Tucson Kollel Welcomed
Thank you for the kind article, “Tucson Torah Center,” by Judy Waldman (Feb. 23). The article focuses on a new Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva-affiliated kollel. It is worth adding that this is the alma mater of Rabbi Yisroel Becker. Rabbi Becker has been in Tucson for 47 years as a well-respected and beloved rav whose inroads toward building Jewish spirit and life has been invaluable and greatly appreciated. Thank you, Rabbi Yisroel Becker, and we look forward to working together to serve the Jews of Tucson.
Yehuda Palgon
Via Email
A Long History in Tucson
I would like to respond to the February 23 article, “Tucson Torah Center,” by Judy Waldman.
In addition to the Reform and Conservative communities in Tucson, there has been a long-standing Orthodox presence in the city. Besides the Young Israel, which was founded over 60 years ago and the Chabad centers, there has also been a long-standing Chofetz Chaim community in Tucson.
Your article ignored the long and rich history of Chofetz Chaim in Tucson, while only mentioning the new Chofetz Chaim kollel.
I am proud to be one of the founding members of the Chofetz Chaim community in Tucson. My parents were instrumental in bringing Rabbi Israel Becker to Tucson in the late 1970s. We were active in the community as the shul grew from a small storefront to a house, and then to its own building on 5th Street. Although I now proudly live in Israel, I am still in touch with Rabbi Becker. His shul is still strong and vibrant and serves as a bastion of Orthodoxy in the community.
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Rabbi Israel Becker and his wife and family for all the work that they did and continue to do to lead a strong, vibrant Orthodox Chofetz Chaim community in Tucson. On behalf of the Orthodox community and (and those who “graduated” and moved on), thank you.
Ophir Chernin
Via Email
Reader ‘Remembers When…’
Arnold Fine’s, z”l, column in your issue of February 16 really hit home for me. Growing up, I lived across the street from the shul he wrote about. My bar mitzvah was held in that shul. Many years ago, we drove down Nelson Avenue and stopped in front of the building, which looked the same as when I was growing up.
Thank you for re-publishing this column and bringing back memories of my Bronx days.
Leonard Farbowitz
Boca Raton, Fla.
Tobin’s Warning Should Be Heeded
Jonathan S. Tobin’s Op Ed (Feb. 23) in The Jewish Press brought attention to an inarguable justification for the war in Gaza. 1,200 Jews were barbarically slaughtered and hundreds more were kidnapped. Rape and torture and indescribable atrocities were committed against our people. But as Mr. Tobin illustrates, this war is not just about response to terror, it is also about allowing Israelis to once again return to and live in their homes in the South and in the North, safe from the rockets and missiles of Hamas and Hezbollah. As Tobin reminds us, “They can’t go home until the terrorist threat at both borders is eliminated.”
In addition, for years Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and in fact most of Israel were under constant threat of attack, with populations running to bomb shelters within minutes of each ominous alarm.
Tobin goes on to warn us that the barbarism of October 7 “was intended as a trailer for what Hamas – and the majority of the Palestinian population that supported and still supports those actions – intends to do to the rest of Israel.”
In the same issue, Mike Wagenheim reports that the United States is proposing a draft to the UN Security Council that “condemns calls by Israeli ministers to resettle Gaza or relocate the population there.”
The Jewish state must categorically reject such ill-conceived advice which is anathema to Torah teachings. Liberating additional parts of Eretz Yisrael from enemy occupation is the only way to guarantee real peace. A non-Jew can live in Eretz Yisrael only if he/she recognizes Jewish sovereignty. This is Jewish law and it’s also common sense.
We are reminded by our rabbis:
“And you shall drive out the inhabitants and then you shall inherit it, you will be able to exist in it. And if you do not, you will not be able to exist in it” (Rashi).
“When you shall eliminate the inhabitants of the land, then you shall be privileged to inherit the land and pass it down to your children. But if you do not eliminate them, even though you will conquer the land you will not be privileged to hand it down to your children” (Sforno).
As Tobin points out, “Israelis…understand that they could have just as easily found themselves the prey of Hamas murderers hunting for Jews to torment and kill on that terrible day.”
The alternative is to never feel safe driving the roads in the heartland of biblical Israel or even walking the streets of Tel Aviv.
David Ferster
Great Neck, N.Y.
American Distortions
When the Hamas war broke out on October 7, Barack Obama tweeted that “all Americans should be horrified and outraged by the brazen terrorist attacks on Israel and the slaughter of innocent civilians,” adding that America must “stand squarely alongside our ally, Israel, as it dismantles Hamas.”
However, in a later interview, the former president attempted to draw moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, saying that “what Hamas did was horrific, and there is no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation, and what’s happening to Palestinians, is unbearable.”
Obama ignored the fact that since 2005 when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, the Gaza government has acted as an independent nation. When Hamas took control, in 2007, they killed the representatives of the Palestinian Authority, many by defenestration (throwing them out of windows in tall buildings). Until the war began with Israel in October, there were no Israelis left in Gaza. Even the graves of Israelis have been relocated to cemeteries inside Israel.
News outlets like The New York Times, CNN and others are quoting anonymous administration officials who suggest that Biden and his team are angered by Israeli war conduct. A Times article claimed that “U.S. officials gave the Israelis suggestions that they could reduce civilian casualties. However, according to a Channel 13 Israeli television report, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told Blinken during a meeting that adhering to the advice of American generals would cause “more casualties.”
It seems the Biden Administration is looking short-term and focused on the immediate reduction of violence prior to the November election. The Israeli administration is looking-term and focused on eliminating terrorism for good.
Charles Winfield
Princeton, N.J.
