Don’t Let Politics Divide You
We’ve arrived at the most solemn period of the Jewish calendar. Especially during these days of introspection and repentance, please kiss your loved ones and tell them how much you love them. Do not – I repeat, do not – get into disputes about this highly-charged presidential election.
Both major candidates are wealthy beyond imagination and Obama will make his millions when he is out of office. Do you really think they feel the pain of those who are out of work? Do they empathize with those who have lost their homes and in some cases their families?
May God grant us health and happiness, without which we are nothing but miserable. Do not lose any friends over this election. A true friend is extremely difficult to find.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
(Via E-Mail)
In Support Of Trump (I)
Readers Gary Cohen and Elise Markowitz took me to task in the Sept. 23 issue for the support I’ve expressed, in recent letters to the editor, for Donald Trump.
Mr. Cohen, who correctly stated that he and I share a devotion to Israel, faulted Trump for his response to a question concerning the approach he’d take to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Cohen objected to Trump’s phrase “Let me be sort of a neutral guy.… I don’t want to say whose fault it is – I don’t think that helps.”
What is wrong with that approach for a negotiator? What could anyone ever achieve by starting a negotiation with “It’s all your fault”?
Please understand: I feel the current state of affairs is all the fault of the Palestinians. Quite obviously, I couldn’t chair a meeting between these parties because my bias, my angry gut, would immediately doom any reasonable and intelligent discussion. How could Trump or anyone else begin such negotiations by hurling accusations that derail any potential progress?
Ms. Markowitz spoke of Hillary’s “solid record on Israel during her years as a U.S. senator.” I wholeheartedly agree. But I would point out that the Senate seat was from New York. How in the world could a senator from New York have anything but a “solid record on Israel”?
During her four years as secretary of state, however, I never heard Mrs. Clinton offer one single word of disagreement with President Obama’s Middle East policies. And I’m not moved by Ms. Markowitz’s suggestion that Clinton’s opposition to the building of Israeli settlements is OK because U.S. policy has long been anti-settlement.
As for Trump “defaming” people, where is the outrage from Jews – from all Americans – when Clinton and the Democratic Party defame millions of citizens as racists, xenophobes, misogynists, and homophobes because they hold views that differ from the liberal line?
Ms. Markowitz, like Mr. Cohen, failed to point out a single achievement, position, stance, or vision that Clinton possesses that would be good for both America and Israel.
Myron Hecker
New City, NY
In Support Of Trump (II)
Some of the negative views about Donald Trump expressed by Jewish Press readers are a bit shortsighted.
The criticism that Trump habitually changes his position has little merit. Changing one’s position while in the planning stages of any endeavor is not unusual. Trump’s record shows that when he finally decides on a course of action he’s pretty resolute about it. If that were not the case, we’d see half-completed hotels and golf courses on Trump properties, and the Central Park skating rink would still not be completed.
Ironically, when candidate Barack Obama, a man with zero accomplishments to his name, listed every problem our country had and claimed he’d fix them, no one questioned how he would do so. But when Trump, an extremely accomplished person, says he’ll fix things, people demand to know how.
Then there’s the complaint that Trump has a hair-trigger temper and entrusting him with the nuclear button could be dangerous.
Trump has been vilified and ridiculed by the news media from the day he announced his candidacy. Attacking a mainstream media that boasts a long history of bias against those of who do not toe the politically correct liberal line is hardly a hair-trigger response. It’s a simple recognition of the unrelenting nature of our liberal-left media and its potential for damage if left unchecked.
Finally, if Trump gives the impression that he could press that nuclear button at any moment, that’s exactly what will keep us safe. It’s our image of weakness to the point of impotence over the past eight years that has led to the dangerous world we live in today.
Josh Greenberger
Brooklyn, NY
Pantheon Of Heroes
Fall is here and we are in the midst of postseason baseball. The NFL season is in full swing, and New York fans are wondering whether this will be another frustrating season for the Jets and Giants.
All of this is ultimately meaningless, because the stars of professional sports and pop culture are only famous for a fleeting few years. After they are washed up, no one remembers them. Even the greats are only great on this earth and not in the world to come.
I wish to highlight the accomplishments of several individuals who have come from utter religious obscurity and because of the heroic efforts of BJX are now well on their way to becoming Torah giants and superstars. They are precious members of the BJX family and pantheon of heroes.
BJX recently celebrated the bris of Dmitry – a special 31-year-old Jew who displayed Herculean courage by enduring this most difficult test – a test that none other than Avraham Avinu, our progenitor and patriarch, passed. Dmitry – now Dovid – has joined the elite club of b’alai bris, a far more coveted position and accolade than anything this ethereal world has to offer.
As I watched Dmitry leave the rabbi’s office where the bris was performed, I was overwhelmed by my own emotions. I thought of the uncountable number of Jews through the ages who risked life and limb to perform this hallowed mitzvah. I thought of my own bris in Munkatch 43 years ago in the old Soviet Union, and the mesiras nefesh my parents and grandparents exhibited to make the bris and move to America, without any financial backing, and raise me as a Torah Jew.