Message from R’ Schonfeld: R’ Yoel Schonfeld

It was June 27, 1976, around the 200th birthday of the United States, when the awful news broke that an Air France jet flying from Israel was hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda. Dozens of Israeli/Jewish passengers were held hostage by Idi Amin’s hateful army. A passenger, Dorah Block, was killed during the takeover. Things looked very bleak for the remaining passengers.

The news these days is stunning. Iran launches a barrage of rockets against Israel, leaving all unscathed, baruch Hashem. There are the deaths of precious Israeli soldiers by “friendly fire.” Thousands of Israelis attend the funeral of a Lone Soldier who was killed. A Jewish man, Rachamana litzlan, is scheduled to be executed in Iran. The president of Iran is killed in a helicopter crash. The International Criminal Court initiated by South Africa applies for a warrant to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant for war crimes. (For good measure, they threw in Hamas terrorist leaders. Same level as IDF leadership. Yawn.) Remember how Jews in South Africa and worldwide fought against Apartheid? Hey, that was yesterday.

The weather was perfect. The crowd was cheerful, enthusiastic, and sizeable. Aside from the ubiquitous but marginalized Neturei Karta members on Madison Avenue, there was a complete respite from pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian harassment. Much of the credit goes to the organizers of the event and to the NYPD. Of course, the crowd itself gets a lot of credit, as we Jews are not the rowdy bunch that populates similar events. I wore my “Build Israel Great Again” red and white cap, which drew some thumbs up reaction and a request for a picture of the hat. So, all was well.

About 25 years ago (maybe a bit more), when I presided over the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills Young Marrieds Minyan, there were a few young men who would come to me and say, “Rabbi you have to watch Seinfeld!”

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, issued a weekly Shabbos message for last week that was quite remarkable for its candor.

I try to be respectful of major political leaders, especially the President of the United States. The Chazal teach us (see Z’vachim 102a) that Moshe Rabbeinu exhibited respect for Pharaoh as he addressed him, due to the need of kavod ha’malchus, respect for leadership. As much as I loathed President Obama, I refrained from showing him disrespect in the public arena other than pointing how dangerous his policies were.