Thank You
Dear Editor:
All I can say is “Wow.” The letters and articles from the past couple of weeks from parents of children with special needs have been eye-opening. I have a cousin who has a teenager with special needs, and there is a family on my block. We, the public, pretend not to notice or try not to stare too much, and especially try not to think too much about what that family is going through, but now we have a small taste of their life.
I have my own children who are, baruch Hashem, healthy, and now I really do thank Hashem for that. To live in a constant state of worry—worry for their present and future, and for when you aren’t there to personally care for them. Even the worry when you send them off to school, not knowing if they had a good day or a bad day, or having to guess if they feel good or sick? It would be too much for me and my wife.
How do you balance all of that with the “regular life” stuff that we all have to do? It must be mentally and physically exhausting. All parents live for five minutes of quiet, but for them, they have to think, “Why is it so quiet? What is he or she doing?” Not to have a moment’s rest, and to wake up early in the middle of the night and have to begin their day then.
Kol hakavod to these parents. I now understand that the smiles I see plastered to their faces mask their fears, anxiety, and exhaustion. I wish there was more we could do. But how?
My teenage daughter just signed up with an agency to help children with special needs. She cried when reading the articles and letters, saying, “I have so much extra time. I can do something to help.”
Thank you for publishing the letters, and thank you to the parents for stepping up, being truthful, and telling us how truly hard it really is—and how isolating their lives can be.
Tzvi Sheinberg
This Shall Not Stand?
Dear Editor:
On May 10, there was a rally held in Queens entitled “This Shall Not Stand - A Rally Against Hate.” The rally was held in response to a string of anti-Jewish graffiti across several Jewish communities in Queens. The actual merits of holding this rally notwithstanding, seeing the branding of this rally as “anti-hate” or “standing against hate” is exhausting. It’s exhausting because it reflects the adoption of a meaningless and cheap trope, mainly from progressive and secularist circles that identify all they disagree with in the world as “hate.”
But Tanach teaches us that “there is a time to love and a time to hate” (Koheles 3:8), and specifically, we are directed, in the words of the psalmist, “Oh lovers of G-d, hate evil!” (Tehilim 97:10). Hate, while it of course must be controlled, is natural and normal, and in certain circumstances, must underpin how we approach evil in the world. Hate is what we should actually feel and internalize when we view the very swastika for which we organize a rally like this.
So, let the leftist secularists “stand against hate” (whatever that even means), and let us as a frum community choose an actually meaningful and true parlance to describe our activism. Let us instead rally “for Jewish pride” or “for Jewish strength,” and proclaim our love of Hashem and the Jewish people in light of our hatred of evil.
Uri Segelman
Kew Gardens Hills
Honoring Jewish Veterans
Dear Editor:
May is Jewish American Heritage Month. The Jewish War Veterans Post 652 has two displays depicting Jews who served in the military.
The first display is entitled Jewish Men in the Military. The exhibit shows pictures and stories about Jewish men who were in various wars and conflicts and the roles that they had. The display is at the Town of Hempstead Town Hall lobby through the end of May. There is also another display presented by the Jewish Historical Society of Long Island in the lobby. The Town Hall is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The location is 1 Washington Street. There is metered parking as well as limited free guest parking in the back of the building. The entrance to the parking lot is on Peninsula Blvd.
As a part of Jewish American Heritage Month, Town Supervisor John Ferretti and legislators from the Town of Hempstead viewed the exhibit. In addition, the display was viewed by representatives from the American Jewish Committee, StandWithUs, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and Ed Freeberg and Gary Glick from Jewish War Veterans Post 652.
Ed Freeberg
Mind Your Own Business
Dear Editor:
This is to notify all your readers that I’m taking a well-deserved couple of days off to go to Israel and visit my daughter and her family. Can I be honest with all of you? I used to hate people telling me they were going to or coming back from Israel. That would always be followed by the question, “When were you last in Israel?” When I replied, “20 years ago,” I would get wild-eyed stares and the exclamation, “WHAT?” You would have thought I had committed a heinous crime.
