You've got Somerville just right when you label it "ultraviolet America." Back in the day, when my Dad's family lived in Roxbury, Somerville was just another working-class hole; like the Southies but without the charm.

Today, it's become an outpost for all the chowderheads who wish they could but can't afford high-rent Cambridge.

Anti-semites? In Boston? Yes. Big-time; the Yankees, the Irish, and now, the liberal intellectual "elite", joined by their new friends, the Islamofascists.

I thank God that my Dad moved to the Bronx just before I was born.

I'm a Somerville resident and a member of Congregation B'nai B'rith in Somerville. Some members of our shul spoke in favor of the resolution, others spoke against it. There is no consensus, and the shul officially took no position at all.
-- Ron Newman (rnewman@thecia.net)

As a former resident of the hell city known as Boston, I must point out that the fact that anti-Israel activity is pushed by "Trotskyist crackpots" makes no difference whatsoever. Boston is so liberal-left that most of its residents still cling to the 1930s-era idea that communists are just liberals in a hurry. I'm sure most Bostonians consider the divestniks to be concerned and sincere advocates of peace and injustice and not frenzied totalitarian anti-Semites.

I am amazed that any regular shul-goer, no matter how liberal, would approve of divesting in Israel. then I thought of a few people in my old shul in Austin who would speak in favor of it. But I can't imagine enough people in that shul, or any of the liberal ones I know in NYC, being in favor of it to the extent that the congregation would abstain from condemning it.

I guess I am amazed after all.

do your congregants know where the funding and support for this divestment effort is coming from?

As far as I know, nobody in the congregation actively participated in the Somerville Divestment Project, drafting its resolution or circulating its petitions.

However, once this resolution was before the Board of Aldermen, some congregation members felt that supporting it was an appropriate way to express disapproval of the policies of Ariel Sharon and the Likud government. Others did not. Sharon, Likud, and Bush are quite unpopular here.

I know nothing about the funding of the Divestment Project.

-- Ron Newman (rnewman@thecia.net)

Some articles on the subject, from various viewpoints:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency. This was written by Penny Schwartz, a member of my shul, originally for Boston's weekly Jewish Advocate. Article is titled "In Boston suburb, heated debate over resolution to divest from Israel".

The Jerusalem Post. Article is titled "Boston suburb may become first US city to divest from Israel".

The Electronic Intifada, a pro-Palestinian web site. Article is titled "Sell-by date of war crimes about to expire in Somerville, MA?"

I also recommend Google News, and especially the links to The Somerville Journal, our local weekly. They have run many articles and opinion pieces on this subject over the past month.

-- Ron Newman (rnewman@thecia.net)

I'll make one more comment, then I'll shut up and listen to everyone else:

Above, you mentioned Havurat Shalom in Somerville. I do not know how its congregants feel about the divestment proposal. While a number of speakers on both sides identified themselves as members of my shul, nobody identified him or herself as a member of the havurah.

I did not make any statement of my own at this meeting. I have friends on both sides of the issue.

-- Ron Newman (rnewman@thecia.net)