Reflections on Tisha B’Av
After watching the Tisha B’Av programs on OU, Aish, and Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation virtually non-stop all afternoon, one question comes to mind. What right does the world have to sit in judgment on Israel?
Israel didn’t firebomb Dresden or Tokyo or drop atomic bombs on Japan. Israel doesn’t use its civilians as human shields by hiding weapons and terrorists in schools, hospitals, and houses of worship. The IDF even risks the lives of its own soldiers to protect Palestinian civilians, most of whom voted for Hamas and approved the October 7 massacre, by telegraphing its bombing targets, so as to achieve the lowest rate of civilian to combatant casualties in the history of urban warfare.
It is a long-standing principle in Judaism not to criticize someone for doing the same thing as you are, and all the more here when it is strictly what psychiatrists call projection, falsely accusing someone else of your own wrongdoing.
Richard Kronenfeld
Phoenix, Ariz.
It’s The Forward’s Fault
Letter writer Myron Hecker ponders the loyalty of America’s Jews to the Democratic Party (Letters, Aug 16).
Some history. The Jewish Daily Forward began in 1897 – Yiddish language newspaper founded by Socialists. By the early 1930s, its circulation was 275,000. Even though it was written in Yiddish in an English speaking country, it molded American Jewish thought. On November 1, 1936, the Forward, in a front page editorial, gave Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party its endorsement as the protector of America’s Jewish people. That endorsement endures to this day.
Yes, it is now religion. Taken not on fact, but on faith.
Alan Lewis
Fair Lawn, N.J.
How To Keep Social Security
And Medicare Solvent
“Trump’s Rhetoric Vs Harris’s Policies” (Caroline B. Glick, www.JewishPress.com, Aug. 11) overlooked the fact that Social Security turned 89 on Friday, August 16. Both the Old-Age and Survivors Trust (OASI) and Disability Trust Fund (DI) are projected to be depleted within 10 years. Medicare will do the same by 2031. After those dates are reached, benefits under both SSI and Medicare recipients may have to be cut.
Here is a reasonable alternative to keep both SSI and Medicare solvent for decades more. Raise retirement age eligibility by one month each year starting in 2024 over twelve years. In 2036, you would have to be 63 years old to start collecting, 67 and a half for full benefits or 73 for maximum benefits. The current payroll withholding tax is 6.2% each for employees and employers for a total of 12.4 %. Starting in 2024, raise each by .10%. Within ten years, the total payroll withholdings will be 14.4%.
Both actions should preserve financial solvency for SSI and Medicare. As a majority of Americans continue to live longer, this is the best deal for all.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
