Dear Editor:
My family and I are just thrilled about the new compost garbage law that began being enforced on April 1. We can now scurry around enjoying all those leftovers in easy-to-find brown canisters.
I’ve heard people say saving compost is annoying and unnecessary, but squirrels have rights, and this is perfect for all bushy-tailed Queens residents.
Thank you to the legislators who passed this law, which may not benefit the Queens human population but is great for the squirrel community.
Respectfully,
Bush E. Tail Esquirrel
Legal representative of the Queens Squirrel Benevolent Society
Go Out and Vote
Dear Editor:
The year 2020 marked the first (in)famous WZO elections. Our rosh yeshivah, rav, and poseik encouraged us to vote and to urge others to do the same. We did, and we noticed the positive results and consequences our vote brought in Israel and in America.
Five years have passed, and currently, it is interesting, frustrating, and extremely distressing to see, hear, and read about the turbulence surrounding this election. What has changed, you might wonder? Social media, chats, podcasts, magazines, newspapers, and billboards are publicizing and reacting to the upcoming WZO elections with a big bang.
We received via email (and it was published in various venues) a Kol Korei from the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah advising us not to participate in the election. Big Bang! As a curious truth seeker, I replied to the email, asking two questions: 1. Who are the rabbanim on the Moetzes? 2. Why are signatures missing from the Kol Korei? I received a polite response listing 13 names of rabbanim who are part of the Moetzes. Most are from the East Coast Tri-State area, with one from Toronto, which might explain why “daas” rabbanim in Chicago and the West Coast came out pro-participation and encouraged voting. The reason signatures were omitted? It wasn’t a unanimous vote, and there were absentees.
Attention klal Yisroel, am Yisrael, tzibur: Stop the rhetoric, know-it-all attitudes, and old narratives, and seek truth. Speak to your rav, mentor, and research the situation. This isn’t just billions of dollars at stake; it’s our Homeland and its holiness that are on the line.
To sit back passively and not vote... you are empowering the aggressive haters of Torah values to reign supreme.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Caren May
The Little Brown Garbage
Dear Editor:
What do you do all day? Don’t you appreciate being asked that question when you retire? Of course, you can tell the truth and say you binge on Netflix. However, as of this past April 1, there’s a more honest response you can give: You spend your day sorting the garbage. I own more garbage cans than pocketbooks, but this latest addition is the killer – the little brown garbage can. It almost wants you to eat all the detritus in your kitchen rather than throw out peels, apple cores, and (gasp!) dirty paper napkins and plates. Of course, if this were our parents’ generation, we’d all be eating on real plates and using cloth napkins. All the sorting makes me feel like Lucy Ricardo in the chocolate factory; and if you don’t know what I’m referring to, then you are really missing out, or you are from Generation X or Z.
While I’m complaining about the garbage cans and their enforcement on what is basically Erev Pesach (Erev Pesach = February 1 and onward), let me complain about the papers, straws, wrappers, fliers, and other garbage that appear on my front lawn every day. My lawn resembles Times Square on January 1 after all the revelers have thrown their garbage on the streets. At least Times Square has its own cleaning crew, while my gardener shows up once in March and, hopefully, more often in April.
Well, enough with the complaining. I’m taking a well-deserved vacation (at least, I believe so), and I will return, G-d willing, after Pesach with more insights. By the way, what’s the small white garbage can for? Chag Kasher V’Samei’ach!
Debbie Horowitz
Those Who Never Had the Chance to Bloom
Dear Editor:
Why, on a warm day bathed in light, were we plucked?
And why, in a moment of joy, were we cut down?
Why did the clouds above not shield our bodies?
And why did the sun not blind those who struck us?
Why did the story of our lives end in sorrow and tears?
And why was I not granted time to grow, to know?
Why were my days so brief,
And why did G-d not heed my cries?
But perhaps… perhaps the story is not as it seems.
Perhaps, from the very start, I was not meant for life.
Perhaps I was but a tiny, crimson bloom, lost—
Perhaps no pillar of clouds wrapped me in its embrace.
Perhaps the sun shone not to nourish the cruel,
But to reveal the hidden strength of kindness.
Perhaps tears of pain are not only bitter,
But carry something unseen, something deep within.
Perhaps my body has faded, yet my soul lingers still,
For I have seen…
That I was plucked into my mother’s arms,
That her embrace became my shelter, my sky.
That she shielded me with her trembling frame,
That she hid me from the lurking dark.
That a mother’s tear can cry out to the heavens,
And a mother…a mother does hear.
And so, at the end of my fleeting days, I returned to her,
Once more bound to her heartbeat.
One heart, one form – together,
“ArielKfir.”
And in the arms of Mother Earth,
Once again, we became one.
And mother…mother, you are the withering vine,
That faded and was gone.
Amitai Anaki
The Pitfalls of Media Bias
Dear Editor:
Warren Hecht, in writing about the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a Trump cabinet chat group, characterizes the mistake as “embarrassing” and “dangerous.” He further laments that the Trump cabinet is “in over their heads.”
My initial reaction to this is, okay, this is just Warren being Warren – nothing new here. Upon further contemplation, though, there is a lot more to unpack. The operation the journalist was accidentally included in was a resoundingly successful bombing of the Houthis, a terrorist group the incompetent Biden administration ignored for four years despite their 175 attacks on US naval ships and their blocking of crucial shipping lanes our country relies on.
Yet, Mr. Hecht finds this to be “embarrassing” and “dangerous?!” But wait, there’s more. Surely, if Mr. Hecht found this successful mission to be “embarrassing” and “dangerous,” one can only imagine what he thought of the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle back in 2021. Would Mr. Hecht empty his proverbial holster on the President at the time? Would he criticize the dimwits Biden appointed to conduct that operation? Maybe call for some accountability? A firing or two?
A check of the QJL archives revealed very little, which is in itself very revealing. For the two weeks after the Afghanistan disaster, Mr. Hecht had no comment on the hottest issue of the day. Finally, in the 9/16/2021 issue, Mr. Hecht addressed it tangentially, mocking Republicans who accused Biden of “having blood on his hands” despite the fact that “fewer than 20 people were killed.” Then, radio silence on Afghanistan from Mr. Hecht for the next two months.
So, to summarize: According to Mr. Hecht, executing a successful military operation that includes an errant text to a reporter – an error that had zero effect on the operation – is “embarrassing” and “dangerous,” and is proof the President’s cabinet is clueless. But a failed military operation that resulted in significant loss of life, the loss of billions of dollars of military equipment, and the loss of trust among this country’s allies is not worthy of a critique.
We all have our biases, and I include myself in the “we”; but before publishing anything, it’s a worthwhile endeavor to put those biases aside, or risk reaching some absurdly inconsistent conclusions.
Jason Stark
