web analytics
May 26, 2013 /17 Sivan, 5773
At a Glance ▼
InDepth
Sponsored Post
The Tosfos Yomtov was convinced that the death of 300,000 –600,000 Jews during the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-49 were because of improper Tefila. Communicated: Tefilla

Chillul Tefila Bifarhesia, as well as halachicly challenged verbiage and dress, are external manifestations of a critical lack of personal yiras shomayim which has lethal consequences.



Letters To The Editor

tell a friend
Letters-logo

The Futility Of Sanctions

If anyone still harbors any thought that President Obama’s plan to coerce Iran through economic sanctions to abandon its nuclear weapons program might work, he or she should read the front page news story in last week’s Jewish Press (“Iran: No Retreat On Nuclear Program”).

Mr. Ahmadinejad – who after all is in a position to know – said it straight out: “We are not a people to retreat on the nuclear issue…. If somebody thinks they can pressure Iran, they are certainly wrong. And they must correct their behavior.”

We ought not follow the lead of those who wishfully see a link between the worsening of the Iranian economy, which is obvious, and some future political decision to abandon nuclear weapons.

Mindy Abrams
(Via E-Mail)

Abbas’s ‘Scholarship’

I enjoyed Dr. Richard L. Cravatts’s “A Monumental Distortion of History” (front page essay, Oct. 5). I think however, that whenever Mahmoud Abbas’s “scholarship” is evaluated by serious people, he wins just by having been taken seriously.

The truth is, anyone who denies the existence or import of the evidence of the Holocaust is not a scholar by definition – and by the same token, not a partner for peace with Jews anywhere. Israel and the world should just move on past this slick extremist in moderate clothing.

Howard Miller
Los Angeles, CA

The Mullahs And Obama

I was intrigued by last week’s “An Iranian November Surprise” editorial. It is not so far-fetched that the mullahs would think they could play our president – a man who does seems obsessed with currying favor with the Arabs/Muslim world. What do they lose if they string us along and stretch things out past the election?

Rose Wilk
(Via E-Mail)

Depressing Prayers?

It was troubling to read the essay by a Stern College student about the tefillot for the Yamim Noraim not being “upbeat” enough (“God, Are You Threatening Me?” Personal Perspectives, Sept. 28).

Actually, Jews are not a morose people and we are taught to be joyful in our celebrations. In fact, our holidays are filled with warmth and festive worship. Therefore, to “snort with laughter” during the Unesaneh Tokef tefillah on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, when the book of life is open before our Creator, seems like the ultimate chutzpah.

Writer Hannah Dreyfus is upset that God is threatening her and explains that is why her generation, like her charges in summer camp, has a problem with obeying authority. Well, Ms. Dreyfus, life is not summer camp. Hashem does not promise us a prize if we behave. Perhaps you need to take a careful look around your shul, or read the newspaper, or listen to the news and notice how many people around you are affected by disease and war and the many natural disasters mentioned in the prayer written so many years ago but still applicable today.

We are supposed to look carefully at our deeds and ourselves and to pray for the benevolence of a caring and loving God who gives us so many opportunities to change our ways and become better people. This in itself is our reward, to be a shining example to the rest of the world.

Estelle Glass
Teaneck, NJ

A Working Mother Responds

I am a frum working mother of three, and while I am not judging Ziona Greenwald’s decision to be a stay-at-home mother (“Revaluing Motherhood,” op-ed, Sept. 28), I do take issue with some of her comments.

To give you some background about myself, I went to a Bais Yaakov school and then continued on to higher education. I pursued a career in the finance field where I am still active in today. But I am by no means a feminist. My mother never worked outside the home. She was there to wake us up in the morning, give us breakfast, put us on the bus and wave goodbye. Her time at home allowed her to be fully involved in all of her children’s schoolwork and extracurricular activities. The house was clean, the meals were prepared and the laundry was done. We had everything we needed and more. She was there to greet us when we came home and spent her nights tidying up and getting us ready for bed.

tell a friend

About the Author:


You might also be interested in:


no comments

You must log in to post a comment.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Current Top Story
Sayed Nasrallah Speech
Nasrallah Vowing to Sustain Assad’s Regime (Dubbed Video)
Latest Indepth Stories
Al-Dura_Postage_Stamp
InDepth → Op-Eds

France 2 and Enderlin must have their press accreditation revoked and be thrown out of Israel.

