(Ed's note: The following letter was sent to US Congressman Gary Ackerman and reprinted here at the writer's request.)

As a Jew, I was appalled to read in the Dec. 23 issue of The Jewish Week, your characterization of Rep. JoAnn Davis's resolution to maintain the "symbols and traditions of Christmas" as "Talibanesque." Your remark is reprehensible and smacks of outright intolerance and total lack of sensitivity.

To even remotely conceive a comparison between the brutality of the Talibans and Rep. JoAnn Davis's intent to introduce the subject resolution in the House of Representatives, irrespective of your disagreement with it, is despicable. Shame on you!

Lest you forgot, this is a Christian nation, founded by Christians, with Christmas mandated by Congress as a federal holiday. It is the only nation on this planet where we Jews enjoy unparalleled freedom and acceptance by our Christian fellow citizens. Maybe you should read the letter written by George Washington to the Jewish community, at the dawn of our Republic. You can find it in the Touro synagogue in Newport, RI.

Having made this grotesque comment, you have joined the "motor mouth" brigade of the likes of Abe Foxman, Jon Kaiman and others, who demonstrated recently total lack of sensitivity in their utterances. Jon Kaiman apologized. It would behoove you to do likewise.

As mentioned before, your boutonniere is fading. It's time for you to fade into the sunset as well. Congressman, you've lost it!

Stanley L. Ronell