Dear Editor:
Around a month ago, Goldy Kranz wrote an article where she stated that houses in Kew Gardens Hills have gotten too expensive for her and other young families to afford. As a result, she’s moving to another community, and many other young people are too.
In the weeks that followed, Goldy has been unfavorably compared to the meraglim in the desert, accused of spreading lashon hara, causing sinas chinam, and creating a chilul Hashem. She’s been told she needs to issue a public apology, and be banned from writing for the Queens Jewish Link ever again. Did these letter writers read the same inoffensive article that I read? Ms. Kranz’s article seems to be acting as a Rorschach test, where people project their own anxieties and insecurities. They are reading into her article things that she never actually wrote. I hope that despite the flood of criticism being poured on her, Goldy continues writing for the Jewish Link. I always look forward to her articles, and feel they are one of the highlights of the newspaper. I’ve never met her, but a bubbly, vivacious personality shines through in her writing, and I hope the critics don’t damper it. When you write a letter to the editor, please remember that the columnists are human beings and fellow Jews.
On another Queens Link topic, I’m an Ashkenazi Jew who grew up in Forest Hills while Bukharians were establishing a community there. My neighbors, classmates, piano teacher, and many of my friends were Bukharian. I feel grateful that I got to be part of their warm, generous, welcoming, vibrant culture. They enriched my life in so many ways. My advice to Kew Gardens Hills residents getting new Bukharian neighbors is don’t be scared. Visit their shuls and then accept the invitations you’re sure to get for Shabbos lunch. You’ll be glad you did.
Lori Holzman Schwartz
Dear Editor:
The three weeks! Just uttering those three words sends chills up and down my spine. It is an ominous period when one eschews surgery or procedures (if possible). The nine days ups the ante of woe and despair. Yet, if one were to turn on CNN or any local TV station, it would seem that 52 weeks of the year have turned into the three weeks. Inflation, the next COVID outbreak, monkeypox, floods, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the oppressive heat in Europe and the US (remember how you wanted to live in Florida?), and mass shootings are headlines seven days a week.
Somehow, we have to pour some honey into the bitter mixture. When I was a camper in a sleepaway camp, we had a siyum almost every day of the 9 days, so it was an occasion for a barbecue. I’m not suggesting barbecues, but perhaps, we can avoid looking at the blaring headlines in the papers and stop watching the “breaking news” on CNN.
We have to keep in mind that following the three weeks is Tu B’Av, a happy celebration of shidduchim, and nothing beats a simcha like a wedding!
Debbi Horowitz
Dear Editor:
This Week’s News Roundup (Satire)
Breaking: COVID tests positive for Biden again
The White House revealed today that COVID-19 has tested positive for Biden again. Inside sources say the virus is experiencing mild symptoms, like forgetting who it infected and how it got there. The virus put out a statement that it’s feeling fine, and will isolate itself in the president’s respiratory tract until it’s safe to come out and infect someone else.
Oops: Biden has been reading gas prices backward
The president has been bragging a lot lately about how much gas prices have been declining. It turns out, however, that Biden has been misreading gas prices for some time now. Every time he passes a gas station that says $4.31, he reads it backwards as $1.34 and then claims that gas prices are the lowest in decades. Something tells me he probably took a class in common core math.
Democrats pass bill outlawing summer to address climate change crisis
President Biden signed a bill today that bans the summer season to address the growing climate crisis. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Joe Manchin, spoke to the press after the bill’s signing, stating in part: “The summer months contribute to climate change in ways that will destroy our climate. The intense heat is raising seal levels and melting the polar ice caps. It’s also melted my ice cream cone, which wouldn’t have happened if Republicans had dealt with this crisis sooner.”
Report: Biden’s brain shrinks 0.9% in second quarter, raising fear of mental recession
According to recent reports, President Biden’s brain shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the president’s brain may be approaching a mental recession. Experts are concerned that his brain might contract even further in the coming months, resulting in a complete mental breakdown. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen responded to the report, and asserted that two quarters of receding brain capacity is not the “technical definition” of a recession, and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.
