Letters To The Editor
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Inaccurate Characterization
In his July 6 “Charming Nation” column, Dov Shurin wrote that the only death caused by Saddam Hussein’s Scud attacks on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War was that of a man who suffered a heart attack – a man Shurin characterized as an opponent of Shabbat road closures.
The truth is that man was not someone who opposed any Shabbat laws. He was a fine, Orthodox, God-fearing Holocaust survivor who had seen most of his family killed in Europe. His heart gave out when the Scuds started falling and air raid alarms were sounded.
He happened to have been a friend of mine and it was very disturbing to read Shurin’s claim that he had been against Sabbath observance.
Amy Wall
New York, NY
The Times Already Lost It
Re “Is the Gray Lady Losing It?” editorial. June 29):
The question really should be “When did the gray lady lose it?” While certain sections of The New York Times continue to be credible, the news, editorial and op-ed pages lost any credibility years ago. The motto of the Times should be changed to “All the news we choose to print” from “All the news that’s fit to print.”
Those looking for accuracy and balance should turn to a paper like the Wall Street Journal.
Nelson Marans
Silver Spring, MD
The Roberts Decision
Reams of analysis and debate will doubtless be generated in response to the incoherent and inexplicable legal finding by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts validating Obamacare (“Not the Supreme Court’s Finest Moment,” editorial, July 6).
The 2,700-page bill was passed through bribery, intimidation and funding falsehoods, though no one in Congress actually read it. Former speaker Pelosi’s (in)famous diktat “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” speaks to the hubris of the Democrats in Congress.
This mammoth legislation is the harbinger of an anticipated flood of new regulations to be administered by thousands of new bureaucrats enforcing the new rules still being written.
As for Chief Justice Roberts, his decision to deliver such a convoluted decision will set back the Supreme Court’s reputation for years.
Fay Dicker
Lakewood, NJ
Handful Of Fanatics
Re “Haredi Men Arrested in Yad Vashem Vandalism” (news story, June 29):
Neturei Karta is a small (albeit vocal) group that is in no way representative of the haredi community as a whole.
On the one hand, from a haredi perspective the Holocaust is seen as just another chapter in the history of persecution, albeit more efficiently executed and more recent. That is why haredim generally do not observe such commemorations as the Warsaw Ghetto anniversary, subsuming it instead in the general mourning on Tisha B’Av. This does not, however, mean haredim in any way approve of such offensive vandalism as was perpetrated by this handful of fanatics.
On the other hand, there is certainly a feeling in the haredi community that a wholly exaggerated cult of the Holocaust has become a sort of substitute religion for those estranged from Torah Judaism. Haredim object to this negative definition of one’s Jewishness by reference to the hatred of others rather than pride in one’s heritage.
Only someone completely prejudiced against haredim could consider these nutcases as being in any way representative of the greater haredi community – but unfortunately such an attitude is all too common.
Martin D. Stern
Salford, England
Making Our Own Choices
As the brouhaha over the Internet continues, I would like to make a few comments to those who vehemently oppose the Internet in Jewish homes.
New York City is home to many Jewish institutions but also, lehavdil, to a number of obscene and lewd establishments. Should Jews be prohibited from living in New York because they might be tempted to frequent such places?
We can use our two legs to take us to perform mitzvos, but we can also use our two legs to take us to commit aveiros. Shall we cut off our legs because they might take us to sinful places?
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a vacuum – but we do have the ability to know the difference between right and wrong and the strength, imparted to us by our parents and teachers, to follow a moral and ethical way of life and to make the correct choices for ourselves.
Pesach-Yonah Malevitz
Los Angeles, CA A
Shabbos In Midwood
We had the immense pleasure of spending this past Shabbos at the Bomzer home in Midwood, Brooklyn.
We felt the heimish atmosphere the moment we entered the house. As a matter of fact, we felt it as soon as we arrived in Midwood. Shabbos was in the air and everyone was bustling around preparing for this gift we receive anew every week.
June, Avy, Sruly and Eli Bomzer are hosts imbued with the true spirit of hachnasas orchim. We were blessed to be guests along with June’s mother and great-niece and nephew.
The shul was similar to the shtiebels my husband, Phil, and I grew up knowing so well in Newark, New Jersey. No fanfare – just genuine and heartfelt davening and a level of derech eretz one only wishes was the norm in all shuls.
The Bomzer men sing melodic a capella tunes after arriving home from shul. The Kiddush was cantorial, as was the benching.
We were privileged to have at the Shabbos table Rita and Moshe Laufer. (Rita’s cheesecake recipe in a recent issue of The Jewish Press’s Magazine section was divine.) The Bomzers and the Laufers shared divrei Torah and gave us a tremendous amount of chizuk.
Naturally, we discussed articles we’d read in The Jewish Press. After all, what is Shabbos reading without The Jewish Press?
Todah rabbah and kol hakavod to the kehillah members of Midwood, to the Bomzers and the Laufers. It was an unforgettable Shabbos. Midwood personifies what all Jewish communities should be like – Jews truly living the life Hashem set out for us to follow.
Miriam Maltz Schiffman
Elizabeth, NJ
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