Letters To The Editor - July 24, 2026

The Oldest Hatred

In reference to your recent article “The Rise of the DSA Is Terrifying, But It Also Has Something to Teach Us” by Rabbi Dr Tzvi Sinensky (July 10), I would like to relate my own personal experience.

Over 20 years ago, when I was employed at Chase Manhattan Bank as a vice president in the IT department, I was required to attend (along with all other senior managers) a class on diversity training. The instructor identified all the various “minorities” (including women) whom we needed to better understand and be more sensitized to their respective cultures and to the degrees of their being discriminated against. But guess which minority was totally ignored from his list?

After the class, I went over to the instructor and asked him why he did not include the Jewish people as also being a minority who have also been historically discriminated against. I will never forget his response. He looked at me and said, “You people are the establishment, you are in control – you do not need any protection.” Ironically, not long after that, a swastika was drawn on the walls of our office, and they never found who the culprit was. I left the bank soon after that.

Yes, antisemitism has been brewing here for a long time, and apparently it is only getting worse.

Josh Rosenthal

Queens N.Y.

Have Faith in G-d, Not Trump

The June 19 edition of The Jewish Press ran the question “Betrayal?” as its headline. The editorial goes on to describe President Trump’s framework for peace as a “catastrophic structural failure that repeats the very same fatal flaw of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.” Indeed, recent events confirm The Jewish Press’s prophetic analysis, as air strikes and the blockades of Iranian ports have resumed due to the unwillingness of the Iranian regime to accept President Trump’s terms of “surrender.”

Your June 26 editorial reminded us of the concept of hakaras hatov, the obligation to demonstrate gratitude and appreciation to those who help the Jewish nation. You pointed out that we might not be familiar with all the moving parts of American foreign policy. That being said, President Trump and America probably don’t understand all of the components of Jewish policy, which calculate far more than economic and geopolitical considerations.

The bottom line is that President Trump and “wannabe president” J.D. Vance are on record as stating that America First policy sometimes runs counter to Israeli/Jewish concerns.

Fifty-three years ago, during his campaign for prime minister, former Jewish Press columnist Rabbi Meir Kahane wrote about a similar choice in American foreign policy, as he compared America’s commitments to a free Southeast Asia with America’s commitments to Israel: “The fools reign today in America...They are thundering down the trail of isolationism, of coexistence... [Nixon], who knowingly signed away southeast Asia and American commitments, will be prepared to do the same to Israel tomorrow in response to pressure from the same fools who would rather buy peace for themselves than think of the sanity of Israeli retaliation and self-preservation... Let us not lean too heavily on the ‘broken reed’ that is any alliance with any nation.”

Yes, we need to thank President Trump profusely for every time he has executed actions which bless the Jews. At the same time, Am Yisrael needs to halt its dangerous “idol worship” of St. Donald. It is Hashem who is in charge. President Trump and America are being judged as to how they react when they have opportunities to bless the Jews in securing the Jewish state and its task to lead by example in its mission to spread Biblical morality worldwide.

There is no daylight between America and Israel – what’s good for the Jews is automatically good for an America historically nurtured by Biblical truths.

David Ferster

Great Neck, N.Y.

Remembering Jewish Soldiers from the Civil War

Dovid Hirsch’s article about the Jews who fought, funded, and supported the United States over the past 250 years (“The Forgotten Fighters: Jewish Soldiers of the American Revolution,” July 3) was very interesting.

I wanted to remind everyone about the 30 (yes, that number is correct) Jewish soldiers who are buried in the Soldiers’ Section of the Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. In 2006, the cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. These men were killed in action, fighting for the Confederacy, during the War of Northern Aggression.

A common practice at the time was for the soldiers to write their names on a piece of paper and put it in a pocket of their clothing. There was no way to contact their families, so the Chevra Kadisha of Richmond took it upon themselves to give these Yiddisher bochrim a Jewish burial. My rabbi gave me permission to keep them in mind when I say Kaddish and/or Yizkor, since there is nobody else to say those prayers for them. Their graves are still maintained to this day by Congregation Beth Ahaba. While people may argue over the causes of the war, every Jew deserves a Jewish burial and to have someone say Kaddish and Yizkor for their neshamot.

Harold Rose

Via Email