Judging Schumer Favorably
Dear Editor:
Chuck Schumer has gotten a lot of criticism for his comments on Israel. In last week’s newspaper, Rabbi Schonfeld correctly stated that Schumer was doing the bidding of the Biden administration in an election year. Others are outraged over Schumer using his position as the highest-ranking Jewish person in government to pressure Israel into doing something that is clearly not in their best interest.
In the spirit of being dan l’chaf z’chus, of judging our fellow Jew favorably, perhaps Schumer was merely trying to rid the political discourse of one of the oldest and ugliest Jewish tropes, that of dual loyalties. After years of disgusting actions including supporting the horrible Iran deal by voting against it only after he knew his vote was not essential to its passing and the despicable, unhinged speech directed at Israel last week, no sane person could possibly accuse Schumer, who considers himself a leader in the Jewish community, of harboring any dual loyalties.
Jonathan Goldgrab
Fame
Dear Editor:
Doctoring a picture? Since when is that a crime? Princess Kate (by the way, wishing her a r’fuah sh’leimah) probably thought that those who viewed her Mothers’ Day picture (Don’t worry, kids. This was only in England. You still have two months to paste your macaroni on a card) were more like me. In other words, I have trouble locating Waldo and finding ten differences between the two pictures in the QJL. What we learn from this PR fiasco is that fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Take Dr. Gottesman, for example. Who is she? Well, readers, if you don’t know, then you don’t have a child or grandchild in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. This 93-year-old professor just donated $1 billion (not a typo) to pay for student tuition in perpetuity. It seems that her late husband was a chaver of Warren Buffet, and the husband told her she could spend the money he was leaving her as she wants. He lived by the saying, “A happy wife means a happy life.” Well, I’m here to stick a needle into this happy balloon.
Please don’t send me any nasty letters. Yes, what she did was praiseworthy. However, I speak for YU and Stern graduates as well as a Cardozo graduate and myself (a Bernard Revel attendee) when I say, “Dr. Gottesman, maybe you should have dispensed the money more wisely. Yes, give to Einstein, but how about Wurzweiler, Revel, Ferkauf, Cardozo, YU, and Stern – not to mention Eretz Yisrael.” While it is laudable that you didn’t want the name Einstein to be replaced with your name, your fame and generosity could have gone further and benefited others, as well.
Before you get upset at me, at least Dr. Gottesman didn’t give Trump $484 million. I guess Shlomo HaMelech was right when he said that one who has a lot of money has a lot of problems.
Debbie Horowitz
TSQ Mishloach Manos Collection
Dear Editor:
Tomchei Shabbos of Queens will be collecting any extra unopened, packaged food, fruit, or beverages with proper rabbinic supervision. The drive will not accept home-baked goods or loose candies. Items must only be in their original packaging. TSQ requests items to be sorted separately in the following categories: pantry items, including real food; cookies, cakes, and snacks; candy and chocolate; and drinks. Items can be dropped off only this Sunday, March 31, from 1 to 3 p.m. at 72-42 137th Street, Kew Gardens Hills. There will not be other drop-off accommodations. Volunteers interested in assisting can join at the above times.
Shabsie Saphirstein
Democrats Are Real Threat to Jews
Dear Editor:
Great job this past week by columnist Moshe Hill tracing the origins of the Democrats’ hostile viewpoints towards Jews and Israel back to Barack Obama. Obama, who is still revered by leftoids, is vastly underrated for the racial animosity he sowed into this country which has directly led to the current hyper-racialized climate we exist in now.
Trump got a lot of heat for supposedly having the KKK and fringe right groups support him, despite disavowing their support. Biden has a far more checkered past on race; he has made racist comments so abhorrent that had they been uttered by Trump they would have ended his political career. Like his predecessor, Obama, Biden is a racial arsonist and used a misdirect (perhaps to distract from his overturning by Executive Order all of Trump’s successful border policies), ordering his Attorney General in 2021 to preposterously declare white men as the biggest terrorist threat to this country. This, of course, was as untrue then as it is today.
With a few years hindsight, ubiquitous anti-Israel protests and several million military age men from countries with open hostilities to the US and Israel having illegally entered this country, it should be apparent to all except those with permanent Trump Derangement Syndrome, where the real threat to Jews emanates from.
Doniel Behar
Democratic Party Absurdities
Dear Editor:
The Democratic Party has been an absurd party for quite a while, but on occasion the absurdity reaches a level that makes one wonder if self-awareness is a completely extinct trait within its ranks.
Joe Biden has been badmouthing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ostensibly stating that he does not represent the will of the Israeli people. Our President, who campaigned in 2020 as a moderate alternative to Donald Trump, only to subvert the will of a majority of the electorate by catering to the “wokest,” most deranged, fringe part of the Democratic Party criticizing another democratically elected leader who probably has 90 percent support on his war efforts is insane on its face.
And the architect of perhaps the greatest US foreign policy failure in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal offering unsolicited advice to a war hero like Netanyahu on how to conduct a war is just beyond the pale. Biden states he needs to see a clearer objective before Israel enters Rafah. Biden demanding to know the objective, which obviously is to finish off Hamas is rich in itself, considering he’s been the proxy behind the Ukraine/Russia war for more than two years now, which to this day still has no clearly stated, objective metric for success or an off-ramp, thanks to his feckless “leadership.”
Only our resident “Shomer Yisrael” Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in the only democracy in the Middle East can rival Biden for ridiculousness. The leader of the political party that whined, complained, and wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars investigating “foreign interference” in our 2016 election, intentionally attempting to interfere in a foreign allies’ election process is an angle that has not been reported by most mainstream news outlets. I was expecting the usual potpourri of Biden/Schumer/Democratic defenders (Hecht/Ribner/Pecoraro) to at least take a swing and proffer some sort of defense for their beloved political party, but alas we were met with silence on the topic from them last week. Perhaps they will perk up soon and explain the unexplainable to us all. I’m not holding my breath.
Jason Stark
