Letters to the Editor - October 16, 2026

Torah im Derech Eretz Thrives Among Modern Orthodox

Rabbi Sam Millunchik, in his article “How to Make Torah Learning Work for Professionals” (Sept. 25), made several suggestions to bolster Modern Orthodoxy’s approach to learning. While his points do have merit, it must be understood that the weltanschauung of Modern Orthodoxy is different than the chareidi model. For chareidim, learning is an end unto itself, with the goal, as the author himself stated, being to produce poskim. In contrast, the Modern Orthodox paradigm is in line with the dictum of Rabban Gamliel in Pirkei Avos 2:2, “Great is the study of Torah when it is augmented with a worldly occupation.”

To that end, this branch has produced hundreds of thousands of dedicated professionals who are also kove’a itim la-Torah. Finally, Modern Orthodoxy is credited with developing the hesder system, in which young men are immersed in Torah study but then pick up arms to defend their brethren in the Holy Land, and in my humble opinion, they do not take a back seat to anyone.

Yaakov Stern

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Attention Trump-Haters: Kamala Would Have Been Much Worse

Re: Marc Goldfeder’s Perspectives Column, “Mamdani’s ‘New’ Antisemitism Plan is Adams’ with the Israel Pages Torn Out,” Oct. 9: The relentless barrage of Jew- and Israel-hatred spewed by the far-left, radical socialist Mayor Mamdani, who seems more interested in fighting Netanyahu in Israel than crime in NYC, becomes especially important with the upcoming midterm elections.

These days, most elections at any level usually turn out to be a referendum on Donald Trump. However, a more important question today is whether Jews in America or Israel, and Americans in general, would be better off if Kamala Harris and her radical Democratic Party had won the 2024 Presidential election. That election was not a simple choice of casting a vote for or against Trump. It was a contest in which the electorate had to choose between voting either for Trump and the Republicans, or for Kamala Harris and the Democrats.

Today’s Democratic Party is dominated by the likes of AOC, Ilhan Omar and the rest of the “Squad,” Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Zohran Mamdani – all receiving massive funding from George Soros and Muslim sources, and emboldened by overt, cheerleading media support. One has to be honest in answering the question of whether we would now be better off under Kamala Harris rather than Trump.

Merely criticizing Trump for all the ills of the world is only telling one side of a story while leaving out the other side. This always makes for a convincing argument, but it is a flawed one. We must ask ourselves what Kamala Harris and the Democrats would have done for Jews in particular and Americans in general to secure the border, fight crime in inner cities, combat the degeneration of academia and the explosion of Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred globally, help Israel in its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah, and handle Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear and long-range missile programs.

One may make a good case that Trump is far from perfect, and his policies may not all have been completely successful. But would we really be better off now under a Kamala Harris-led, far-left socialist, Islamist-infused, anti-American, antisemitic, and anti-Israel regime? That is the real question.

Max Wisotsky

Highland Park, N.J.

Israel’s Enemies Don’t Learn Their Lesson

At last week’s rally, Palestinian activists shouted that October 7 “was not the beginning.” They’re 100% correct. Israel has been attacked relentlessly since 1948. It’s high time Israel struck back hard in a way that, as Netanyahu put it, its enemies will remember for generations.

They always cite the stats of how many Palestinians have been killed. War isn’t about reaching equal body counts. For Israel, it’s a fight for its existence.

Israel’s enemies couldn’t beat it when its “air force” consisted of a bunch of ragtag crop-dusters. How mindless of Palestinians to keep attacking it now. And how stupid of Palestinian activists in this country to keep supporting Palestinian aggression.

It’s obvious that peace is not even on the Palestinian agenda. Israel has every right to defend itself and should keep doing so for as long as it takes to wipe out its enemies.

Josh Greenberger

Via E-mail

Nobel Prize Committee’s Ignoble Choice

Re: “Navi Pillay, Who Accused Israel of Genocide, Wins Nobel Peace Prize” (Sept. 9): The international human rights community is now formally embracing the information war against Israel. It’s ecstatic about the Norwegian Nobel Committee award of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to the despicable Navi Pillay.

She has long played an outsized role as a world-class anti-Israel zealot. As U.N. Human Rights Commission Chair, she presided over the notorious Durban, South Africa U.N.-sponsored World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in 2021. The conference turned into an absolute orgy of antisemitism – so bad that the U.S. and bullied Jewish NGOs walked out. It was the bitter fount from which increasingly flowed vile, racialized anti-Israel libels, such as apartheid, and the metastasizing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Pillay chaired the notorious Human Rights Commission Committee of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem and Israel. The name itself is self-indicting as a kangaroo court. It “found” what it had already concluded – that Israel had committed “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. She also long served on the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli P.M. Netanyahu.

Pillay currently serves as an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice. In a totally unrelated case, ICJ is unnecessarily greatly expanding the definition of genocide so as to later apply that new standard to falsely convict Israel of that crime. She will now join Yasser Arafat on the dishonor list of ignoble Peace Prize laureates.

No impartial judge, Pillay continues to defend offensive remarks, such as “social media controlled by the Jewish Lobby,” and sign petitions, such as “Sanction Apartheid Israel.” She’s the perfect avatar for the anti-Israel hate mob in the U.N., world academia, diplomacy, and media. As with earlier generations, they seek to defame, demean, demoralize, and destroy Israel and world Jewry. They will not succeed.

“Plan a conspiracy and it will be annulled; speak your piece and it shall not stand, for G-d is with us” (Isaiah 8:10).

Richard Wilkins

Via E-mail