Rafi Metz
Dear Editor:
Warren Hecht is fond of writing about “The Big Lie.” His column’s sole focus the past few weeks has been on the January 6 hearings. He ended his column this week with “...Most of the country has noticed. Minds are being changed.” As I wrote a few weeks ago, the polling shows most Americans do not care about these partisan proceedings. As for Mr. Hecht’s obsession over the “The Big Lie,” perhaps a future column could address these Big Lies, all told over the past year by Joe Biden:
1) Joe Biden’s assertion that he knew nothing about Hunter’s business dealings.
2) Build Back Better comes with a zero price tag.
3) There will be no COVID vaccine mandates.
4) We have no control over gas prices; only Putin does.
5) Inflation is transitory.
6) Inflation is worse everywhere else.
7) Inflation is caused by sudden corporate greed.
8) The solution to inflation is more government spending.
9) We are not in a recession.
10) There is no need for the President to take a cognitive test.
While the 10 points mentioned above are undoubtedly an annoyance to this presidency, Mr. Hecht offers the alternative by directing attention to the January 6 hearings while Americans are being pressure-cooked by inflation. The President’s cold-water responses to the economic plight of American households are glaringly void of cognition. It has become rather obvious that on the list of political priorities, the hearings appear as a deceptive mechanism drafted by the executive and legislative branches, and further bolstered by Mr. Hecht, to draw attention away from the more poignant issues of the moment, namely, our receding economy.
Jason Stark
Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to Howard Schoenfeld’s suggestion that the QJL cancel Goldie Krantz. The abuse that Goldie has received from Mr. Schoenfeld and others is incredibly unfair. Goldie simply expressed her frustration regarding home prices, as well as her remorse at being priced out of KGH. To hold her responsible for the bigoted comments that appeared subsequent to her column is akin to holding a YouTuber responsible for offensive comments that appear under their video. I’m all for accountability, but blaming others for things they have no control over is wrong.
Avi Goldberg
Dear Editor:
With their recently-voiced admissions and doubts, I would like to welcome Drs. Fauci and Birx to a notorious group of heretofore vilified scientists and doctors that include the likes of Drs. Kuldorff, Wittkowski, Makary, Atlas, Zelenko, Bhattacharya, Gold, Yeadon, Raoult, Kory, Marik and thousands of other experts worldwide who were branded “conspiracy theorists” for doubting the popular, made-for-TV, mindless COVID mantra in one way or another. I refer of course to the statement by Fauci that the vaccine requires “more research” with regard to understanding its impact on female menstruation and pregnancy. These newly-expressed concerns are of course hard to fathom as coming from the same man who, when asked, expressed hesitancy to institute an HIV vaccine, and explained that even one that was studied for years could still only show negative long-term effects that wouldn’t be discovered until years after mass vaccination was instituted. In a similar fashion, Dr. Birx, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, revealed that she “...knew these vaccines were not going to work to prevent infection” and that they were “overplayed.” And you, I, and our friends and relatives were simply “played” to the tune of threats of job loss, risk of sudden cardiac arrest, stroke... and who knows what else to come. Just wow!
Given all the backtracking, about-faces, acknowledgments, and discoveries of the horrific real and potential danger of these vaccines, I’ve recently heard people suggest that the term “conspiracy theory” be replaced with “spoiler alert.”
I can’t speak to the heavenly consequences of their actions, but I wonder about the practical effect that was had by community leaders and activists, which included personages of rabbinic and medical background who Zoomed and streamed to carry the cudgels of the big pharma-medical totalitarianists, encouraging their followers to vaccinate like good little boys and girls, while singing the praises of a possible poison that “didn’t work.” Yes, Dr. Birx, the vaccine was overplayed, and we were played. But don’t let that disturb your overwrought mind. Think pleasant thoughts, sleep peacefully, and continue to trust your (mis)leaders.
E. Azuali
Dear Editor:
Did you receive an invitation to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s latest campaign fundraiser? It will be held in trendy East Hampton on September 4 on behalf of the Democratic Party National Congressional Committee. Tickets start at $5,000 for a friend, $10,000 sponsor, $25,000 host, or $36,500 to join the Speaker’s Cabinet. Paying $36,500 affords you admission to a private reception with Pelosi before lunch. Her husband might offer some insider information for future stock investments. They might tell you how you can build your net worth up to $100 million like they have.
