In the 1930′s a madman ascended the world stage with a public declaration of his intentions. The world stood by and watched him build up a vast military killing machine. This encouraged him to expand his ambitions to world conquest. That, of course, could not be permitted, so several nations joined together and stopped him – but at the cost of a world war and not before rivers of Jewish blood were spilled.

Today we have the president of Iran and an assortment of militant Islamic groups promoting the annihilation of the Jews. Their ultimate objective is world conquest and we know they are furiously working to build up their own killing machines.

There’s a lot of diplomatic dialogue about restraint, concessions, and disengagement. Where are the emphatic warnings and ultimatums? Where are the allied forces preparing preventive actions?

“Speak softly and carry a big stick,” Theodore Roosevelt advised without the benefit of Torah. Our Torah instructs us in clear language what to do when someone comes to kill us. How many history lessons do we need?

Some thoughts on last week’s letter to the editor from J. Feldheim on Jewish education and communal responsibility:

Having been actively involved in community life for more than 30 years, I have seen many wealthy Jews withhold donations to yeshivas because they perceive a lack of financial integrity; they worry that donated funds would be misappropriated and misdirected. If all yeshivas and Jewish schools would make their finances publicly accessible, the real deficits would be absorbed by many of our noble Jewish philanthropists.

The UJA Federation must be commended for forcing the change in the way rebbes and teachers are paid, especially the inclusion of health insurance, pensions, and death benefits. When my brother-in-law, Rabbi Mendel Weiss, zt”l, an eminent scholar and dedicated rebbe at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, passed away more than 25 years ago, the only institution that came forward and assisted the bereaved and suddenly needy family was the Federation, in admirable conjunction with the Joseph and Caroline Gruss Foundation. The Federation has since exerted pressure on yeshivas to take rebbes and teachers off cash payrolls and put them “on the books” with compensation packages.

We must eradicate the perception that yeshivas and Jewish schools are run by individuals who are gaining personally from donations and contributions from the Jewish public. Let us work together to ensure the integrity of our yeshivas and that they meet high standards of financial accountability.

 Mutual Respect Our Only Hope

Re David Mandel’s Feb. 10 front-page essay “Reflections on Jewish Factionalism”:

As a people, we segregate ourselves into tight, self-imposed communities. We justify our actions as a way of separating ourselves from the temptations of the world that lead us to assimilate. As a consequence, however, we also end up separating ourselves not only from our fellow Jews but also from our fellow observant Jews.

The U.S. is the only country I know of where there is no chief rabbi, where one bet din does not recognize another, where kashruth agencies compete instead of agreeing on a common standard.

Like our Israeli brothers, many American Orthodox Jews create “settlements” – in this case suburbs and neighborhoods where the only hats you see are black, if not furry; towns where conformity is the rule, where the entire worldview is within the borders of the town’s eruv, where beards are required, where Zionism is cursed at, and where the only non-Jews seen are house cleaners and restaurant workers.

Currently I live in Albany, where the Orthodox community is too small to be fragmented. Some wear their tzitzit in, others out. Some have techeilet, others do not. Not only do we pray under the same roof, we also eat together. I’ve met a number of families where one partner is born frum while the other is a baal teshuvah.

I feel blessed to have been raised in a shul where the hats, clothing, background, and level of Jewish education is diverse. As long as there is mutual respect among Jews, there still is hope for a strong future for Am Yisrael.