Dear Editor:
During a recent visit to the Kew Gardens Hills Branch of the New York Public Library, I overheard a man asking the librarian for any books by Rabbi Meir Kahane zt”l.
There was a particular book he was unable to find and I asked him if he would be interested in borrowing my copy. He told me that he intended to write to the Queens Jewish Link in response to Rabbi Schonfeld’s piece last week, “Kahane Chai,” and he was not a fan of the late Rabbi and was unhappy with the position Rabbi Schonfeld had taken. However, he intended to do some research before shooting off an angry rebuttal. I suggested to him that he might rethink his position after reading some of Rabbi Kahane’s work, and he acknowledged the possibility. How I wish Warren Hecht had approached the subject with the same degree of integrity. It is obvious that Mr. Hecht had never heard Rabbi Kahane speak, nor read anything written by him.
Rabbi Kahane never condoned unprovoked attacks on Arabs but did condone Jews defending themselves against unprovoked attacks by Arabs, some of whom have been those “Israeli Arabs” to whom Mr. Hecht refers. Why is Mr. Hecht concerned with what the pro-Hamas, Jew-hating protesters can say about say about Israel’s “ultimate goal of getting rid of the Arabs from the West Bank” and its relationship to statements made by Rabbi Kahane more than 30 years ago? Why would any self-respecting Jew care about what those sick, violent anti-Semites say or think?
It is a blatant lie that Rabbi Kahane wanted to support the apartheid government in South Africa. In the debate between Kahane and Alan Dershowitz, which I attended, Rabbi Kahane said he “despises the current government (see Rabbi Schonfeld’s Jan. 18 column) but was worried about the government of ANC under the leadership of Nelson Mandela becoming viciously anti-Israel, which it did, indeed; and what about South Africa today, Mr. Hecht? Was Rabbi Kahane worrying for no reason? Warren Hecht goes on to say that Rabbi Kahane “would have supported keeping the Jim Crow laws, keeping the South segregated and stopping Black people from voting because years later there would be a Black Lives Matter movement.” This is absurd, and if it weren’t so vicious, it would be laughable.
A learned rabbi, who loved Eretz Yisrael and Jews above all else, deserves none of the derision heaped upon his memory by Warren Hecht’s poison pen. His advice to “never say publicly or write in a paper that you believe in policies proposed by Rabbi Meir Kahane” is something I had to read several times to be sure I had read it correctly. I’d be all for that approach if he chooses to spew some venom on Bernie Sanders next week!
Sincerely,
JoAnn Kestin-Fishbane
Kew Gardens Hills, New York
Dear Editor:
Last week, Warren Hecht wrote an article warning Jews not to publicly agree with policies of the late Rabbi Kahane zt”l because he believes they help our enemies.
Well, I beg to disagree. People who proudly and vociferously support the genocide of the Jewish people are way beyond the need to be stimulated by speeches. They are inherently evil incarnated.
Have we forgotten the horrible images of blown-up Egged buses, bloody pizza places, and the Park Hotel Pesach massacre in Netanya?
Rabbi Kahane suggested a compensated emigration of all Arabs who refused to sign a pledge of allegiance to Israel, in a desperate attempt to stop the bloodshed. As in most wars, a transfer of population ultimately occurs. After World War II, millions of people were transferred across borders to stop any chance of recidivation.
Unfortunately, no such policy materialized, and Rabbi Kahane was tragically assassinated in Manhattan in 1990 by an Arab, while his son Benjamin and daughter-in law Talya were murdered, and their children injured by Arabs in Israel.
Warren, as a good friend and neighbor, I suggest if you want to warn Jews about dangerous Jewish verbiage, then write about the vicious Democratic Senator of Vermont’s current attempt to destroy relations between the US and Israel.
May G-d protect the Jewish people!
Sincerely,
Henry J. Moscovic
Dear Editor:
Year after year, Congress is unable to pass and the President sign into law a full fiscal year federal budget. There is a series of stopgap partial funding continuing resolutions to keep Washington open. This wasn’t always so. There was a time when Congress held budget hearings for each department during the summer. A real balanced budget was adopted during an open process. The public, watchdog groups, and media were afforded sufficient time to understand the full contents prior to adoption. Full federal budgets were adopted on time prior to the start of any new Federal Fiscal year on October 1.
We need new incentives for the President and Congress to do their jobs on time. For next year’s federal budget, dock them a day’s pay for each day a complete balanced budget is not adopted on time by September 30, 2024. I bet the results will be different this time when any delay comes out of their pockets instead of taxpayers. If they fail this basic task, fire them on November 5, 2024 (Election Day).
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck, New York
Dear Editor:
There are no QJL readers who will trust Warren Hecht’s (political) advice over Rav Schonfeld’s.
Just last week, Mr. Hecht offered the same advice for addressing our enemies as he gets from reading The New York Times, while he also votes for practically all of the same politicians as our enemies vote for.
Mr. Hecht is most often incorrect about what he writes in his column anyway, and it really is sad how he cannot get over his serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Choni Herchel Kantor
Kew Gardens, New York
Dear Editor:
Don’t know what to talk to your in-laws about? There are the usual topics: the war, politics, and cost of living expenses. The latter is kind of tricky, because it leads to your in-laws suspecting you want money. Therefore, the best and safest topic to discuss is the weather.
