New Year’s Is Not Our Holiday
I was very interested to read Rabbi Michael J. Broyde’s article, “May Orthodox Jews Mark New Year’s Day?” (Jan. 3), since this is a question I have always wondered about. Rabbi Broyde analyzed the issue from a halachic rather than a “hashkafic” perspective, and without impugning his scholarship, I have to take issue with how easily he dismissed the Christian foundation of New Year’s.
Rabbi Broyde wrote that the holiday “seems to have completely lost its Christian overtone.” This may be true for most of the revelers in Times Square and at many parties across the country, but I’m not sure that the same can be said for the millions of religious Christians of various denominations – who are easy to discount as a minority because they are concentrated in different areas of the U.S. than the major Orthodox Jewish communities.
Besides, whether it’s technically “permitted” or not, I don’t see why frum Jews should voluntarily celebrate New Year’s on January 1 when we have our own, very meaningful Jewish New Year. At the very least, I would think that making or attending a New Year’s party should be considered chukat hagoyim, which was not discussed in the article.
Cohen
Los Angeles, CA
Israel’s Tiny Size Masks Its Large Casualty Tolls
By any metric, Israel’s performance in its war with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and now the Houthis has been brilliant, even miraculous, with “relatively” low casualty tolls (“There Are Miracles And There Are Miracles,” Dec. 18). However, Israel is a tiny country whose population is measured in the millions, compared to a country like the United States whose population is measured in the hundreds of millions. This disparity masks a difference between the apparently low casualty numbers suffered by Israel and the real burden relative to its population. A few examples will illustrate this.
In the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which plunged America into World War II, America had a population of about 130 million at the time, and suffered about 3,000 deaths. On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, with a population of about 10 million, killed 1,200 souls and took 250 hostages. If one adjusts Israel’s population to that of America’s in 1941, the comparable tolls would be 15,600 deaths and 3,250 hostages. That is a huge cost.
Similarly, in the 9-11 attack on New York’s World Trade Center in 2001, there were almost 3,000 deaths out of an American population at that time of 280 million. Here too, adjusting Israel’s casualty tolls on October 7 to America’s population in 2001 would amount to 33,600 deaths and 7,000 hostages. An enormous cost.
When we consider Israeli wars, we have to bear in mind that it is a tiny country, and we have to readjust our mindset when looking at casualty tolls to reflect that fact. We have to appreciate that casualty tolls for the State of Israel inflict a much greater burden than the same numbers in much larger countries like the United States.
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, N.J.
From Carter To Biden, Israel’s Fake Friends In The White House
Former president Jimmy Carter has passed away and the tributes are coming in. May the man rest in peace, but why the tributes? What accomplishments? Truthfully, none. Inflation, malaise (his word), and a debacle in Iran. American hostages held for 444 days and released on the day of president Reagan’s inauguration.
Regarding his stance on the Middle East, while running for the presidency, a champion for Israel and critical of president Gerald Ford for “squeezing concessions from Israel.” As president, Carter brokered a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, but outdid Ford on pressuring Israel, not Egypt. In later years, he had the lying gall to refer to Israel as an “apartheid state.” Some friend.
Donald Trump, in his first term, was the greatest friend Israel had ever had in the White House, bar none. The U.S. State Department had, for many years, an antisemitic and anti-Israel posture, which Trump quickly and decisively ended. His recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights sent a message to the entire Middle East and the world that Israel is our ally and we do things for our allies. Transfer of weapons, munitions, vehicles, aircraft, and more became routine. Trump confronted Palestinian Authority leader Abbas, calling out his lies.
And then came Joe Biden, a friend and supporter of Israel when it was easy, as a U.S. senator. As vice-president, he had little choice but to follow Barack Obama’s open hostility to Israel and P.M. Netanyahu. As president, sadly, he followed the suggestions and urgings of the “deep state” of Obama’s people still in the White House – to Israel’s detriment. After October 7’s orgy of murder, rape, infanticide, and hostage-taking, Biden should have supported Israel’s response, but he immediately fell into an abyss of “seeing both sides” (the Obama effect) and threatening Israel with sanctions and slowing down shipments of critical military hardware.
Since Kamala Harris lost the presidential race, there’s no point in rehashing her flip-flops on Israel from her senate seat to her vice-presidency to her run for the top job. In the final analysis, she was no friend, no dependable ally, just another hack, saying what the Obama team dictated.
And now, Trump will return and every member of both U.S. political parties knows exactly where he’ll stand. I can only speak for myself, but I couldn’t possibly be happier and more encouraged to welcome January 20 as a great day for Israel and the United States of America.
Myron Hecker
Via E-mail
