JP Overly Obsequious
To Trump
The Jewish Press newspaper glorifies President Trump as a godsend. The only issue that you care about is Israel, forgetting that Hashem protects Israel and only him. You don’t care if illegal immigrants are treated as garbage when we Jews have been in their shoes trying to escape the Nazis. This was in the 1930s when the National Origins Act put in strict limitations on our people coming to this country.
You go along with his lies that he was unfairly prosecuted by the Justice departments of New York and Washington, D.C.
You treat him like he is a king and not subject to the Constitution. According to this newspaper, it seems, he can do anything he wants – whether legal or not.
Dory Frank
Los Angeles, Calif.
Moving Past January 6
Regarding “ADL Should Not Be Defaming Trump,” by Martin Oliner (opeds, Jan. 31):
Under normal circumstances, it would have been appropriate for President Trump to have dealt with the jailed January 6 protesters individually (and leave the violent ones behind bars). But these are not normal circumstances.
The mess left by the previous administration is enormous and requires more attention than do the Jan. 6 protesters. The number of crooks and terrorists being released into American society through our border with Mexico is of far greater importance and priority than this clemency matter.
Given the havoc inherited by President Trump both domestically and internationally, the most appropriate course of action for him was not to spend too much time on the Jan. 6 issue and simply move on. His release of the jailed protestors was the best course of action under the circumstances.
David Balsam
Brooklyn, N.Y.
If You Have a Cold,
Please Stay Home!
Last Friday night I finally had a chance to daven at a local synagogue I’ve been meaning to attend for awhile. I got to the synagogue very early when no one was there yet. The first person to enter after me was the rabbi with whom I had a chance to exchange some pleasantries.
What was not so pleasant about the experience, however, was that once the synagogue was full, a gentleman sat down next to me and started coughing and sneezing. At that point, it was too late to change seats since there were virtually no seats available.
Unfortunately, a few days later I came down with the flu. I mention this incident for a very simple reason. During this time of the year, when many people get sick, it is respectfully suggested that, as important as going to synagogue is, it is just as important to respect your fellow human being. I’m sure many rabbis would agree, and rule that it’s preferable not to go to synagogue when one is sick and likely to get other people sick.
Barry Schwartz
Brooklyn, N.Y.
[Editor’s note: This letter from Mr. Schwartz reminded us of an Is It Proper column back in late 2022, addressing the question: “Is It Proper for a Person with a Bad Cold or Virus to Daven with a Minyan?” Readers can find the responses on our website by Googling “Is it proper to go to shul while sick.”]
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Foresight
Thank you so much, Jewish Press, for helping spread words of Torah when they are so desperately needed now and for providing chizuk to the Jewish people.
At this point in time, moving forward, it behooves the government of Israel to follow the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that he stated often to Israeli officials. These are words of Torah and it has been disastrous that Israel has not followed them.
The Rebbe said to an Israeli official about their policies: “You are mistaken when you arrest and imprison terrorists. These terrorists came to kill and they should be killed. You’re going to end up paying dearly when they demand the release of these killers in a prisoner exchange.”
Jewish people need to understand that the safety and security of Eretz Yisrael relies on our inherent Jewish values and, in particular, following halacha. The Lubavitcher Rebbe stresses that the custom of the Jewish nation has been that a five-year-old begins studying the Five Books of Moses. This means that Rashi’s following words are directed to the Children of Israel beginning at age five: “If the nations of the world should say to the Jews ‘You are thieves, for you have conquered the land of the seven nations,’ the Children of Israel should answer them: ‘The whole world belongs to the Holy One; at will He gave it to them, and at will He took it from them and gave it to us.’”
So, you see, the Rebbe does not encourage political or rational arguments. The Rebbe encourages the direct words of the Torah. “When the Jewish people will trust in G-d and proudly proclaim to the world that G-d gave the land of Israel to us, no one will object and war won’t be necessary” (Likkutei Sichos vol. 34 p. 8).