The truth was I couldn’t afford it. There was work, yeshiva tuition (yes, YU, not Queens), and weddings. It’s not as if I were renting Birkin bags (WSJ, May 10) for $800 a month, or attending the Met Gala for $100,000 a pop. Money was tight, and we couldn’t manage the trip.
So, don’t ask people when they were last in Israel or what they did for winter break, spring break, or Yomim Tovim. All of this falls under the same category as being asked 40 years ago, “What? You rent? Why don’t you buy a house?” To which I wanted to answer, “Because I bought a $100,000 Rolex.”
Debbie Horowitz
At What Cost?
Dear Editor:
For years, our community has been told to “vote Democrat no matter who.” But at what cost?
During that time, prices have continued to rise, crime has increased, and many families are struggling just to afford to stay in New York. Between higher taxes and policies like cashless bail, many residents feel that public safety and affordability are getting worse instead of better. It may be time for our community to consider electing Republicans to the New York State Assembly and giving voters a real choice at the ballot box.
What’s especially troubling is that whenever a Republican candidate gets on the ballot fairly and legally, there are often immediate efforts to challenge and remove them. Instead of allowing voters to decide, political opponents turn to the courts and technicalities to keep candidates off the ballot.
If an elected official is truly afraid of facing a Republican challenger, maybe the problem is not the candidate; maybe it’s the voting record coming out of Albany. Voters deserve competition, accountability, and the opportunity to choose the leadership they believe will best represent their values and priorities.
Tziporah Feldman
The Arsonists Pledging to Put Out the Fire
Dear Editor:
Shabsie Saphirstein’s article on how the “community unites after wave of antisemitic vandalism” extolls the virtues of all the local politicians saying how they will fight to protect the Jewish community from hateful defacing of private property. The problem is that it’s like the arsonist coming to put out the fire.
These Democrat politicians are the ones who are failing on two counts: 1) failing to punish crime sufficiently, as we see over and over again with judges releasing defendants without bail only to let them commit even more heinous crimes, and 2) allowing propaganda and anti-Western/anti-Israel sentiment to be taught in the public schools. By teaching that the white man, including the Jews in Israel, is imperialistic and oppressive to black and brown people in this country and all over the world, they are targeting the very community that they claim to be protecting. Instead of teaching good character traits, such as true respect for all people and respect for elders and institutions, they are dividing people and casting some in society as the culprits and others as the victims.
These Democrat politicians are perpetrating the biggest gaslighting of all. They are creating the problem and then coming forward to present themselves as saviors. Our job is to teach our young people and all people alike to vote, and to vote in better representatives than the ones we have.
Actually, with all the attention that the graffiti perpetrators are getting, it’s working in reverse. Hateful acts of graffiti are supposed to be ignored and the perpetrators punished. Instead, what we’re doing is publicizing the event while the perpetrator goes unpunished. We have it all upside down.
Teaching Holocaust education has not proven to be effective. In crass circles, it’s not unheard of to hear Holocaust jokes, or to hear that the Jews had it coming. If poison is being taught in the schools, it doesn’t help if you put a cherry on top. On the other hand, drawing so much attention to hateful graffiti has the inverse effect of creating more of it. That’s not my opinion—that is actually what a police captain said in a Jewish neighborhood meeting to answer the question as to why Jews get so much antisemitic messaging. By complaining less and acting more to punish lawbreakers, we will accomplish a lot more than what we’re doing now. It can be a felony to deface private property with a hateful message. When have you ever heard of someone actually being convicted of that?
Abe Fuchs
Inside the ASD Family Life
Dear Editor:
I want to thank Goldy, QJL, and the others who wrote in last week and spoke freely and bravely of their life living with a child with a diagnosis. Maybe it will give others living without a child with a diagnosis a little peek into our lives.
