Brooklyn Dodger Fan Weighs In
To Irwin Cohen – First off I want to thank you for making my Shabbos brighter and happier after reading your article in The Jewish Press (Jan. 21). I always enjoy reading your “Baseball Insider” columns but your coverage of Gil Hodges, his career, and his finally being enshrined in the Hall Of Fame was particularly poignant for me. Of course I am a Brooklyn Dodger fan for life, and like many other Brooklyn fans, lost interest in baseball after O’Malley’s abandonment of Brooklyn. As you mentioned in your article, Gil was one of the kindest and nicest players to ever wear a baseball uniform. Pee Wee Reese himself once said that if he had a son he would want him to grow up like Gil Hodges. I couldn’t agree with you more when you stated that his admission into the HOF was decades late in coming, but I take some solace in knowing that his wife Joan is still alive and will witness this glorious event. No doubt that this old Bums fan will be emotional and tearful when he sees another Brooklyn Dodger player enter the HOF.
Now let’s work on getting Carl Furillo admitted too. Wouldn’t that be something?
Jerry Gerstman
Via email
We Must Care For the Survivors
Bernard Mintz’s “Reflections of a Second Generation” (Jan. 21) resonated with me – the daughter and daughter-in-law of four Holocaust survivors, z”l. Like him, my husband and I mourn the absence of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who perished. It is a true miracle of human resilience that our parents,or anyone who lived through the Shoah, could go on to lovingly raise children and lead productive lives. Mr. Mintz urges us to make sure that information about the Holocaust is known and remembered by generations to come. Agreed. However, the urgent and most pressing need right now is that we care for the thousands of remaining Holocaust survivors, some 30-40 percent of whom live at or below the poverty line here and in Israel. I urge readers to support organizations like UJA-Federation’s Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors that are providing vital social services to Holocaust survivors. We owe these frail, elderly survivors nothing less than the ability to live (ad meah v’esrim) with dignity, in the warm embrace of a caring Jewish community. Let us never forget them.That is how we, the second generation, can best honor our parents and the memory of the six million.
Susan Scharf Glick
New Rochelle, NY
Lesson of the Holocaust
January 27 marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a date designated by the United Nations to honor the memory of Europe’s Jews, who were targeted for annihilation. (See “International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” Jan. 21) Evil and unwarranted hatred are a reality that exists in our world. The human being has an infinite capacity for evil that left unchecked can destroy the world.
The Torah itself tells us that the “impulse of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21). Man is not born good. He has to become good by forging his character, by bending his baser instincts, by learning that there is another beside him and an Other above him. The Holocaust shows what can become of human beings when they permit the beast within them to control them. It teaches us that we must be alert to the existence of evil, both in others and in our own selves. Once we are aware of its reality, we can work to uproot it. The mitzvot of the Torah are designed to help the spiritual qualities within us dominate the beast within.
Further, we learn from the Holocaust that to be silent in the face of evil is to acquiesce in it, encourage it, and help it grow strong. History teaches us that evil triumphs when good people remain silent. But when good people rise up against evil, evil will ultimately perish and the good will prevail.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Via email
Soviet Recognition of Israel
Rabbi Hanoch Teller’s “The 29th of November And Its Aftermath” column was both fascinating and enlightening (Jan 21). One clarification: “Harry Truman … being the first to recognize the new State of Israel” should state “Harry Truman … being the first to publicly recognize the new State of Israel.” The Soviet Union had already decided to recognize the new State of Israel but had not made a public announcement. In fact, President Truman was aware of the Soviet Union’s decision and wanted to U.S.’s recognition to be known first.
Sheldon L. Freilich
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Cuomo’s and de Blasio’s Orthodox Appointees
Your editorial on Mayor Eric Adams’s Orthodox Appointments (Jan. 14) was not entirely accurate in its description of former governor Andrew Cuomo and previous mayor Bill de Blasio “lacking Orthodox Jews in senior positions.” Both of them had Orthodox liaisons tasked with outreach to the community. On the state level, Dovid Lobl and later Jake Adler coordinated Cuomo’s visits to Israel, meetings with prominent rabbis, and relaying the concerns of community leaders.
At City Hall, Avi Fink and Pinny Ringel represented the mayor at Orthodox functions and connected him to leaders and organizations that serve the community. To ignore their work and write that there was “an unmistakable slap at our community” is to dismiss the work of these experienced staffers.
With their former employers no longer in office, Adler remains as a liaison for Gov. Kathy Hochul, while Fink and Ringel have moved on to work in meaningful positions at city agencies. They deserve success in their new positions and I hope that they will serve well for our community.
Sergey Kadinsky
Via email
A Genuine Murder At the Plaza
Your running series, “Murder at the Plaza,” caught my eye right away when I first saw it. My family was celebrating our son’s bar mitzvah at the Kotel. One of our guests who lived in Israel gave a speech about how safe it was. We were staying at the Plaza in Jerusalem and everyone went back to the hotel, but I was the last one to return. Upon my return I saw dozens of charedim stream into the hotel lobby and thought that it was strange and perhaps they were going to demonstrate about something. It turns out that a charedi Jew was murdered in one of the rooms. He was a book dealer and had met one of his clients in his room and had a cup of tea with him. Apparently they had a dispute and the customer (who happened to be Arab) poisoned his tea and he died. The charedim were there to see that the murdered Jew was properly taken care of.
This truly was murder at the Plaza.
William Stern
Scarsdale, NY