A Mother’s Words Recalled
Re Rabbi Akiva Males’s Nov. 9 op-ed, “A Small Jewish World”:
Whenever my mother, Irene Klass, a”h, would hear someone referring to the Jewish world in those terms she would quickly say, “No it’s not a small world; the Jewish world is a connected world.”
As I read Rabbi Males’s article I could almost hear her reflecting once again on how indeed we are all connected, whether with regard to the Israeli army, or through our prayers, or through so many other examples.
As my mother’s yahrzeit will be in two weeks, reading the article and almost hearing her comment made me smile.
Naomi Klass Mauer
Brooklyn, NY
Editor’s Note: The writer is associate publisher of The Jewish Press.
Obama’s Victory (I)
While I found myself agreeing with your editorials during the past four years criticizing much of President Obama’s agenda, I applaud your editorial last week titled “Our Best to the President.” It demonstrated quite clearly that your opposition was based on an honest analysis of the facts and not on the unfortunate preconceptions about the president that continue to motivate many in our community.
Rachel Lobell
(Via E-Mail)
Obama’s Victory (II)
I would hope that the fact that most Americans don’t seem to agree with your anti-Obama editorial stance through the course of his first term in office will have a sobering effect on your future commentary.
The Jewish Press and the conservative Republican agenda will have to change in order to be relevant.
Sylvan Brown
(Via E-Mail)
Obama’s Victory (III)
I would not take Obama’s winning nearly 70 percent of the Jewish vote to mean that most Jews don’t care about Israel, as I hear many in our community saying. I interpret it to mean that the concerns of most American Jews about Israel are met by Obama’s having greatly enhanced American defense cooperation with Israel and his commitment, made even at the UN and to Arab audiences, to “always have Israel’s back.”
It would be more accurate to say that most American-Jewish support for Israel does not necessarily include an insistence on its complete retention of the West Bank.
Jordan Goodman
(Via E-Mail)
Obama’s Victory (IV)
I hope I’m wrong but I think President Obama is still dedicated to creating some daylight between Israel and the United States. This does not mean Obama has any intention of abandoning Israel but rather that he feels it is in America’s interest to convince the Muslim world that we are concerned about its needs as well.
He can’t, however, give something to the Arabs without taking something from the U.S.-Israel relationship. It’s simple mathematics.
Elyakim Meisner
Jerusalem
Obama’s Victory (V)
I keep reading about concerns that President Obama will now retaliate against Israel because of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s transparent support of Mitt Romney. I think this is a sophomoric view of how governments make decisions.
The president’s position on the spread of nuclear weapons in Iran and elsewhere; on the way Muslim nations in the post-Arab Spring era line up in the international arena; on how to best approach the world’s leading oil suppliers; and on battling the continuing growth of terrorist activity will hardly be driven by the personal relationship he has with Netanyahu.
Brian Wolin
(Via E-Mail)
Obama And Sandy (I)
I am amazed at people like reader Harold Miller (Letters, Nov. 9). Why can’t they just take “yes” for an answer? Mr. Obama came to town, rallied the victims, announced details of government aid, and left.
The man is the president of the United States and has a country to lead and, as was his perfect right, a campaign to run. Was he required to personally hand over the aid? Did he have to surrender precious time before the election to satisfy the nitpickers?
Bernard Safier
New York, NY
Obama And Sandy (II)
President Obama was treated better by the media in the aftermath of Sandy than President Bush was after Katrina because the Louisiana victims were mostly minorities while Sandy devastated middle class whites.
Both the victims of Sandy and the victims of Katrina deserved better but to the liberal mind only minorities merit our sympathy.