Rabbi Tendler’s Calming Wisdom
My husband is a musmach of Yeshiva University, and therefore had the z’chut of learning in classes given by Rabbi Tendler, zt”l (Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dovid Tendler, Pioneered Modern Medical Halacha, Oct. 8). Decades before there were support groups for couples enduring infertility issues, we had consulted with Rabbi Tendler, who was the only person who was capable of setting my mind at ease and of offering me hope.
Quoting Rav Moshe, zt’l, he calmly related the following piece of wisdom: “My shver believes that it takes four years to settle into marriage. If after that period of time elapses and you still need to ask for guidance, then you should consult with Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt’l.
We have lost so many outstanding rabbonim and poskim over the past few years.
The pain and sense of feeling orphaned, is overwhelming.
May Hashem yisborach have rachmonus on us and bring the Ge’ulah Shleimah now!
Penina Metal
Suffern, NY
Eyes, not iPads
I was touched by the article “The Social Benefits of Eye Contact” by Dr. Chani Miller (Oct. 15), since I recognize that eye contact between people is crucial. A person’s eyes have a language all their own. In Othello, Shakespeare wrote, “For she had eyes and chose me.” Soft eyes can show love while blazing eyes indicate anger. I agree with the author that meaningful conversations occur when people look at each other, not at their phones or iPads.
Reva Luxenberg
Delray Beach, FL
Appreciating Halachic Clarity
Rabbi Ari Enkin’s article on the issur and parameters of exercise on Shabbos was an example of a halachic topic that many people know is assur but don’t know why (“Exercise on Shabbat,” Oct. 22). Rabbi Enkin did a masterful job of laying out all the halachic issues, all supported with sources – 19 of them to be exact. All of Rabbi Enkin’s articles are well written and speak to people at all levels of learning. They allow the reader to look up the sources in the original and sum up the sources clearly and accurately. It is one of my favorite parts of The Jewish Press, and I look forward to seeing what issue Rabbi Enkin will be dealing with each week.
Rabbi Shlomo Litwack
Chicago, IL
Learning From the Holocaust
I recently read the fine article by Jonathan Tobin about teaching the Holocaust (“Some Ideas Must Be Debated, But Not Historical Facts,” Oct. 22). I have taught in public school and yeshiva concomitantly for about a half century. I even originated a Holocaust course in the public high school, which I taught. Not once was I ever cautioned about the methods or materials I used to teach public high school students about the Holocaust. I even shared my teaching methods with other public school teachers.
This was not true about teaching the Holocaust to high school juniors in a yeshiva. I was cautioned several times about upsetting the girls with the disturbing behavior of the Nazis, not just by some parents but by principals and a school psychologist. The award-winning film, Genocide, put out by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was banned from my class because it made girls cry and made others too anxious. An exercise showing how Hitler operated and putting students into the position of making choices that Jews had to make in Nazi Europe was too frightening for my yeshiva students but not for my public high school students.
I often wonder just how the Holocaust is taught in yeshivas. Do students actually understand the connection between this and a safe haven for Jews today? I think the Jews of Israel do not have to be reminded about the Holocaust as much as the people outside the Promised Land. They live with the threat of annihilation every day, no matter who governs Israel. To avoid another Holocaust is to understand that Hashem expects us to learn from past experiences.
To avoid or to minimize the lessons of the Holocaust is lack appreciation for the Jews who live and protect the land that G-d promised to us. Many Jews have no problem living and learning in cities outside Israel, never questioning the right to live in those cities. Read Lech Lecha and the lessons of the Holocaust. Do you really think that having Israel today is a matter of serendipity and not the hand of G-d?
Joel M. Glazer
Elizabeth, NJ
World, Heal Thyself
When Russia returns the Japanese northern islands, and China stops persecuting its western Muslims, and the Taliban elevate a female leader of Golda’s stature, and Lebanon regains its long-lost stability, and the center holds in America, then and only then should anyone, let alone from our people, listen to world leaders focusing on Israel’s internal affairs to the exclusion of the aforementioned concerns.
Ed Yitshaq Levenson
Oaxaca, Mexico
Crimes Against Humanity Okay with Them
Anti-Israel activists should ask themselves why they’re fine with at least 45 Muslim theocratic governments but have a problem with one Jewish democratic government. The Muslim theocracies include such notorious human rights violators as Iran, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, they refuse to accept the lone Jewish state? I think it is anti-Semitic bigotry.
They should also ask themselves why they are so upset by Palestinian deaths when the terrorists began the fighting while Israel is a peace-loving, true democracy.
China, which is a dictatorship that commits heinous offenses, is also ignored by the anti-Israel activists. Currently, China is now carrying out crimes against humanity in both Xinjiang and Tibet. In those areas Beijing is trying to erase an entire culture and religion. Yet there is no BDS movement targeting China.
Charles Winfield
Princeton, NJ