We Must Dance Again
Dear Editor:
I agree with Rabbi Schonfeld that we should at least commemorate October 7 in some way. However, I feel that there’s a way to honor our k’doshim of that day that would be not only appropriate but poetically just.
This year, on Simchas Torah, we Jews need to dance like we’ve never danced before.
Our Simchas Torah dancing and celebration last year were thrown off by the massacre and the resulting war and the worries over our hostages. Since then, Jew-hatred has come out into the open in terrible ways. And while we need to combat this with our own rallies and speaking up (and of course, voting for leaders who can take a strong and unequivocal stand against Jew-hatred), we also need to celebrate who we are. We are being attacked because we are Jews. Therefore, as Jews, we need to celebrate who we are and what we stand for. Simchas Torah gives us a wonderful opportunity to do that.
To all my fellow Jews: Please prepare yourselves for Simchas Torah. Wear socks and sneakers (this fashion lady wears them and it’s not a faux pas). Warm up a little with some yoga (Carmel Gat Hy”d loved yoga and even did it with other hostages to keep them calm) or with some Pilates (Eden Yerushalmi Hy”d was a Pilates instructor). Bring a big bottle of water with you and sip it every so often. Ladies, if your shul doesn’t usually set up a dance space for women during Hakafos, ask your shul to do that this year or find a shul that does (I lead women’s dancing at Cong. Etz Chaim, so feel free to join in).
One of the slogans going around after October 7 was “we will dance again.” I say that we must dance again. Dancing in honor of the Torah is a wonderful and fun way to remember who we are and what we stand for, and it’s a slap in the face to all our enemies. And I can’t think of a better way to honor our k’doshim.
May Hashem allow our hostages to return home safely and dance at Hakafos in honor of Torah and Judaism.
Sincerely,
Meira E. Schneider-Atik
We Have Much Bigger Problems Than Racism
Dear Editor:
Sergei Kadinsky’s column this past week, expressing concern over the spread of racist memes, is filled with half-truths and omissions. Kadinsky claims that the Haitians who are currently residing in Springfield, Ohio, and other towns are “transforming post-industrial Midwestern cities into vibrant communities.”
I humbly suggest that Mr. Kadinsky leave the comforts of his home in West Hempstead and take a trip around the country. While he is correct that migrants are certainly “transforming” cities, I suspect this is not the type of transformation Mr. Kadinsky longs for in his own town of West Hempstead. Contrary to Mr. Kadinsky’s writings, the most common complaint regarding the Haitians in Springfield is not the pet-eating he spends most of his column on; it’s actually their flouting of our country’s driving laws. Two weeks ago, a Springfield mother and her autistic daughter were injured when a Haitian migrant made a left turn from a right lane. Last December, a Springfield grandmother was killed taking out the garbage after being run over by a Haitian migrant. And in August 2023, a Haitian migrant without a driver license killed a Springfield girl and injured 20 others when his reckless driving caused a school bus to roll over.
As for Kadinsky’s complaint about a George Soros meme being anti-Semitic because it depicts him throwing his cash around to influence elections, Newsflash: that is exactly what is going on!! Soros has funded dozens of election campaigns to help install many woke district attorneys who rarely prosecute violent crime. The effects of the de facto legalization of violent crime in these cities has been catastrophic.
After Mr. Kadinsky visits some formerly quiet towns that have undergone migrant “transformations,” I suggest he extend his trip to include a few cities where Soros-appointed DAs have jurisdiction. It will be a real eye-opener for him. Yes, racism is real, and sure it can be ugly at times; but it’s a problem that pales in comparison to issues such as our immigration laws and criminal code not being enforced by woke, mostly Democrat, elected officials.
Jonathan Goldgrab
Dear Editor:
The anti-Semitic wing of the Democratic Party – AOC and her fellow travelers – have been strangely silent over the past few years. Not that they have gone away, but since the Republicans control the House, the voice of AOC and others are muted. Nobody notices the utterances of a Congressional Representative from the party out of power.
This should give pause for all those who traditionally vote Democratic. Their Congressman could be friendly, wise, and helpful to the Jewish community. But their election could enable the Democrats to take control of the House of Representatives, at which point the AOC group will have power and voice! Jews who vote for Democratic Congressional candidates are thereby enabling the evil and poison of the anti-Semitic wing of the party to be heard and to have an effect.
Forewarned is forearmed.
D.B.F.
Queens, New York
Choosing Democrats Over Jews
Dear Editor:
Former Vice President of the Rosedale Jewish Center David Pecoraro urges QJL readers to vote for Kamala Harris. I don’t like attacking fellow Jews for their political beliefs, but I’ll make an exception here: Choosing the Democratic Party over the Jewish people is a shameful and disgraceful choice. Allow me to explain.
Kamala Harris has strategically revealed virtually nothing about how she would govern as President. One of the very few clues she has left are statements that show how much she cares about the security of our fellow Jews living in Israel. In short, she doesn’t. She has consistently pushed for a “cease-fire” that would imperil the future security of all of Israel by inevitably leading to another war. She’s proud of the fact that her administration repeatedly denied weapons of war to Israel. And worst of all is the moral equivalency she draws between Jews and Hamas. She always qualifies her “Israel has the right to defend itself” with “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” as if Israel is responsible for embedding Hamas terrorists among civilian populations.