The Rebbe also stresses that according to Torah law, it is mandatory to have a strong military on the borders of Eretz Yisrael and that it is dangerous for Jews everywhere, G-d forbid, to even discuss giving parts of the land away. The land of Israel was gifted to us from the Creator and we cannot give a gift from Hashem away. There can be no more misjudgments. Gaza was unfortunately given to people who hate Jews with a passion. They used the gift Hashem had given to us to slaughter our people.
When the Jewish people all around the world state this wisdom emphatically and don’t rest until the Israeli government listens, Mashiach may just come and end world evil.
I am not a Zionist, but a Mashiachist (in the sense of awaiting his arrival, not pinning my hopes on the Rebbe himself being Mashiach) – my baalas teshuva journey was in the early 90s when the Rebbe spoke every night about Mashiach and geulah (as I share in my memoir, G-d Said What?! #MyOrthodoxLife). It is daily that I look forward to Mashiach’s arrival and the complete and full geulah.
Thank you.
Miriam Racquel Feldman
Via E-mail
The Health Crisis
In Our Communities
I am writing this letter out of deep concern for the Orthodox Jewish communities who have been deeply infiltrated by the ultra-processed food and medical industries. The Ozempic and Wegovy weight-loss drugs have apparently taken these communities by storm, and it is deeply disturbing on several notes.
Frum communities put a big emphasis on food, including Shabbosim, Yomim Tovim, and simchas, as well as rewarding children for the long hours they spend in yeshivas. When my mother was a little girl growing up on a tiny farm in Poland, her parents grew all of their food and so everything was basically organic. Growing up as a child in the sixties in Brooklyn, despite the faulty food pyramid, you still didn’t have the ultra-processed and bio-engineered food that is available throughout most supermarkets today, including – sadly – the kosher ones.
Nor did you have the huge numbers of medications being promoted to men, women, and children. Back then it was illegal to advertise medical drugs on television. It only became legal in the late eighties and today the medical establishment practically owns the television stations, advertising drugs non-stop throughout the day. These drugs are promoted in newspapers and magazines as well as Jewish publications en masse. No wonder obesity, diabetes, and other autoimmune diseases are rampant in our communities. It is a vicious cycle, as the foods that are now being promoted cause all kinds of disease for which doctors promote a pill which causes side effects for which doctors promote more drugs.
As a retired school psychologist, I saw this pattern as well when it came to drugging children with psychotropics. Growing up in the sixties, these things were unheard of, but as a psychologist in the nineties and onward it became all too common to drug children to get them to be compliant. These drugs also caused side effects and it became not uncommon to have children put on several different brain-altering drugs to control behaviors. Sadly today, despite the rush to put so many millions of children on these drugs, our kids are more depressed and unfocused than ever before and lack the skills they need to cope in life. Many of these drugs also cause side effects such as obesity, depression, mood swings, fatigue, etc.
The latest craze to promote injecting drugs into the abdomen to lose weight, under the guise of “wellness,” is deeply disturbing, as these drugs are relatively new and reportedly have dangerous side effects, from cancers to kidney failure to depression to suicidal ideation, to name a few. In addition, just like the psychotropic drugs, they do nothing to really teach our population self-control and discipline when it comes to eating healthy, exercising, and developing good lifestyle habits. They also are extremely expensive, and at more than $1,000 a month per patient, the costs under Medicaid and Medicare will be a terrible, unsustainable burden on taxpayers.
A much better common-sense and healthier approach would be to pressure our kosher supermarkets to carry healthier alternatives and get rid of the ultra-processed foods and seed oils that line their shelves. In fact, I challenge the kosher industry to get involved to make this happen and to work with RFK Jr., who will hopefully get confirmed to President Trump’s cabinet soon. Promoting exercise and healthy foods in our local yeshivas would be a nice start as well. Having classes that study the teachings of the Rambam on nutrition would be great too.
Being pro-active and practicing prevention is a much better alternative than the cycle of eating unhealthy, ultra-processed foods while taking drugs with lots of side effects. Remember that Jewish communities, particularly the Orthodox ones, are extremely small and we want to make sure we all grow up healthy and strong. Our children are our future. With Hashem’s help let’s make that a reality!
Rebecca Chesner
Via E-mail
