A New Low for The New York Times
While the New York Times often scrupulously avoids reporting terrorist attacks against Israelis, it saw fit last week to write at length – on its front cover and on three additional pages – about the death of a single Hamas-oriented individual who chose to be on the front lines of violent protests against Israel.
Hamas has declared war against Israel. Accidents occur in war – and the fault lies with the aggressor.
Nelson Marans
New York, NY
Not Everyone Parades Down Fifth Avenue
Reader Harold Hoffman calls the Vaad Harabanim of Flatbush’s threat to pull the hechsher of restaurants hosting a homosexual comedian “malicious interference with another person’s livelihood” and asks (sarcastically) if we should also ban Jews who desecrate Shabbos or Indians who worship idols from performing at kosher restaurants?
First, Jews who desecrate Shabbos do not have a parade down Fifth Avenue proclaiming how proud they are of committing a Torah violation.
Second, canceling a handful of performances in a city like New York, where there are an estimated 20,000 restaurants, is not malicious and does not constitute interference with one’s livelihood. Running a bakery out of business for not making a cake for a gay wedding, on the hand, is malicious interference with one’s livelihood.
Homosexuals today are extremely aggressive in pushing their agenda and forcing the public to accept their lifestyle. A performance by a homosexual in a kosher restaurant – regardless what her routine is about – can give people the impression that we accept her lifestyle. The danger of misleading people is far less when the performer is a non-Jew or a Jew who doesn’t observe Shabbos.
Mr. Hoffman asks what I’d say to being denied medical care or housing because I’m Jewish. Comparing medical care to other matters is like comparing apples and coconuts. No Jewish doctor, to my knowledge, denies anyone care because of religion or lifestyle. A doctor, of any religion, who does is a disgrace.
As for being denied housing, the question would boil down to: Do you give up the apartment or your Judaism? If you have to think about that, oy vey.
Josh Greenberger
Brooklyn, NY
Here’s English Irony for You
UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said at a conference in 2013 that “British Zionists, [despite] having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, clearly…don’t understand English irony.”
He obviously used the word “Zionists” as code for “Jews” to avoid being accused of anti-Semitism. So I – a British Jew – submit this example of “English irony” to refute his claim:
As an anti-racist campaigner, I obviously don’t approve of the New Year Eve’s stabbing at Manchester Victoria tram station, but I think we must try to understand why the attacker felt the need to protest against the obvious anti-Muslim prejudice, highlighted by naming a new station after the Zionist “Abraham Moss” in a predominantly Muslim area of North Manchester.
The only way to demonstrate that it is not institutionally Islamophobic is to rename the station “Ibrahim Musa” in memory of the glorious martyr shot in cold blood by the Zionists while peacefully protesting at the Gaza apartheid wall against the occupation of Palestine by launching an incendiary peace balloon towards one of their illegal settlements.
Martin D. Stern
Salford, England
$1,000 for a Shadchan?
My jaw literally dropped when I read Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss’s most recent column, “Mazal Tov, I’m A Chassan!”
I want to start off by congratulating the rabbi on his recent engagement. I read with interest his previous columns in which he spoke so beautifully and emotionally about his dearly departed rebbetzin. It was clear there was much love there, and I’m glad Rabbi Weiss was fortunate enough to find love again.
That said, I was quite perturbed by his statement that he “fervently” believes it was the $1,000 check he gave a shadchan that, as he put it, “pushed this matter along.” I was disturbed that a rabbi felt compelled to “grease the wheels” by giving a hefty check to a shadchan. I was also disappointed that the shadchan felt comfortable taking the money.
Now, I understand making matches is not easy and a shadchan‘s time is valuable, but where does emunah fall into this? If it was bashert, wouldn’t it eventually have happened?
In addition, Rabbi Weiss starts off the column writing that he intends it to be a source of inspiration to widows and divorcees. But what form of inspiration could his column be? The message seemed to be that if you have deep pockets (and yichus), you can bump yourself up to the top of the list.
Shadchanim deserve compensation, but ultimately they should do their work l’shem shamayim to help perpetuate klal Yisrael. If that is not their intention, they should do something else.
Tiferes M.
Brooklyn, NY
These Jews Prefer a Weak Israel
You were right to take issue in your editorial last week with those who criticize President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. I suspect their true motives have nothing whatsoever to do with Israel’s best interests. They probably fear Israel will now feel less inhibited to take action against its enemies in Syria.
They feel more comfortable when Israel is surrounded by strong neighbors that constrain it. For them – the self-appointed aristocrats of the American Jewish Congress and their fellow travelers – the Jewish state’s existence is conditional on it not encroaching upon their “new Jerusalem” which they delude themselves into thinking they have found in the West.
They forget the old slogan of the UJA appeal – “Israel Is Your Insurance” – just as a new breed of anti-Semitic Democrats has entered Congress. They even advocate the establishment of yet another artificial Arab state to the west of the Jordan River for a “non-people” (see Deuteronomy 32:21)!
Yisroel Davis
London, England
Former Refuseniks Today
As a friend of Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich and someone who was deeply involved in the Soviet Jewry movement, I read Tzvi Fishman’s “Does Anyone Care About The Prisoners of Zion?” with great interest.
The article, however, contains a few inaccuracies. Famed former Prisoner of Zion Ida Nudel is not deceased. She is unwell, but thankfully alive. And ailing Vladimir and Masha Slepak left their beloved Israel, not due to poverty, but to be cared for by their sons in the U.S.
The article is correct that government pensions for Prisoner of Zion – who spent years suffering in the gulag for demanding to move to Israel – are often inconsistent and inadequate. It is also correct that Israeli education about the Soviet Jewry freedom movement, other than in the IDF, is often left to private organizations.
I strongly suggest that Jewish Press readers, who were among the best soldiers in the battle for our brethren in the USSR, consider sending a check to an initiative that allocates cash grants to needy former Soviet refuseniks and Prisoner of Zion in Israel: The Wurtman Foundation, c/o Robert Finkel, Kerstein, Coren & Lichtenstein, 60 Walnut Street, Wellesley, MA 02481, earmarked for Emergency Aid to Refuseniks.
It’s based in Jerusalem. There are no administrative costs. I’ve supported Emergency Aid to Refuseniks for years and can testify to the difference it has made.
Glenn Richter
Former National Coordinator
Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
Anyone Need a Kidney?
A Jewish woman in Los Angeles has been cleared to donate a kidney. The person, however, who was supposed to receive the kidney had to have other surgery and is not eligible to have a kidney transplant at this time.
If you know someone who is blood type A or AB, needs a kidney, and is registered with either Cedars Sinai or UCLA, please ask him or her to contact me.
Chaya Lipschutz
www.KidneyMitzvah.com
My Mother’s Pushka
Tzivia Emmer’s article in the recent Charitable Giving supplement tugged at my heartstrings.
The one possession that was synonymous with my dear mother, ob”m, was her tin blue-and-white JNF pushka. My mother never knew that the Lubavitcher Rebbe suggested a ba’alas habayis should attach a pushka to her kitchen wall. She just automatically positioned hers on the shelf directly above the kitchen stove.
Every year, Terry, “the tzedaka lady,” would visit our home to collect its contents. After my mother’s petira, I took this precious treasure and attempted to attach it to my kitchen wall, but it was so old, it would not stay closed.
So now, it is safely packed away. But the lesson of my childhood is still with me: One should give tzedaka and – if possible – give it b’seser.
Penina Metal