I pick up JTNews at Einstein’s Bagel shop on Queen Anne Blvd. and enjoy the editorials.
Regarding Rabbi Jaron Matlow’s editorial (Rabbi’s Turn, “Gun violence in our country,” January 11, 2013). I certainly agree with the rabbi’s thesis that “guns are the tool but not the source of the violence”; I would add one more item to his causation analysis (alongside the glorification of gun violence in the media and a morally bankrupt country). Rabbi Matlow indicates that the “Torah tells us we were created ‘b’tzelem Elohim,’ in God’s image.” I would submit that we “are” created “b’tzelem Elohim” and that we have erased millions of images (children) of God’s genius by the tragedy that is birth control via abortion. For when is “b’tzelem Elohim” adhered to the creation in the womb? The callousness of our hearts has solidified to the point that we glorify death in our culture.