First, there’s the matter of rain. Noach would have loved what has been going on in the past couple of weeks. I feel bad for the people who live near the Passaic River, although I don’t know where that is. Then there are all those people who (like me) believed they were fortunate to have basements. Just remember: Don’t put down carpeting of any kind in your basement. You will regret it. Someone explain to me why I didn’t get a home with an attic instead of a basement.
I know we are all wondering why we aren’t in Florida now, although I hear the weather there isn’t always great now. What I want to discuss is the weather in Iowa. Whose idea was it to have a caucus in a state where the high temperature is…4 in January? Do they want people to suffer from frostbite on the way to the polls and only use one digit to vote for Trump? What’s next? The warm weather of New Hampshire? No wonder Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race.
Let me remind all of the meteorologists to tone down their dire weather predictions. Yes, it’s been over 700 days since we’d gotten measurable snow. Make that a Jeopardy category. Just tell us there will be two inches of snow without going into lengthy discussions about squalls or the snow totals in Putnam County (wherever that is). Maybe people would listen to you guys if you calmed us down rather than giving us two-minute alerts about inclement weather coming our way. It makes you want to talk to your mother-in-law!
Debbie Horowitz
Dear Editor:
Warren Hecht mentioned in his last column that, based on Rabbi Kahane’s opinion to transfer the Arabs out of Israel, the Arabs feel justified to act the way they do. The obvious truth is that the Arabs, the whole time, want the whole land of Israel to themselves, with no Jews in it; they don’t want only what the chayalim conquered in 1967. The Arabs were offered 98 percent of Yehudah and Shomron and not only rejected the offer, but initiated another deadly intifada. The Arabs’ track record is out there: a tremendous number of suicide bombers – and don’t forget the ones that were not “successful,” the pay-to-slay program by the “moderate” so-called Palestinian Authority, rewarding terrorists and their families for killing Jews, their leader, Abbas, the Holocaust denier, the devil in a suit, a whopping 90 percent plus of the non-Hamas Arabs are supporters of the October 7 massacre.
All in all, whether Rabbi Kahane existed or not, this is who the Arabs, Hamas, or “regular” Arabs are. They don’t need an excuse. Their only justification is that they believe the whole land of Israel is theirs, and through any murderous means to accomplish that, they feel justified.
You also mention the violent settlers. The truth of the matter is there have been only a handful of such acts. The media likes to equivocate the handful of such acts with the thousands upon thousands of violent acts by the Arabs against the Jews. To do so is a distortion of the truth, biased, and dangerous. All in all, Rabbi Kahane was a great man; by wanting the Arabs not to be in Israel, he only saw what we see today, and has always been the case, the Arabs will go to all means to annihilate the Jewish People and Country and make it theirs. Hashem gave the Jewish People the Land of Israel; if you’re a non-Jew who not only doesn’t recognize that, but also will use any means to overthrow the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, then these non-Jews should be not in the Land of Israel.
Finally, in today’s environment, when not only what’s happening with the war Israel is in, but also the global anti-Semitism that is occurring unabashedly, we as a people should – and for the most part have been – much more unified. That is our strength. Rabbi Kahane accomplished so much on behalf of the Jewish People, physically standing up against anti-Semitism, attracting so many unaffiliated Jews who were finally proud that there was an organization (JDL) that stood up to these anti-Semitic lowlifes, putting Soviet Jewry on the front pages, and was the single person most responsible for Soviet Jews finally being allowed to emigrate, and so many more things. His ahavas Yisrael was off the charts. He didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk. He had/has a tremendous number of supporters. Therefore, although you have your own opinion of Rabbi Kahane, you shouldn’t say things that divide our people, especially in today’s times. As you wrote at the end of your article, you should keep your opinion to yourself.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Seymour Goldberg
Dear Editor:
Jewish Democratic senators had no problem this week voting for a bill calling for a two-state solution in Israel. I am sick and tired of hearing about Senator Schumer being a Shomer Yisrael when his actions demonstrate just the opposite. He does not care about fellow Jews, and he certainly doesn’t care about the State of Israel.
Our culture war has gotten worse in this country. First it was removal of statues, DEI, and transgenderism. Now, the American Museum of Natural History has removed full sections from the Native American hall in the museum. The left is trying to rewrite history, and it must be stopped.
The biggest issue of this past week is the constitutional crisis the Supreme Court has just created, putting the country on a path to a second civil war! Instead of upholding an injunction against the Biden administration, the Supreme Court ruled that the feds can remove barriers, in this case razor wire placed at the border by the State of Texas to prevent illegals from entering the country. Governor Abbot of Texas has refused to abide by that ruling and is doing everything possible to prevent the illegals from crossing into Texas. This ruling has now created a showdown between the federal government and Texas, although 25 GOP governors have signed a letter defending Texas. Is the federal government going to start using force against the Texas National Guard protecting our sovereignty? If a civil war occurs, it is once again Democrats who have caused it.
With China coming closer and closer to invading Taiwan, that could trigger World War III. Should that happen, then we should not be surprised, since Democrats seem to always be in the Presidency when a world war breaks out. Weakness and appeasement do not deter our enemies. Strength and prudence do.
Shalom Markowitz
