We Shouldn’t Fast Over the Holocaust
I support memorializing the Holocaust, but I don’t think a fast is necessary.
I also don’t know if the Holocaust is “the most evil event in history,” as one of your letter writers described it. It may be the most evil event in our lifetime, but I don’t think it can be compared to the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash and the expulsion of the Jews from Yerushalayim.
I should add that Yom HaShoah was enacted by secular Jews. Orthodox Jews remember tragedies that befell the Jewish people – including the Holocaust – on Tisha B’Av. They are opposed to remembering a tragedy during the month of Nissan.
M. Wadler
Shidduch Advice: Stop Saying ‘No’
There are many wonderful Upper West Side girls in their late 20s-30s who would make wonderful eishes chayilim but who are consistently rejected because “I’m just not feeling it, but you’re a very nice girl and we can remain friends.”
All you non-committal guys ages 29 and up out there: What are you waiting for? Open your eyes!
If you guys were truly frum and believed in Hashem with full emunah, you would be a lot more open-minded and would actually commit. Hashem put the girl you were set up with in your life. By waiting for the “next one,” you demonstrate lack of emunah and frumkeit.
If you consider yourself a yirei shamayim, you have to take a hard second look at that wonderful girl Hashem set you up with. Make it work. Say, “Yes, I’d like to commit,” and keep your mind in the mode of “Yes, it can work. I can build a bayis ne’eman with this person” – which is the true point of it all.
Stop “shopping” around. I guarantee that you will not find that fantasy girl. You’ll just go deeper into loneliness until it is too late.
Anonymous
Election Meddling: We Aren’t So Innocent
The brouhaha over President Trump’s relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the latter’s attempt to influence the 2016 election reminds me of Captain Renault from “Casablanca” who said, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.”
Only Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has been honest enough to tell the truth. Our CIA, the Russian KGB, and many other intelligence agencies around the world going back 100 years have attempted to interfere in the elections of other countries. Some have even supported military coups against democratically-elected governments. One who lives in a glass house should not throw stones at others.
Hillary Clinton spent over $1 billion trying to become president – twice as much as Trump spent. She lost to the millions of “deplorables” – not to Russian interference.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Trump Is Right For Not Trusting The FBI
It is highly unlikely that Russia has something on Trump. Our intelligence agencies’ lengthy Russia investigation has found questionable activities on the part of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and wrongdoing on the part of Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
If there were anything Russia could blackmail Trump with, wouldn’t our intelligence agencies have found it by now?
Some wonder why Trump seems to believe Putin’s claim that Russia did not meddle in our elections when the FBI claims it did. Well, in the almost two-year, baseless investigation into Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russians, the FBI has not found any of evidence of it. What’s worse, there was never a crime in the first place to warrant an investigation. Why would Trump now take the FBI’s word that Russia meddled in our elections? He’d look like a fool if he did.
For all we know, the charges against the 12 Russians could be trumped up (no pun intended) to justify a lengthy and expensive investigation. The FBI knows full well that Putin will never hand over these 12 Russians, and the truth will never come out in court. Is today’s FBI really beyond falsifying charges?
Josh Greenberger
Has Gush Katif Been Forgotten?
In your Tisha B’Av issue, I did not find mention of the tragedy that occurred 13 years ago in Gush Katif, just one day after Tisha B’Av.
Twenty-one beautiful, thriving Jewish communities were destroyed by the Sharon government – ostensibly to placate the Arabs and end the terrorism and rocket barrages coming from Gaza. I was in Neve Dekalim during the expulsion, and the memories of the prayers, tears, soldiers, bulldozers, and Yassamnikim in their black uniforms bring tears to my eyes to this very day.
A memorial ceremony was planned recently in Kissufim, the junction closest to the entrance to the former Gush Katif. As hundreds gathered, the army issued an order to close the event and move it to Nitzan for fear of rockets that might come from Gaza that night.
So 13 years after all the pain and suffering endured by the displaced Jews of the expulsion, nothing has changed. The rockets continue to fly into communities around Gaza, and children in Sderot must still play in the underground playgrounds. The lesson is clear. Appeasement and placating the enemy is fruitless, foolish, and dangerous.
Helen Freedman
Co-Executive Director
Americans for a Safe Israel/AFSI
Stop Being Reckless
The rescue of the 12 boys and their coach from a cave in Thailand captivated the world. What can we Jews learn from this incident? I believe the answer is: the importance of taking preventive measures to avert disasters. Had the coach obeyed the sign in front of the cave, he would have known that it was dangerous to enter it during the rainy season.
We must take steps to protect ourselves. There should be stricter laws against the tobacco industry in Israel, where a high smoking rate kills 8,000 citizens annually. Israel should copy Canada which has very high taxes on cigarettes and labels on cigarette boxes that smoking causes painful illnesses and premature deaths.
Jacob Mendlovic
Toronto, Canada
I Love Your Editorials
Your editorials are outstanding. Keep up the good work.
Two stood out last week. Re “Those 12 Conniving Russians”: Even if Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, has all the turmoil we have created over it been worth it?
Is there a law against one country trying to sway the elections of another country? Have we, the United States, never tried to help our favorite candidates in, say, Afghanistan, Chile, or Nicaragua? By whose standards are such actions prohibited?
Re “The ADL Goes Astray”: For many years, the ADL had an excellent track record in fighting discrimination against Jews. I had such a high regard for Abe Foxman, its previous long-term CEO, that I often sent donations to support the ADL’s work.
Well, Foxman has been gone for several years now and has been replaced by Jonathan Greenblatt, who previously worked for Clinton and Obama. Since Greenblatt took over, anti-Semitism has gotten worse.
Can the ADL be resurrected?
George Epstein
Los Angeles
What’s Happening To The Democratic Party?
Will Rogers famously observed: “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” Today’s Democrat Party seems to be becoming ever more unhinged, with its “progressives” pulling it sharply to the Left.
The NY-14 Congressional District primary victory of avowed Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a striking indication of this fact. DNC Chair Tom Perez, hailed her as the “new face of the party.” If so, it and the nation are in deep trouble.
While her socialism seems more affectation than conviction, her America would become ever more the “land of the free” – with free education, free healthcare, free housing, etc. but without the wherewithal to pay for any of it.
Ocasio-Cortez regularly bad-mouths Israel while admitting to being largely ignorant of the facts. She also exhibits considerable disdain for democratic norms, calling on her supporters to “occupy airports, border crossings, and ICE offices around the country.” Ocasio-Cortez is totally unsuited for the office she seeks.
Fortunately, American elections are not “one and done.” Since Rep. Joe Crowley remains on the Working Families line, he has a strong second chance at winning the congressional seat should he choose to pursue it. A comeback victory would actually be a win-win – for him, the party, and the nation.
His friends – as well as friends of Israel and political comity – should thus unite in urging him to “Run, Joe, Run!”
Richard D. Wilkins
Syracuse, NY