations traced to divinernrevelation and rabbinic commentary.rnChristians, in contiast, stiess the salvationrnof individual souls, achieved byrnfaith in the redemptive promise of a personalrnsavior. They also understand thisrnpromise in terms of creedal symbols andrnconfessional statements which definernmembership in specific Christian coinmunions.rnUndoubtedly aware of this differencernbetween Jews and Christians, ElliottrnAbrams makes a case for Jewishrnritiial observance on nontheological ethnicrngrounds, i.e., to keep Jews from intermarryingrnand assimilating in a friendlyrnAmerican environment. The same concernsrnare now regularly used by the OrthodoxrnRabbinic Council of America tornrecruit members for their congregationsrnand schools. Such concerns are understandablerngiven the identitarian and territorialrnnationalism which is integral tornJewish life.rnNational cominunities, united by ritual,rnare different from collections of individualrnbelievers. The agnostic foundersrn4/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn