Raising Money For A Vacation
Reader Pesach-Yonah Malevitz’s complaint about Rabbi Goldwasser raising money for a newly married couple to have a “holiday of their dreams” as being “bizarre” (“Funding Lavishness Is Not Tzedakah,” Letters, May 16) is a little out of place.
If the rabbi had raised money for poor people and then given it to a couple to have a dream holiday, that would be one thing. But for him to raise money for a specific purpose – and I’m sure he told the donors what he was raising money for – there’s absolutely nothing wrong or bizarre about it. Additionally, giving money to help people live a lifestyle that they were previously used is also tzedakah. And in this case, the rabbi may even have saved a marriage. Rabbi Goldwasser did a monumental act of kindness and compassion.
David Balsam
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Forbidden To Bow
Regarding the Word Prompt on “Bows” (May 16): Here’s a Daf connection to the word. In the Gemara in Shavuos 14, which we read last week in Daf Yomi, the Mishnah describes how one who became tamei (impure) while in the Courtyard of the Mishkan was not permitted to bow down, or tarry long enough to bow down.
Kenneth Gartner
Via E-mail
Saul Jay Singer Responds
In her May 9 letter to the editor (“An Unnecessary Tangent That Taints Fellow Jews”), Ettie Kryksman, while complimenting me on my “very informative insights into the lives of people who have played a role in American society and who have, in particular, influenced the lives of Jews in America and beyond” – praise that I deeply appreciate – takes me to task for what she characterizes as “an unnecessary tangent.” Specifically, she criticizes my featuring a letter written by President Ronald Reagan and discussing the irony of his honoring the rabbinic leaders of the Imrei Yosef Yeshiva of the Spinka chassidim who were convicted of various serious crimes (“Ronald Reagan’s Mixed Record on Israel,” Collecting Jewish History, April 30). She further pointedly argues that recounting the details of the Spinka chassidim has nothing to do with Reagan’s mixed record on Israel and, perhaps worst of all, serves to add fuel to the fires of anti-Jewish sentiments.
While I very much understand Ms. Kryksman’s arguments and respect her right to make them, I think that she has missed the point.
First, all my more than 500 articles published by The Jewish Press begin with one or more items from my personal Judaica collection, and I always strive to select items of particular Jewish interest to my readers. This is usually not difficult with respect to Jewish personalities whose fame is closely tied to Judaism or to Jewish life, but the items I love most – and the ones that are the most difficult to find – are letters written by famous non-Jews that have interesting Jewish content. As but one example, I could see thousands of Picasso autographs and never be interested in purchasing any, but when I found an originally signed print of Picasso’s The Old Jew, my blood pressure ran dangerously high and I had to have it. (True collectors will understand.)
As such, I jumped on the Reagan letter when I saw it because it was much more personally exciting to me than would any other even more outstanding Reagan letter that lacked any Jewish content. And even though this “controversial” letter may have seemed off point to Ms. Kryksman, it was actually highly relevant to my discussion of Reagan’s relationship with the Jewish community and entirely consistent with what I try to do every week in my Jewish Press articles.
Moreover, I was particularly fascinated by this particular letter because when I purchased it, I had no knowledge about the history of the Spinka chassidim. As happens so often, I learn new things when I conduct research and delve into the subject matter and history of my items and, based upon my broad, decade-long experience corresponding with my Jewish Press readers (emails are always welcome, pro or con), many seem to enjoy the learning experience as much as I do which, frankly, is what keeps me going.
Second – and this subject could fill many pages, if not volumes, by itself, so I will try to make the argument in only a few lines – I do not think that we, as Jews, should shy away from identifying and publicly condemning the occasional misdeeds in our community and those who do them. It is not the publicizing of the acts of these few Jewish bad apples that “adds fuel to the fires of anti-Jewish sentiments” but, rather, the disgraceful acts themselves.
Saul Jay Singer
On Israel, It’s Trump Vs. Trump
Many years ago, an episode of Star Trek depicted the hero, Captain Kirk (portrayed by William Shatner) as being split into two separate people, one having all his good qualities, and the other having all his bad characteristics. It almost seems as if President Trump has been similarly transformed.
On one hand, he continues to employ strident rhetoric about how Iran must not be allowed to have atomic weapons and that if needed, the U.S. would support Israel in taking out the mullahs’ nuclear facilities, yet on the other hand, he vetoed a proposed Israeli strike planned for May and continues with the negotiations that are liable to produce an agreement resembling the fatally flawed JCPOA adopted by the Obama administration.
Moreover, his advisers are equally split about what to do. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz favor a strike before Iran can repair the air defenses destroyed by an Israeli raid. In opposition are Vice-President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, both Iraq War veterans leery of getting into another Middle East War; Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s golfing buddy, who is compromised by his business dealings with Qatar; and amazingly, Tucker Carlson. How did an anti-Israel, isolationist, right-wing commentator gain access to the inner circle of presidential advisers on Middle East policy?
Ultimately, President Trump must exercise his best judgment regarding a negotiated solution, which he said in Qatar is close, when everyone knows that Iran has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons program and can’t be trusted to keep its commitments, as proven on many occasions. Writing on JNS.org on April 17, Jonathan Tobin expressed concern that Vance and Gabbard are leading the President in the direction of repeating Obama’s and Kerry’s mistakes, and the military option will soon be foreclosed once Russia and China help Iran rebuild its air defenses.
There’s more. Recently, some commentators asserted that Qatar has bought off Trump by offering a $400 million jet to serve as the new Air Force One when Boeing couldn’t finish building the plane on time, and a Saudi company is collaborating with the Trump organization to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar. This is a serious accusation because Qatar has invested billions of dollars in donations to American higher education and politicians over the last two decades to buy influence. Equally troublesome is that the President made deals with Hamas, mediated by Qatar, to free an Israeli-American hostage, and with the Houthis for a bilateral ceasefire, without any Israeli input, not even trying to free additional hostages.
The Israeli and global media, who regard their role as not just reporting but shaping and manipulating the news, have been working overtime to create the impression that a rift has opened between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu leading to decreased American support for Israel. They even manufactured a fake story that Trump was going to announce creation of a Palestinian state on his trip to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States (without a stop in Israel), when the actual announcements made involved economic deals. American Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee denies that Trump is abandoning Israel.
True, the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions not only on Iran, but on the Chinese companies and officials who are supplying them with components. However, as Khaled Abu Toameh observes, writing at Gatestone, the Arab world sees Trump’s naïve overtures as throwing Israel under the bus, most recently massive arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Qatar and lifting sanctions on Syria.
The issue of Iran transcends domestic politics. Iran and its proxies have made it clear that their interpretation of Islamic theology dictates that they first kill the Saturday people and then the Sunday people; that is, to eradicate Judaism and Christianity so that Islam will become the one world religion, just as Leftists want their ideology to rule the entire world. This conflict suggests that if, Heaven forbid, the red-green alliance achieves their mutual goal of destroying Western civilization, they are likely to part company, as did Hitler and Stalin in World War II.
Humanity can’t afford to wait for that outcome. Any American deal with Iran could endanger Israel. A further complication is French President Macron’s brash decision to enlist Saudi Arabia in convening an international conference to establish a Palestinian state without Israel’s participation or consent, just as Neville Chamberlain did to Czechoslovakia at Munich, and presumably force it upon Israel using crippling sanctions. Clearly, Israel needs swift, bold action to head off these two threats. In that regard, as one of the panelists on JNS’ “The Quad” remarked, Israel is not a vassal state. Menachem Begin didn’t wait for American approval to destroy Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor in 1981, which Vice-President Dick Cheney later admitted saved many American lives in the Iraq war. We pray that Benjamin Netanyahu, too, may be granted wisdom to find a way out of the box before the walls close in.
Richard Kronenfeld
Phoenix, Ariz.
Summer – A Time
To Help Others
You don’t lose by doing good. Summer is an opportunity to find someone to learn with, see how Jews in other communities are faring, and also create opportunities for others. As Houthi missiles fly over Israel, Jews all over the world care. An earthquake is felt in one part of the world and we ask friends and family how they are. Why? We feel for our fellow Yidden.
On the positive side, a hachnosas Sefer Torah takes place in Switzerland and Jews in America watch and rejoice with their brethren. A three-year old has his upsherin by Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch and Klal Yisrael dances with him. The heartstrings of the Jewish people stretch across the globe.
That is not to say that our sensitivity is solely internal. As Jews travel across the globe this summer, we have the opportunity to make a kiddush Hashem; this is something we can never take a vacation from. The nations of the world view the French Jew, Israeli Jew, and American Jew in the same way. Frum from birth or not yet religious, white shirt and black pants or black shirt and white pants, the Jewish people are one people with one heart. Be respectful to your fellow travelers and conduct yourselves as bnei Torah.
As we travel and get to meet some of the Jews we daven for, rejoice with, and inquire about, let us be mindful of Chazal’s words in Avos: One who causes the community to be righteous will not have sin on his hands. (5:18). Jews don’t fly solo. We help spread Torah, engage in chesed activities, and help those in trouble. In this zechus we will be saved from sin ourselves.
Hashem blesses those who do His will and spread His word. May He bless us all with a safe and enjoyable summer.
Chaim Yehuda Meyer
Brooklyn, N.Y.