Every day is a constant worry. And unfortunately, a lot of that worry is what will happen to your child when you and your spouse aren’t here to care for them. Yes, siblings are great... but, im yirtzeh Hashem, they will have their own families, and they grew up with additional responsibilities that children without a special needs sibling don’t have.
I agree with one mother: I mourn for what I know my son won’t have, but I thank G-d that he doesn’t realize what he will be missing out on every day. I remember meeting, falling in love, and marrying my husband—the special feelings I had. But my son will never know them.
Yes, the “Welcome to Holland” poem. I know it well. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it doesn’t. But I wouldn’t give it to someone whose child was recently diagnosed. Let them find their own normal and get used to how things will be before you tell them, “You’re never getting out.”
I can’t thank you enough for putting my worries, and so many parents’ worries, on paper. If you wonder why we aren’t out with the kids all the time, or why we stayed home during vacation, or why we don’t accept invitations, maybe you now know why. It’s an isolating life, but you have to make the effort to be a part of life with your family and with your friends. If not, the loneliness is unbearable.
Thank you again.
Aidel Gunzberg
NORPAC Mission
Dear Editor:
On Wednesday, May 13, 1,200 of us traveled to Washington, DC as part of NORPAC’s annual mission to Capitol Hill to engage with the leadership of our country. (NORPAC is a 100% volunteer-run bipartisan political action committee whose primary purpose is to educate and support members of the House and Senate, as well as candidates for those offices, in advancing the vital alliance between the United States and Israel.) We focused on the high stakes involving America’s security partnership with Israel, the destabilizing actions of Iran’s terror regime, and the heightened safety risks confronting Jews in America.
Before heading to the offices of the members of Congress for our appointments—we had a combined 300 meetings scheduled—we all gathered at Union Station, our operating base, where we grabbed prepared lunches (and later, dinners) and listened to NORPAC presentations. The headliner was Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Speaking about her unwavering support for the U.S.–Israel relationship, she told us how she was inspired by women of the Tanach: Eve, Naomi, Ruth, and Esther. (She mentioned she has a book coming out on the subject.)
After Senator Gillibrand spoke, my group (Sharon Hertan, Ilana Basal, Dorit Basil, Emanuel Nektalov, Gabriel Nektalov, David Mordukhaev, and Rabbi Dov Lerner, our group leader) headed to our first meeting, scheduled with Rep. Timothy Kennedy (D-NY).
Representative Kennedy (of the Buffalo region) graciously welcomed us, and our get-together went extremely well. He shared with us that he visited Israel for the first time last summer, and that he toured the country and developed a strong sense of what was at stake. He further told us that he considered himself to be an honorary member of the Tribe, noting that he did a DNA test which revealed he was one percent Eastern European (while 85 percent Irish).
Our next two meetings were with senior aides from the respective offices of Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Mike Flood (R-NE). Both were receptive to our concerns and requests to support certain bills. In fact, Rep. Flood voted in favor of the DETERRENT Act, a bill designed to counter foreign influence in U.S. universities; it requires universities to disclose the receipt of foreign money.
Our final meeting was with Rep. Ritchie Torres, a real mensch. Rep. Torres told us that his support for Israel was unshakeable. He began rattling off some of the benefits of the U.S.–Israel relationship as if he had prepared our talking points: the co-development of Iron Dome and David’s Sling; the fact that American spending on security assistance to Israel is a small fraction of what we spend to defend our European allies through NATO and our allies in Asia; and that with Israel, we have no boots on the ground. He further told us that he was well aware of the growing antisemitism, that it was not to be tolerated, and that he championed the fight against it.
Rep. Torres candidly disclosed that because of his staunch support for Israel, he was no longer welcome in his favorite local diner and that confrontations with him were on the rise. But he added that he’d rather stand by his convictions and not be re-elected than to be re-elected having sacrificed his convictions along the way. He joked that if he no longer had a job in Congress, maybe he would make aliyah.
