Opinion

Rav  Dovid Feinstein ZT”L

 A few weeks ago, I wrote an article that mostly focused on the political situation at the time, and felt that I was not up to the task of writing any words of hesped on Rav Dovid Feinstein zt”l who had passed earlier that week. Sergey Kadinsky and Nachum Segal wrote a beautiful article about Rav Dovid, while I had not known him personally that well.

With the Electors in each state casting their votes, it seems that Joe Biden will be inaugurated President on January 20. This is truly unfortunate for the nation and the world, as President Trump’s foreign and domestic policies have yielded some of the most accomplished - albeit unconventional - four years in the White House in decades.  This, and other reasons, are why so many are still clinging to hope that a constitutional loophole can be found to keep Trump in office.

The world breathes a collective sigh of relief that 2020 is at an end.  It is superstitious, perhaps, to believe that when the clock chimes midnight on New Year’s, the problems of 2020 will be behind us. Nevertheless, the general public remains hopeful that 2021 will be better than its predecessor. However, as painful as 2020 was, this year saw one of the greatest accomplishments of the Trump presidency: the decimation of Iran as a regional power.

 For the better part of a year, there has been a growing political divide between those who would wear a mask and those who wouldn’t. Each side of the divide is boggled by the rationale of the other side, and there seems to be little actual debate between the two. For Democrats, wearing a mask is a small sacrifice for the greater good. For Republicans, it’s just one step on an increasingly slippery slope that America is tumbling down.

As the end of the year approaches and the future of Washington politics is taking shape, the Senate race in Georgia is taking on far greater importance than a normal runoff election would.  Should the Democrats win, there will be a 50-50 split in the Senate (with Vice President Harris as the tie-breaker), a Democrat House majority, and a Democrat President.  There will be little to nothing to stop the socialist leftwing of the Democratic Party from enacting their policies.

Through my work for several public officials and the Queens Jewish Community Council, I have known every mayor of the past 40 years. Each had his strong points and his shortcomings. The nicest one on a personal basis was David Dinkins, who died last week. David Dinkins was a gentleman who conducted himself with grace and dignity. To him, all the people in what he called “the gorgeous mosaic” of New York mattered. In Yiddish, we would call him a mentch.