Editor:

I am Jewish although I don't practice. I was impressed with the editorial and/or apology that was written about the Reichnitz cartoon ("Accountable," Dec. 8). But the truth is far more complicated.

When I first heard about the abuses in his facilities — about two years ago — I was horrified, not just by the abuses but by the fact that an Orthodox Jew would fit himself in so neatly into the hundreds of years of false accusations made about Jews. Filling the stereotype, and apparently without either remorse or insight. In a sense, he was asking for that cartoon to be written.

Let's face it. Most people, regardless of what ethnicity they are born into, are good at heart, but a few are not. Those outliers are singled out by members of other ethnicities as examples of what is "wrong" with the hated group. I'm sure I don't need to point out any specific examples — the headlines are full of them — and my only question is: Would that cartoon have appeared had Reichniz been a member of some other minority?

Anyway, we live and learn from our mistakes.

Elaine Weinreb, Westhaven