Palestinian kindergarten children enacting a military operation.
InDepth → Op-Eds

Slaughter is a routine, widespread practice among many Moslem families.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has said he will never recognize a Jewish state and there will be no Jews allowed in a Palestinian State.
InDepth → Op-Eds

parently an affront to J Street’s worldview, the focus of which appears to be the creation of a Palestinian State, whether or not that will bring peace.

Member of Knesset Moshe Feiglin (Likud).
InDepth → Columns → Moshe Feiglin

The importance of the caucus on organ harvesting in China, sponsored recently by the Liberal Lobby in the Knesset, cannot be exaggerated.

InDepth → Columns → Dov Shurin

My mother, the eldest daughter of Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky, zt”l, was niftar last month at the age of 92. She took her last breath in her home in Efrat, Israel, next door to the shul that was my father’s for 24 years before his passing in 2007.

InDepth → Columns → Louis Rene Beres

Following the Boston Marathon bombing, one crucial point will likely remain overlooked. The most loathsome aspect of this or any other terror bombing attack on civilians will always lie in the inexpressibility of physical pain. While all decent people will abhor the idea of bombs expressly directed at the innocent, whether here or in other countries, none will ever be able to process the very deepest horrors of what has been inflicted.

InDepth → Columns → Keeping Jerusalem

It’s only natural to see increasing evidence of Jerusalem’s glorious Jewish past being unearthed, quite literally, under modern Israeli sovereignty. The new archaeological finds are also very timely – as the Arab onslaught attempting to detach Jerusalem from its Jewish roots gains steam, the facts on the ground, or “under” the ground, show quite otherwise.

InDepth → Op-Eds

The Talmud (Berachot 26b) says, “tefillot avot tiknum” – “prayer was established by the avot.” The Talmud then uses the following verse (Bereshit 19:27) to prove how Avraham established prayer: “Vayaskem Avraham baboker el hamakom asher amad sham et pnei Hashem” – “And Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before God.”

InDepth → Op-Eds

Nearly 13 years ago, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak journeyed to Camp David to end the conflict with the Palestinians. With the approval of President Clinton, he offered Yasir Arafat an independent Palestinian state in almost all of the West Bank, Gaza and in part of Jerusalem. Arafat said no.

InDepth → Op-Eds

The news that the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeted conservative groups has brought renewed spotlight on a 2010 lawsuit filed by the pro-Israel group Z Street, which alleges it was also singled out by the IRS when applying for tax-exempt status.

InDepth → Editorial

In an editorial last week (“Circling the Wagons”) we noted the efforts by the administration and its supporters to dismiss allegations that the government’s spin on the Benghazi attack was designed to shield the president and that the IRS was improperly used to stifle opposition to Mr. Obama’s reelection.

InDepth → Editorial

As the controversies besetting the Obama administration continue to grow in number and intensity, the prospect that President Obama would seriously consider military action against Iran, should that country continue its drive to become a nuclear power, becomes more and more remote. So we welcome the current enhancement of sanctions against Iran on the federal and New York State levels.

InDepth → Interviews and Profiles

To his parents’ friends, he was “Mrs. Greenberg’s disgrace,” but to sports fans he is one of the greatest – if not the greatest – Jewish baseball players of all time. Long before Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg excited Jewish sports fans with his prowess on the baseball diamond.

    Latest Poll

    If you could only choose one of the following scenarios regarding Chareidi IDF service, which would you choose?





    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-221/2012/10/11/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

No related posts.

Close