Dear Editor:
Oh no! Here come the gas stove police! (Not to be confused with the Paw Patrol, kids.) They are followed by the blech patrol, the cholent cops, and finally the crockpot inspectors. Is this why Kathy Hochul was elected governor of New York? I wonder how many meals she cooks in her Albany mansion. Perhaps she should be more concerned about smoke shops opening, or crime on the streets and subways, or the outrageous price of eggs. She, instead, is every balabusta’s worst nightmare.
Our governor is concerned with the mass exodus of New Yorkers to Florida. Could it be the tax haven there, or the plethora of electric stoves? I have enough trouble figuring out when my pasta is done or when the soup is fully cooked. It’s not as if I’m making Chinese food and hanging my face over the wok. The suggestion that one use a toaster oven to replace a gas oven is absurd! One would have to start cooking now for a six-meal Pesach. (That’s right: It’s three days!)
Look, I’m no Julia Child (the kosher version of her, of course), and it would take me a lot of time and money to adjust to an electric oven. It took me years to learn how to drive a car, parallel park (ask my neighbors!), make hospital corners, or figure out when to say the whole Hallel or half-Hallel. Therefore, my advice to the governor is to cool it on the facial plastic surgery and leave my kitchen alone!
I realize that 98 percent of you have better things to worry about than gas stoves (like how to finish all the laundry from Yeshivah Week in Florida, the Bahamas, and Mexico). However, when you have a moment, please consider what no gas stoves would mean to you.
Debbie Horowitz
Dear Editor:
In separate columns last week, Rabbi Schonfeld and Warren Hecht took three local Jewish politicians to task for their letter accusing Yeshiva University of bigotry against LGBTQ students and their LGBTQ club. In another one of the local papers here, I saw a front-page picture of Senator Chuck Schumer addressing a YU audience, ostensibly to take a victory lap for securing $1.5 million in funding for a YU building project in the latest pork sandwich better known as the $1.7 trillion federal omnibus spending package passed for 2023.
These are two events that seemingly have nothing to do with each other. Or do they? In pandering to the Jewish community, Senator Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish politician in American history, has referred to himself numerous times as the “Shomer Yisrael,” the Guardian of Our People. This, of course, begs the question: What exactly is Chuck the shomer of? He has publicly advocated for completely open borders and amnesty for all illegal aliens, regardless of criminal history and irrespective of the tangible damage of human trafficking, fentanyl deaths, and the drain on social services. He is in favor of abortion with no limits, including partial birth abortion, and argued against a bill that would have protected babies born alive during an abortion. (For those of you unfamiliar with what partial birth abortion is, it’s when a live baby is half out of the womb and a pair of scissors is inserted into the back of the baby’s head. The scissors are then opened up, the brains of the baby are suctioned out, thus collapsing the skull and killing the baby.)
Lastly, and most germane to the topic here, Schumer was instrumental last month in passing the ironically named “Respect for Marriage” bill, codifying same-sex “marriage” into federal law. So again, I ask: What exactly is Chuck the shomer of? He is not the shomer, in the truest sense of the word, of our personal safety with his open-borders advocacy. He is not the shomer of newborn infants. And he certainly is not a shomer Torah u’mitzvos with his stance on to’eivah “marriages.” Given his open hostility towards the most sacred parts of our religion, it’s an absolute disgrace that YU invited him to address an audience of theirs.
While Rabbi Schonfeld and Warren Hecht would like us all to knee-jerk defend YU in their legal battle vs. the LGBTQ club, I think they’re both missing the bigger picture here with their conspicuous omissions of YU’s hypocrisy. My take on this whole mess is this: When you lie down with dogs, expect to wake up with fleas.
Jason Stark
Dear Editor:
It’s hilarious how Warren Hecht whines about Democrats when he is not able to figure out a way to blame Republicans.
Last week, Mr. Hecht was shocked – shocked to learn that his Democrats chose to promote immorality while trying to throw Yeshiva University under the bus.
The Democrats well know that the likes of Mr. Hecht are going to continue voting for Democrats come hell or high water, regardless of all the whining. It’s just so tragic when Jews hold this way. But then, Mr. Hecht’s unwillingness to confront his case of Trump Derangement Syndrome is also pretty sad.
Choni Herschel Kantor
Kew Gardens, New York
Dear Editor:
In reference to Moshe Hill’s article of DA Bragg’s sweetheart deal to intifada Palestinian Jew-Beater: Why is it a surprise that Kathy Hochul won’t do anything to remove this rogue and ineffective DA? During the Democratic Primary, Hochul ran against Tom Suozzi, a moderate Democrat – and our community leaders prominently endorsed Hochul.
I thought it was a disgrace at the time to back a liberal like Hochul, who, obviously throughout her year of governance, did not take crime seriously. Hochul won the primary by 67% of the vote and Suozzi came in at 12.5%. But we have to remember that this was a primary, and the total number of votes was not that insurmountable. She had 515,000 votes and he had 96,000. So how many Orthodox Jews are there in the State of New York? At least 500,000? The difference between her 67% and his 12.5% was actually only 420,000 votes, and of that, all you have to do is get a majority. Half of 420,000 is 210,000 votes – so wasn’t it feasible for the Orthodox community all over the state to galvanize to throw their support to Suozzi? Had they done so, Suozzi could’ve won! But instead, we sit back and think about how to back the winning horse, even though the winning horse runs off the track and betrays us.
Kathy Hochul is just a pretty face and she doesn’t even know how to mobilize the National Guard and close down the roads ahead of a monster snow storm. She could’ve saved dozens of lives had she been competent. It’s time for us to stop begging for mercy from politicians, and instead be more proactive and back the right politician to begin with, and not necessarily the one who is shoved in our faces.
Abe Fuchs
Dear Editor:
Legislation introduced in Albany to bar anyone who was convicted of participating in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol sponsored by Manhattan State Senator Brad Hoylman titled “Restrict Insurrectionists from Office Taking” (RIOT) is just another “politically correct” liberal piece of legislation. In New York, you can vote after incarceration for a felony conviction, or while you are on parole or probation. In these cases, your voting rights are automatically restored. There is no prohibition about running for and holding public office.
Why doesn’t he expand the scope of his bill to include other violent protests that occurred, as well. What about Antifa and other demonstrations? These frequently turned into chaos or riots that took place after the unfortunate shooting and death of George Floyd or Rodney King. Millions of dollars in damages took place as a result of attacks on public buildings, private businesses, looting, arson, physical assault on law enforcement officials and police vehicles. Taxpayers were stuck with the bill to clean up afterwards. Minority-owned businesses in communities suffered, accompanied by the loss of some jobs as a result of this anarchy.
Previous generations that engaged in peaceful protest would never dream of doing these things.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Dear Editor:
Mr. Hecht sounds like a right-winger conservative! There have been several Letters to the Editor over the recent past, sounding the alarm on this. The Left has complete control over our culture. This includes everything that is LGBTQ+.
No Torah-observant Jew can now be a Democrat. It’s nice to see Mr. Hecht slowly coming around. And he will, as things get even more sick. Just a matter of time.
Shalom Markowitz