With Jewish hatred metastasizing around the world—especially in our city while the mayor smirks—we need to be organized and speak in one loud voice to confront it. NORPAC provides that opportunity. All it takes is a day of your time, the cost to cover transportation and meals, and some preparation. Your act of volunteerism will leave you glad that you participated. And as Hillel taught in Pirkei Avos: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”
Lowell Kass
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
Dear Editor:
The condition of the Jewish people today is the best it has been in 2,000 years and the worst it has been since 1945.
I write these words sitting in an office overlooking the Kosel HaMaarovi—the Western Wall—having just attended a special Shacharis—Morning Prayer—celebrating the 59th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.
Looking at Israel and the Jewish world today, there is much to be proud of and thankful for. Israel is a modern high-tech country with a booming economy, where Torah thrives. The “Ring of Fire” surrounding Israel—Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, the Houthis, and Iran—has been decimated. From a purely military standpoint, Israel is safer today than ever before. Around the world, Jews have achieved unparalleled economic success. Torah is being studied at a higher level by more people than ever before. These are staggering achievements.
Yet we also face enormous challenges. October 7, 2023, was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are down but not out. They continue to rule half of Gaza and much of Lebanon. Through its control of the Straits of Hormuz, Iran is holding the global economy hostage. Debates over judicial reform and drafting Charedim into the army have, at times, become violent, and threaten to make the elections later this year the most divisive ever.
Around the world, the rise in antisemitism has become rampant. While our relationship with the White House is stronger than ever, our support in Congress and among the public is weaker than ever. Many, perhaps even most, Diaspora Jews have been lost to intermarriage and assimilation. The price for acceptance in general society has become to shed one’s Jewish identity.
I do not make light of the challenges facing us. But we are living in times our great-grandparents would not have dreamed of. In 1945, the idea that Holocaust survivors would live to see a strong Israel, with a united Jerusalem as its capital, and with Torah thriving around the world would have been considered delusional.
Reflecting on the Amidoh prayer, we should note that the blessings are recited in the present tense. Hashem is “building Jerusalem,” or “returning His Divine Presence to Zion.” Redemption is an ongoing process. We have come a long way since 1945; we still have a way to go.
Rav Zvi Hirsch Kalisher ZTL wrote, “The Redemption of Israel will come by slow degrees, and the ray of deliverance will shine forth gradually.”
One of the most frequent questions when I lead tours in the Western Wall tunnels is, “When will the time come?” The time is coming. The question we need to ask ourselves is: What are we doing to bring the time closer?
Manny Behar
Back in the Holy Land (Where I Belong)
Dear Editor:
After spending six months in New York due to unforeseen circumstances, we have returned to Eretz Yisroel! Aside from severe jet lag, I was thrilled to be back in our homeland, hear Hebrew in the streets, and be surrounded by my brethren. We returned just in time to celebrate Yom Yerushalayim! At Ohel Nechama, we were treated to a choir of Leviim dressed in traditional garb from the Temple Institute, singing Hallel. I was transported to the Beis Hamikdosh in my mind. Everyone sang along with enthusiasm and joy.
The following day, Gershon (my husband) went to hear a concert on the streets of Yerushalayim while I was still recuperating from the flight. On Rosh Chodesh Sivan, I attended a women’s Rosh Chodesh celebration with music, the singing of Hallel, and divrei Torah given by women. The focus was on how to bring our Torah observance and learning to a higher level, with enthusiasm and joy; it should never become rote. For me, Eretz Yisroel has ignited my desire to increase my learning and chesed. I feel that this is where I am meant to be!
Rachel Epstein
The Poison in Your Neighbor’s Yard
Dear Editor:
Every spring, the trucks return. A fine aerosol mist settles across our swing sets, our patio furniture, our vegetable gardens, and our children’s hands and mouths. We feel safer, but we should be concerned.