Like most ordinary Long Islanders, I can’t afford the price of admission. I am willing to park limousines, bus tables, mix drinks, or check coats in exchange to get in. President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security can schedule one of their midnight flights for illegal immigrants coming over the boarder to land in the Hamptons. They could mingle with the guests and provide some inexpensive bus boys, kitchen staff, bartenders, or parking attendants to help keep event costs down for Pelosi & Company. After the event, each guest could take an immigrant home. Offer them lodging, food, clothing, a job and add them to your health insurance plan.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Dear Editor:
Regarding Larry Penner’s letter in last week’s issue, Mr. Penner compares President Biden to Jimmy Stewart’s character in The Rabbit. Mr. Penner states that Biden can’t see the rabbit - inflation. This is a straight-up lie. I clearly heard Biden quoted this morning on 1010WINS. Biden denied we’re in a recession and acknowledged inflation. Not to mention his efforts - agree or disagree - to curb inflation.
Mr. Penner is entitled to his opinions. He is entitled to express his opinions. He is not entitled to misrepresent the facts. He is not entitled to lie. If I were Biden I’d demand a retraction from Mr. Penner or sue him for libel.
Nat Weiner
Bronx, NY
Dear Editor:
To answer the question posed by Moshe Hill, yes, any election can lead to an upset. Why, a gutsy young 29-year-old won a Senate election in Delaware in a 1972 upset, and is now blessedly our President. And my namesake David did slay the giant Goliath.
But the next question is: Does Lee Zeldin deserve to win? Heck no!
Lee was a chief defender of Trump during Impeachment One over “the perfect phone call” with Ukrainian President Zelinskyy when Trump tried to extort the Ukrainian President to provide fabricated information to sink the campaign of the man who eventually sent him back to Mar-a-Lago.
Then Lee joined with fellow GOP seditionists on January 6, 2021 to prevent the democratic will of 81 million voters from being heard. But that was not enough damage to our Constitution.
After the domestic terrorists stormed our Capitol, Lee stubbornly continued to fight against the peaceful transition of power by refusing to count the votes of his fellow Americans, against the wishes of his fellow New Yorkers.
Then, when brave Republicans like Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, and Mitt Romney stood together with Democrats for the first bipartisan Impeachment in US history, there was Lee defending the indefensible and again against the will of New Yorkers.
Considering that the Governor of New York is the only person who can pardon Trump for his numerous acts of fraud with regard to taxes, these facts by themselves are disqualifying.
But Moshe believes that Lee’s message of crime and the economy should win the day.
So let’s look at what Lee has actually done on these issues through his votes.
Lee voted against funding the police and preventing their layoffs when he voted against the American Recovery Act. Also in that Act was the money to vaccinate Americans against COVID as well as the Child Tax Credits that cut childhood poverty in half (so much for being pro-life once the child is born).
But that isn’t all.
Lee voted NO on the following:
Consumer Price Gouging Prevention Act
Affordable Insulin Now Act
PACT Act, a bipartisan law for veterans’ benefits
A bipartisan Infant Formula Supplement
An amendment to regulate untraceable ghost guns
Bipartisan reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act
And just last week, Lee voted against reporting anti-Semitic white supremacists in the military. Also last week, Lee voted no on a bill to provide an amber alert if an active shooter is in the vicinity. And just today Lee voted against Americans having the right to use contraceptives - in 2022, not 1922, not 1822, but today.
On issues that affect the wallets, safety, and health of New Yorkers, Lee could be counted upon to vote against our interests, even on bipartisan votes.
He votes like a radical but will try to appeal to the middle after running on an extreme far-right platform in the primary. He even said he would appoint an anti-choice health commissioner, against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers.
And last week, Zeldin’s petitions to run on the Independence Line were thrown out because they were rife with fraud. Why in the world would we want a person with a proven record of fraud in our Governor’s Mansion?
Lee is no David with a slingshot - he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing who deserves the thrashing that Governor Kathy Hochul will in all likelihood administer to him in November.
David S. Pecoraro
Former Vice President
Rosedale Jewish Center
Rosedale, Queens, NY