web analytics
May 23, 2013 /14 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

Has Iran Won? (I)

My answer to the question posed by last week’s lead editorial – “Has Iran Already Won?” – is a resounding yes. No rational person can believe Iranian leaders are thinking about abandoning their nuclear weapons program, no matter how many speeches President Obama and Vice President Biden give.

As long as Obama keeps pulling back the goal posts as to when he will resort to military action, the Iranians know they have nothing to fear. And they are right.

Carl Greenberg
Haifa, Israel

Has Iran Won? (II)

I am disappointed that The Jewish Press has apparently thrown in with those who have misread President Obama’s continuing efforts to avoid war with Iran, as last week’s editorial “Has Iran Already Won?” suggests.

All reports indicate that the sanctions have devastated the Iranian economy. Even if they don’t produce an agreement with Iran on halting nuclear production, I concur with the president that the Fail-Safe point is still distant and pressing ahead with diplomacy – and maybe not having to use the military option – makes the most sense.

Stephen Miles
New York, NY

Obama’s Israel Visit

President Obama will no doubt utilize his visit to demand that Israel renew two-state surrender talks. However, the president surely knows that two states for two people effectively existed from 1949 to 1967. The Arabs had total sovereignty over every inch of disputed East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and the Golan. Instead of peacefully living side by side with the Jewish state they launched hundreds of murderous attacks against innocent Israelis.

Mr. Obama also knows that presently a twenty-two state solution exists: twenty-one Arab states surrounding one tiny Jewish state. Despite such a disproportionate situation the Arabs refuse to live in peace with Israel. So to pilfer Israel’s heartland to create yet another Arab state is madness.

Rather, President Obama should offer Israel the option of becoming an American protectorate, as Puerto Rico, or the fifty-first state. Such a pact would leave the Arabs scant choice but to finally cease their belligerence.

Henry J. Moscovic
Flushing, NY

Nadler And Sandy Relief (I)

I was blown away by reader Robert Markovitch’s rebuttal (Letters, March 8) of Congressman Jerrold Nadler’s March 1 op-ed explanation of why he opposed the inclusion of religious institutions in federal post-Sandy funding programs. The arguments were devastating and I hope the congressman will at some point respond.

If anything, all the examples of religious accommodation Nadler cited in his op-ed article as being appropriate – such as those relating to shechitah, bris milah, zoning laws, etc. – demonstrate that we go the extra mile in this country to accommodate religious needs.

Burton Ziegler
(Via E-Mail)

Nadler And Sandy Relief (II)

The real issue underlying Congressman Nadler’s opposition to including most religious institutions in post-Sandy relief programs is not whether it is consistent with examples of government making exceptions for religious institutions, as Robert Markovitch seems to think. I think reader Shirley Gold (whose letter nicely offset Mr. Markovitch’s) and Congressman Nadler have the better of the argument.

With government money comes strings and that is not a good thing for the independence of religious institutions.

Beth Jacobson
(Via E-Mail)

‘Some Radical Ideas’…And Responses

Highly Recommended

I was impressed with Dr. Rivkah Blau’s ability to so closely analyze what goes on in our celebrations of simchas (“Some Radical Ideas,” front page essay, March 8). I think she has identified all of the components and this can be helpful in avoiding the pitfalls associated with each.

I can recall in my own family’s celebrations some of the mishaps she writes about. I would highly recommend her article to all those who would like to maximize their enjoyment of happy family events.

Malkah Weissman
(Via E-Mail)

Encouraging Stultification?

I think Dr. Blau’s theme was fine as far as it went. However, I am a big believer in serendipity and surprise as important parts of celebrations. To dwell on ever-so-careful planning in order to avoid problems that have probably characterized our simchas for ages can only rob such events of their spontaneity and encourage a rote stultification.

Eli Finer
(Via E-Mail)

Rav Breuer’s Wisdom

Dr. Blau makes a number of suggestions she feels would go a long way toward improving our present-day simchas. I find it surprising that she does not include what Rav Dr. Joseph Breuer, zt”l, wrote in the August/September 1966 issue of Khal Adas Jeshurun’s Mitteilungen. There he says:

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
Women and baby at Givat Asaf. A US Embassy officials attended a hearing on a Peace Now petition to story the community
US Implicitly Backs Peace Now Petition to Destroy Outpost
Latest Indepth Stories
Moshe-Feiglin-022213
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. On the surface, the caucus’s topic seems odd. Knesset members and other VIPs were called together to discuss horrors being perpetrated by the Communist regime in China against what the government there calls “regime opponents.”

Shurin-Dov
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.

Louis Rene Beres
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.

InDepth → Front Page

To eat is to live – to keep our physical bodies alive. For without the body, there is nothing. No experience. No memory. No joy and no hardship. But man, unlike animals, eats to live and to enjoy. So how should a Jew respond when he is challenged as to why he imposes upon himself not just ceremonies dedicated to the enjoyment of eating but even more to the limiting of what he can eat?

InDepth → Op-Eds

Neither Secretary of State Kerry nor the president he serves seem to understand Russia’s goals in the Middle East.

InDepth → Analysis → Rubin Reports

You might think that six Khamenei followers might split the hardline vote but don’t worry as that will be taken care of in the ballot-counting if necessary.

    Latest Poll

    Which is the most beautiful location in Jerusalem?









    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-243/2013/03/13/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

Related posts:

  1. Letters To The Editor
  2. Letters To The Editor
  3. Congressman Nadler Disappoints
Close