The U.S. EPA classifies permethrin—the primary ingredient used by commercial mosquito spray services—as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” Bifenthrin and deltamethrin are classified as possible carcinogens. The EPA’s own risk assessments flag toddlers as the most vulnerable population, as their neurological systems are still developing. Pyrethroids have been studied for associations with developmental delays and neurotoxic effects in early childhood.
We all know someone whose child struggles with developmental issues, or whose family member was diagnosed with cancer at a young age. We shake our heads, we say Tehillim, and we remark that “it’s everywhere now.” Then, we call the truck in May.
Yes, the world contains many toxins we cannot control. But when a chemical is in your yard, blown through your windows, and settling on your children’s toys, that is a choice. We are making it on a subscription basis, six months a year.
Furthermore, these sprays barely work. Studies show they reduce populations temporarily, while neighboring untreated yards replenish them within days. You are accepting known carcinogenic exposure in exchange for partial, short-lived relief.
The application method is also problematic. This is not a targeted treatment; it is an aerosol mist that drifts into the homes of neighbors who never agreed to be exposed. Once applied, bifenthrin has a half-life of approximately eight months. Additionally, these chemicals are acutely toxic to cats, leading to tremors or seizures when they groom their paws after walking on treated lawns.
As Orthodox Jews, we interrogate labels and ingredients. The Torah commands us: “You shall very greatly guard yourselves.” The Rambam codifies this as law: A person must distance himself from things that harm the body.
Hishtadlus cuts both ways. If we are actively and repeatedly choosing to broadcast known neurotoxins across our homes, we cannot stand dumbfounded at rising rates of cancer and developmental disorders, nor can we call what follows a mystery. We made this choice.
There are effective alternatives: removing standing water costs nothing and eliminates breeding grounds; BTi mosquito dunks kill larvae without harming people; and $CO_2$ traps capture adults without chemicals.
The worker who comes to spray your yard wears gloves and a mask. Our children wear nothing.
Guard your families, and consider that your subscription is not only yours to pay.
Rivkah Cohen
Dear Editor:
Mr. Hecht, as a proud card-carrying Democrat, what are the rules? They seem to constantly change. Democrats want free and fair elections, yet they don’t want voter ID. They want campaign finance laws with no deep-pocketed special interests, yet George Soros and Neville Roy Singham are the dark money behind almost every Democratic campaign. Get rid of the Electoral College. Statehood for Puerto Rico and DC. The sole purpose of which is to destroy this republic with Democratic power forever.
Democrats don’t like rulings from the bench, so they attack an entire branch of our government. They say we need judicial reform. The answer must be to destroy the Supreme Court by adding justices, or slow-walking the dissent so the rulings cannot come out in a timely fashion. We must destroy the Virginia Supreme Court by mandating an age-54 retirement so every sitting judge is retired and the Democratic-run legislature can appoint seven progressive, DEI judges to rule in favor of everything Democratic.
Iran can’t have nuclear weapons; however, this is Trump’s war of choice. He can’t unilaterally use the military to destroy an enemy! Detaining and removing illegals from our country is racist. The Marxist/Islamification of our cities is fantastic. Open borders!
What happened in the South in the 1960s is bad because it was directed at Blacks. (Of course, it was the Democrats who were the racists and segregationists.) Today, we do the same thing to Jews in front of their synagogues in their neighborhoods, and it’s perfectly okay.
Nazis were evil. Trump is a Nazi and a dictator. Graham Platner, running for Senate in Maine, literally has a Nazi tattoo on his chest. El-Sayed in Michigan has come out publicly in favor of an anti-American, anti-Semite. Both are acceptable candidates and must win their elections, of course, because they are Democrats.
It was perfectly acceptable for Hunter Biden to fly to China on Air Force II with his father when he was Vice President in 2013. How dare Eric Trump go to China as part of a US delegation for a meeting between President Trump and President Xi!
So, are the rules to tear up our Constitution and destroy this republic? Is antisemitism acceptable? Just tell us the rules, Mr. Hecht, so we know how to play.
Shalom Markowitz