On Excising Babies and Land
On the question of abortion, Jewish Press Chief Editor Elliot Resnick correctly points out that Judaism supports the pro-life movement.
The justification for abortion is that a woman has the right to make decisions affecting her body. A woman, however, does not own her body; Hashem owns it. The baby born to her and her husband represents His gift of life.
In 1948, Hashem blessed Klal Yisrael with the birth of the modern state of Israel. Just like a baby, Eretz Yisrael is owned by G-d – not by President Trump and not by Prime Minister Netanyahu. The “deal of the century” proposes to perform an abortion on the Holy Land, cutting out the “heart”land of biblical Israel.
Rav Kook taught that the People of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Land of Israel are one. Just like you cannot refuse to grant automatic citizenship to a Jew who wants to make aliyah or cut out even one letter from the Torah, so too you cannot perform an abortion on even one inch of the Holy Land.
David Ferster
Daf Yomi – Accelerated Style
I had the zechus of attending the spectacular and inspiring Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium in January with my son and grandchildren. As it ended, they prevailed upon me to start Daf Yomi for the first time.
However, as a quite senior senior citizen, I found the prospect of doing one daf a day for seven and a half years very daunting and decided that an accelerated schedule would be more suitable for someone like me. Learning two dafim a day would mean finishing Shas in less than four years, and three dafim a day would mean finishing in two and a half years.
Since I am retired with no fixed commitments, I have many lulls in my schedule, both day and night. At these times, since I am on the computer anyway, I learn additional dafim to fill the void. In this manner, I have found myself able to easily do three or four dafim a day. I humorously call this system “Chap-A-Daf.”
I’m sure this habit can be very rewarding to others who wish to complete Shas in a shorter period of time. Chapping a daf is certainly much better than other ways of filling up one’s spare time, like aimlessly watching TV, reading, playing games and puzzles, etc.
And an added benefit is that it isn’t too late to join. Learn multiple dafim a day and you’ll be caught up in no time.
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, NJ
Protecting the Unborn
It warmed my heart to read Jewish Press Editor Elliot Resnick’s article, “Where Do Orthodox Jews stand on Abortion?” Many religious groups are fighting the war on abortion, but sadly, Jews – who of all people should be against the murder of innocent life – are not. In fact, many Jews champion abortion, which makes me terribly sad.
Resnick writes that Jews “don’t necessarily believe destroying a one-day old fetus is murder.” But that is just a lame excuse not to face the reality of abortion. A fetus is the beginning of human life. If we had been aborted as fetuses – and all of us were once fetuses – we would not be here today. In other words, we would have been murdered!
Abortion is a brutal procedure in which fetuses are dismembered. If it takes place after 20 weeks, the fetus feels pain. It’s time Jews stood up and spoke out against abortion like Catholics, evangelicals, and other religious groups. We are a moral people who believe in the sanctity of life.
We know we can’t count on Reform Jews to fight this most important issue, so it is up to Orthodox Jews to show the world that Jews are a moral people and will speak out against the murder of our most precious little ones. Over 60 million human lives have willfully and barbarically been taken over the last 50 years.
Barbara Alpern
Bernie Sanders Is Dangerous
Your editorial, “Taking a Good Look at Bernie Sanders,” was spot on. Sanders is every anti-Zionist zealot’s dream candidate and a clear and present danger to America, the Democratic Party, and world Jewry.
His announcement that he would boycott the AIPAC Conference because it hosts “leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights” was laughable. This same person spoke to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) alongside rabid anti-Semites whose idea of “Palestinian rights” begins with Jewicide. His campaign meanwhile is populated by anti-Semitic staffers and surrogates.
He calls Netanyahu a “racist” and accuses Israel of mistreating Palestinians, but sees no evil on the Left. He has praised Latin American dictators, such as Castro, Ortega, Maduro, and Morales; when young, he briefly stayed at a Stalinist kibbutz; and he and his bride spent their 1988 honeymoon in the Soviet Union.
If elected, he would wreck the American economy, and his campaign, and inevitable failed presidency, would almost certainly unleash an unprecedented anti-Semitic wave.
The implications for Israel are even more dire. On Jan. 21, 2021, a long national nightmare will have only just begun if Sanders becomes the first Jewish president.
