As I See It

As we celebrate the Fourth of July weekend, I am proud to admit that I’m a patriot – a real-life “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” By definition, a patriot is a person having an attachment to his/her country. It is based on a feeling, sentiment, or passion toward national loyalty. I have tremendous hakaras ha’tov to this country, which took my parents in after living through the ravages of the Shoah when no other place wanted them. My folks were given a dollar by the Joint [Distribution Committee] at Ellis Island, which then wished them luck. Baruch Hashem, my parents were able to live out the American Dream. For that I am grateful and have strong feelings for this great country. This, of course, does not in any way negate my devotion and affection for Eretz Yisrael. Israel is my homeland and the US is the place of my birth, plain and simple.

The United States Census is imperative to our borough. The Constitution requires the government to enumerate the number of people living in the Unites States every ten years and to use the data to apportion the seats in Congress among the states. The calculation is based on total resident population, which means citizens and non-citizens alike, and it generally shifts power between the states, once a decade, in line with population and migration trends. The current conventional wisdom seems to indicate that New York is expected to lose one seat in the House of Representatives. The Census is also a means that determines how Federal funds are distributed. That is why the count has to be accurate.

It seems that we Jews can never get a break. The formal recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights by the United States should have been a day of jubilation, but instead it was a traumatic day for Israelis. Rockets were being launched deep into central Israel by the terror group Hamas in Gaza overshadowing the significance of the US gesture. The fighting has been fierce, and because civilians have been hurt this time, Israel must see tangible gains in this round with Hamas.

In his remarks at the formal signing of the presidential proclamation at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “US recogniti