Letters To The Editor - July 17, 2026

Jewish Pride at Yankee Stadium

As the son of Holocaust survivors, I found The Jewish Press’s front-page photograph of Holocaust survivor Sally Muschel at Yankee Stadium to be very inspiring (“Holocaust Survivor Is the True MVP at Yankee Stadium,” July 10). Unlike the New York Mets who shamelessly canceled the celebration of Jewish Heritage Day at their ballpark, the New York Yankees refused to submit to antisemites and saw fit to honor a Holocaust survivor and her Jewish heritage. Kudos to the Yankees for standing with Mrs. Muschel and the Jewish people.

Gerald Jacobs

Boca Raton, Fla.

It Can Be Done: A Chareidi Hesder Yeshiva

“Shall you sit and your brothers go to war?” I found these very words in the Torah reading this past Shabbat, and it made me very proud of this exceptional article by Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer (“Shall Your Brothers Go to War While You Sit Here?” July 10). I cried as I read his article and I feel the pain of both sides, as he does.

I am the grandmother of six soldiers who went to war on October 7. And their tours of duty lasted long after they should have. It hurts when these boys have to do longer months of service and some of the yeshiva boys go out demonstrating and then take a break/vacation after Tisha b’Av.

Of course, it isn’t only the chareidim who are called to task – it is also the bums of some large cities. I can’t do anything about them, but I do know of a very special alternative for chareidi young men, who really are not able to learn yomam v’layla (day and night).

Twelve years ago, Rabbi Karmi Gross opened the first chareidi hesder yeshiva with eight boys. It has grown to over one thousand young men and is recognized by the army. Bais Medrash Derech Chaim now has three campuses in different parts of the country. There is very serious learning taking place in these batei medrash and a huge thank you goes to Rabbi Gross for this undertaking.

If any readers of The Jewish Press have family in Israel who would like to contact Rabbi Gross about this yeshiva, his email address is: rkigross@gmail.com.

I really hope that this and other alternatives work because the country is being torn apart.

Sara Goldberg

Jerusalem

Meaningful Numbers

Shalom, Mr. Chernofsky!I very much appreciated the mussar haskel that you presented at the end of your “Torah by the Numbers” column for Parshat Korach (June 19) – that any mitzvah we perform should prompt us to remember all of the mitzvot and commit us to keeping them.

Yasher ko’ach!

And as a more general comment, I very much enjoy your articles each week (I do happen to be a “numbers person” who loves math); in fact, I save your articles. And I do hope that you will continue to write them. In fact, I think that you should publish a sefer that includes them!

With very best wishes and much gratitude,

Nora Laiken

California