Richard D. Wilkins
The Jew Coup
The op-ed by Jay Lakritz last month on Trump’s impeachment was right on target. The impeachment was, and will continue to be seen in the future, as a “Jew coup” as it was largely led and driven by Jews. I fear it will come back to haunt us.
Schiff, Nadler, Engel, and company – as well as all the Jewish senators who voted guilty on impeachment – should be shunned as real Jews. They were born Jewish, but no vestige or practice of Judaism remains with them. How sad.
These people are caught up in their leftist agenda and pursuit of power, but perhaps they should recall the example of Germany Jewry. German Jews attained the highest level of education and were heavily involved in German society. The saw themselves as Germans first and only then, reluctantly (perhaps even guiltily), as Jewish.
Then, with the stroke of a pen, they suddenly were no longer citizens of their beloved country. And when the moment of truth came, they were not spared from the trains. All the above politicians who carry water for liberal leftists would also have been told to report to the train station. They would not have been spared because of their loyalties to the cause.
Lessons are hard to learn, I guess.
Mendi
Brooklyn, NY
Heartless Schumer
Let it be known that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer was part of a group of Senate Democrats who on February 25 blocked a vote on a bill that would have required medical to be provided to babies who survive botched abortions.
I don’t know how anybody could be so inhumane as to not to want to save a newborn baby’s life. Ending innocent human life is not Jewish. Schumer is a disgrace and a stain on the Jewish people.
I hope when people go to the voting booth, they picture a baby gasping for air and remember that Schumer – a staunch pro-abortion politician – was so heartless that he couldn’t even find it in him to vote for a bill that would save that baby’s life.
Brad Kaufman
How Much Credit Should Lubavitch Get?
In his column a few weeks ago, Rabbi Shmuel Butman clarified that while the sixth and seventh Lubavitcher Rebbes may not have technically saved Orthodox Judaism in America, they did make it less anemic, more optimistic, and more halachically rigorous.
Rabbi Butman, however, once again shortchanges the efforts of others in his desire to praise those of the Lubavtcher Rebbes – which indeed were incredible (arguably revolutionary in terms of the shluchim network they launched). For example, Rabbi Butman writes:
“[The sixth Rebbe, who arrived in America in 1940,] filled the previous lack of Torah-true literature, for children and adults, with books and periodicals in English, Yiddish and Hebrew.”
But the Rebbe was hardly the first one to understand the importance of publishing Torah works for the masses. Some of the earliest books Lubavitch published were German novels by Rabbi Marcus Lehmann. But the first Lehmann novel published in America, Akiba, actually appeared in 1923!
Seven years earlier, in 1916, Rabbi S. H. Glick translated the entire Ein Yaakov into English, writing in the work’s preface that he did so to combat “the lack of religion [which] is, in great measure, due to ignorance.” Seventeen years before that, in 1899, Rabbi Bernard Drachman translated Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch’s seminal Nineteen Letters, into English. Of course, English siddurim and Chumashim had been translated long before that.
The Lubavitcher Rebbes undoubtedly accomplished a tremendous amount in America. But decades before they came, numerous Jewish leaders were working hard to strengthen Jewish observance in America. Their efforts should not be minimized.
Joshua Bernstein
Brooklyn, NY
Are Republicans Better?
Recently The Jewish Press published numerous letters on whether New York Jews should register as Democrats or Republicans. I find the arguments of most of those advocating for registering the Republicans refreshing, yet I wonder how many of them would hold the same views if they knew how many bills that they strongly oppose were unanimously supported by Republican politicians.
This past year, for example, New York State Senate unanimously (i.e., all Democrats and all Republicans) voted to include LGBT protections in New York’s constitution, which gives every left-wing court an open invitation to mandate anything from transgender showers to LGBT instruction in yeshivos.
I believe the wisest course of action is to register as Democrats – but that’s merely step one. Step two is to put forward, and then vote for, candidates who advocate for our values. The Jewish establishment, however, never does this. The few times we actually had a Democratic candidate who espoused our values, our leadership actively opposed them.
We must register as Democrats – not because we love them, but precisely because we hate them. There is a legend that Attila the Hun’s last wife married him with the intention of killing him in revenge for his having killed her family. If the legend is true, she obviously hid her hatred until their marriage.
We, too, must hate the Democrats so much that we bite on our hatred long enough to register as Democrats and then vote them and all the radicals out of office and put up candidates who are even better than the Republicans, effectively introducing a fifth column within.
Yonatan Teleky
New York, NY