Some years ago, when I was a young assistant rabbi in a large congregation, I was having dinner with a man who had been widowed recently. He and his late wife were both Holocaust survivors. His son — who was away attending university — was interested in applying to the rabbinic seminary from which I had graduated a few months earlier.

"I understand you have to write a thesis in order to graduate," the man said. "Tell me, what was yours about?" "Holocaust literature," I replied. "Oh?" he said, "And what did you learn?" "Well," I said, "I now understand what happened, how and why." "You must tell me then," he said, "because I was there, and I still don’t understand."

Imam Mohammad Qatanani’s immigration case has been the focus of recent media attention. Imam Qatanani is the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County. During the last four years I have had the privilege to work closely with him in the area of interfaith relations. Our congregations have joined with Christ Episcopal Church to sponsor the annual interfaith seder. In addition, the imam and members of his mosque have been part of an interfaith group (including members of Beth Shalom and the Episcopal Church) that meets to discuss a vision for future interfaith programming. We have seen members of our community and the Islamic community create social bonds bridging gaps perceived to be impediments to such relationships.

Last week, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA suspended the membership of Ben-Ami Kadish, ex-commander of Post 609 in Monroe. The 84-year-old, accused of passing classified military information to Israel more than 25 years ago, is out on bail. He hasn’t been tried, and he certainly hasn’t been convicted.

But does that matter to the JWV?

No. JWV national commander Lawrence Schulman has begun organizational court martial proceedings to drum Kadish from the ranks. "There is no place in our organization for those who would seek to defend the interests of any country above those of the Unites States," Schulman proclaimed. "The alleged actions of Mr. Kadish must be condemned in the harshest of terms."

From time to time, someone will ask me, "What happened to Jimmy Carter?" The questioner is usually someone who thought highly of the former president and is now confronted with Carter’s incessant anti-Israel bias, as reflected in his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" and his just completed trip to the Middle East.

I respond to the well-meaning question that, in fact, nothing much has "happened" to Jimmy Carter, that the signs of what he has become were there all along. And I say that, fully aware of the role he played at Camp David to bring about the groundbreaking an Egyptian-Israel agreement and eventually a peace treaty.

It now seems like ancient history, but troubles between Carter and Israel started early on in his presidency. Some attributed them to a difficult relationship between him and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and some cover those difficulties in ideological terms.

Jimmy Carter just doesn’t get it.

The former president has reported to Israel that Hamas has agreed to a 10-year truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 lines — an offer the United States, Israel, and anyone with brains have written off as meaningless. The Nobel laureate may be the only president to have successfully negotiated a peace treaty between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors, but he does not understand that what worked in the 1970s will not work today.