Dear Editor:
This is a letter I never wanted to write. My husband Michoel passed away last week. I hate the term, “I lost my husband,” because I never did. For those of you who knew him, he was a tzadik, and I don’t use that term lightly. He learned day and night and was humble about all his accomplishments.
What I would like to address is the plight of the caregiver. Please never tell the person to be strong. It’s not as if the caregiver is fighting Amaleik. As a caregiver, I appreciated the friends who listened to me, and sometimes I had nothing to say except: “It is what it is.” For some of us, being given religious pep talks isn’t very helpful either. Not only are you sad, but you are also angry at the cards dealt to your loved one. It’s unfair that our loved ones are suffering and being asked when you’re taking him/her home or why he/she is in hospice doesn’t help. Again, take a walk with your friend, go to a shiur together, or go out for pizza. Finally, I end this article with the pasuk that resonates with me the most: “Vayidom Aharon.” When Aharon learns of his sons’ deaths, he doesn’t scream or rail against Hashem. He just remains quiet, as will I.
Debbie Horowitz
Dear Editor:
Re: The Trump classified documents case, it’s worth noting two items:
The use of “classified” for documents in the White House is so overused that it likely includes the lunch menus.
2) The feigned outrage directed at Trump by our fake news media for possessing classified documents is truly a lesson in cognitive dissonance. Virtually every big story you see breaking in The New York Times or the Washington Post, whether it’s related to Russia, Ukraine, Iran, or a myriad of other items, is sourced through the leak of a “high-level intelligence figure” in the Biden administration. Think that through for a second. Well-placed people with knowledge of classified information routinely break the law by mishandling classified documents and leaking that information to the media; not only does no investigation ever ensue, but it’s considered good journalism!
So please, Yaakov Ribner and David Pecoraro, spare us the faux outrage.
Kol Tuv!
Avi Goldberg
Dear Editor:
By now, most of us have gotten used to the political hypocrisy on display daily by our ruling class. Whether its climate czars John Kerry and Al Gore routinely taking private jets to lecture us on climate change or Governor Gavin Newsom and Lori Lightfoot locking their states down the hardest while simultaneously breaking the lockdowns themselves by dining and getting haircuts, or Foreign Affairs committee member Eric Swalwell carrying on his own “foreign affairs” with a Chinese spy, or the many Democrats complaining about alleged interference in the 2016 Presidential election but silent on actual Department of Justice interference in the 2020 election – these have become so routine for us, they are hardly deemed newsworthy anymore.
So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the media’s lackluster coverage of the latest “non-story” to break that Hunter Biden illegally deducted on his tax returns the money he spent on high-priced prostitutes as a business expense in an effort to underreport his income. The fact that the degenerate son of our President, who is at the center of the Biden influence-peddling scheme while also being a crack addict, a deadbeat dad, and once carried on an affair with his deceased brother’s widow, would lie on his tax returns is no shock. Should we be surprised that the millionaire son of the guy who has been telling/screaming/creepy whispering at the wealthy for years to “pay their fair share” would underreport his own income? I’m not.
Doniel Behar
Dear Editor:
Institutional trust in this country has never been lower. The public has been fed a steady diet of lies. The worst offenders when it comes to honesty are members of our lying government. Just this past week alone, several prominent government narratives, which were held up for years, fell apart when electronic communications directly contradicted the narratives we were led to believe.
First, a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request revealed that in January 2021, less than a month into the nationwide COVID vaccination campaign, former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky already knew the COVID vaccines were unable to prevent people from getting infected with COVID and transmitting it to others. Yet she still insisted for months afterward that “vaccinated people do not carry the virus and they don’t get sick.” Long after the CDC knew the COVID vaccines were defective, the CDC and President Biden engaged in a war on the unvaccinated culminating with Biden promising in December 2021 (an entire year after the CDC knew the vaccines couldn’t prevent COVID) that the unvaccinated were looking at a winter of “severe death and destruction.” The vaccine mandates Biden pushed and the firing of tens of thousands of people who refused the shot was unconscionable, given the early knowledge the CDC possessed regarding the ineffectiveness of the vaccines.
The second big reveal this week was a 2017 WhatsApp text message Hunter Biden sent to a Chinese businessman he was shaking down for cash. Hunter’s threatening text to the man demanding payment included the statement “I am sitting here with my father.” Photos taken off of Hunter’s laptop revealed that he was at Joe Biden’s Delaware home the same day he sent those menacing text messages. This of course undercuts Joe Biden’s claim that he has made for years that he was not involved in his son’s corrupt business dealings. Joe’s only public comment so far was to express how proud he is of his son. What Joe is proud of remains unclear, but given Hunter is “the smartest person” our dimwitted President knows, his reaction should surprise no one.
Lastly, we were told for four days last week that a submarine with five people onboard was likely on the ocean floor, and search parties were frantically racing against the clock to find them before their oxygen supply ran out. This also turned out to be untrue, as news reports over the weekend revealed that the US Navy conducting the search for the submarine knew from the get-go that the submarine imploded. I don’t know why we were lied to about this being a rescue mission. What I do know is that there will be no accountability for any of the lies spun on us by these government officials. What is also abundantly clear is that anyone who still has faith in our government to be truthful is a complete rube. All statements made by our government officials should be viewed skeptically and assumed to be false until proven otherwise.
Jason Stark
A Breath of Life
Dear Editor:
As I entered the room to see Rav Moshe Sternbuch, one of the venerable g’dolei ha’dor, I couldn’t help but notice the oxygen tube inside his nostrils. Then I saw him cry during Maariv as he recited the words “Ki heim chayeinu v’orech yameinu – the Torah is our life and the lengthening of our days.”
I was reminded of a story that occurred with Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz of Kamenetz and some of his disciples. The talmidim wanted to sing the highest praise of Torah in front of their holy rebbi. One talmid stated, “I have the highest praise: ‘Torah is like oxygen.’ It is the most basic staple of life that we need constantly, 24/7, in order to exist.”
Rav Baruch Ber responded, “No! No! One breathes oxygen in order to live – but Torah is life itself!”
Watching Rav Sternbuch cry as he said the words “the Torah is our life” got me thinking that he may be getting oxygen artificially from a machine, but his chiyus – his lifeforce – is coming from the Torah itself.
May we be zocheh on our own level to internalize these words that we say every night in Maariv: “Ki heim chayeinu v’orech yameinu.”
Dr. Barry Stark
Dear Editor:
There is no cause for celebration by President Biden and Congress now that our national debt exceeds $32 trillion. This averages $95,635 per citizen or $249,403 per taxpayer. (Source: June 20, 2023, National Debt Clock)
There are thousands of employees who are familiar with the details of our federal budget. How difficult can it be to find billions in savings? This could assist in reducing our periodic raising of the debt ceiling.
Millions of Americans cut their household budgets to make ends meet. It is time for Washington to live within its available existing revenues without excessive borrowing, just like millions of ordinary citizens.
The President and Congress have forgotten the old saying, “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Americans should send both the President and Congress each a penny to remind them that it is not a sin to save. Unless we change our ways, the United States is on the road to losing our status to China as the world’s number one superpower. Just like mighty ancient Rome before the collapse, we are going down the path to becoming the world’s super debtor.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck, New York