Harris has also been a proponent of the so-called “two-state solution,” a proposition that has failed with seven previous prime ministers and will never work. Apparently, she is too dense to understand that negotiating a deal where one side is insistent on the elimination of the other is doomed to fail. Trump got a lot of post-debate flack for not supporting the corrupt country of Ukraine in their fight against Russia, but I noticed Mr. Pecoraro has no problem with Harris’ stance on letting Hamas reconstitute after slaughtering 1,200 of our Jewish brothers and sisters on October 7.
One last thing for Mr. Pecoraro to consider in endorsing Kamala Harris is that when you’re supporting the same side as all the Jew-hating terrorists in the world, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your support for Harris and the Democratic Party at the expense of your fellow Jews.
Jason Stark
Jews Should Not Vote for Their Own Demise
Dear Editor:
Week after week, we are implored by David Pecoraro, the former VP of the RJC, that it is our duty as Jews to vote for the Harris/Walz ticket in the upcoming election. The problem with voting for Harris besides the fact that she’s a congenital liar, a wholly unqualified DEI hire, and frankly not very intelligent, is that she represents a grave danger to Jews worldwide.
Jews are under attack everywhere. Yes, the war in Israel is where it’s most prominent, but it’s naive to believe that what happens in Israel has no effect on what occurs here. If anything, what happens there is a precursor to the events here. That said, Israel is in effect fighting a proxy war on behalf of the West. Given those realities, the lack of support Kamala Harris has shown for Israel after the October 7 massacre is unforgivable and should disqualify her from the votes of all Jews.
VP Pecoraro has had lots to say the past few months about Trump’s alleged anti-Semitism, including the long debunked “good people on both sides” hoax, but I noticed he’s been pretty coy when it comes to defending Harris’ record with respect to Jews. Either through ignorance or intentional omission, VP Pecoraro offers few specifics on how Jews would fare under a Harris regime (G-d forbid!) and virtually nothing on how the Harris/Biden administration has treated Israel since 10/7.
VP Pecoraro, let me illustrate for you an example in an attempt to disabuse you of your rank ignorance on this topic. Imagine, for instance, that you were enjoying a nice peaceful life in Rosedale, when one day hundreds of barbarians from the town next door in Laurelton went wild and raped, tortured, and murdered 1,200 of your neighbors. Another 250 of your neighbors were kidnapped to undisclosed locations. Fortunately, you survived, but now another terrorist group from the other direction in Valley Stream lobbed 7,500 rockets into Rosedale over the course of the next nine months, rendering Rosedale an uninhabited ghost town. What would your reaction be? I’d imagine you would seek to have the terrorist groups in both neighboring towns wiped out immediately. What would your reaction be, if after all your neighbor’s suffering, your elected leader in Rosedale decided the best course of action would be a ceasefire and a peace deal with Laurelton and Valley Stream? I would imagine you’d be enraged, and I’d doubt we’d be hearing anything about “Project 2025,” “reproductive rights,” January 6, J.D. Vance’s couch, or Trump’s 60-year-old bone spurs.
I apologize if my example is offensive, and I in no way wish any harm on anyone, but Kamala Harris views the Middle East as one big “cycle of violence,” while seeking to reward Hamas’ terrorism with a ceasefire/peace deal and state recognition and continuing to show US weakness by throwing cash at Iran. Since Jews historically vote overwhelmingly Democratic, she assumes she has the Jewish vote in the bag and will continue to stiff-arm Israel in an attempt to curry favor with the Hamas-supporting wing of the Democratic Party.
Donald Trump has made many hyperbolic statements over the years, but he’s being factual when he says that any Jew who votes for Kamala Harris “should have their head examined.”
Doniel Behar
Things I Don’t Understand
Dear Editor:
I’m the first to admit that I’m not the brightest bulb in the room. I placed 25 in a class of 75 (don’t ask me the percentage of that). I don’t even understand what AI is, although I’m trying to follow Oprah Winfrey’s explanation. Trying to understand Sam Altman’s explanation didn’t work because I was focusing on his great head of hair. I was also attracted to Oprah’s pants suit and shoes. I was wondering why she doesn’t help Kamala out with her choice of clothes. In other words, I still have no idea what AI is.
Uber is another unknown. Does Uber have hundreds of drivers hiding out in bushes and emerging when they get the call? I believed that until recently when I had to wait for five different drivers to take me from West Orange, New Jersey, to KGH. Obviously, it’s not a popular route, but I did become familiar with every street in Jersey City on the way to the Holland Tunnel.
This leads me to my next query, which is why Uber drivers don’t talk to the passengers. Are they afraid of little old me? Remember when taxi drivers would yak so much you wondered whether they’d ever get to your destination? Also, how do Uber drivers keep their cars so clean? The minute I get into my car, it seems like dirt automatically accrues.
What’s with those electric scooters or gliders that are strewn or lying all over the streets of KGH? Whose bright idea was those? Do people pay for them or just grab them? Isn’t it dangerous enough that we have bicyclists and motorcyclists riding or speeding down the streets endangering their lives and the drivers’ lives? It used to be you had to be careful of the driver in front of you, but now, you have to beware of the cyclists to your right and behind you.
Don’t get me started about people who push their dogs in strollers, or break-dancing being judged as an Olympic sport, or the “Slow Down” sign on the Van Wyck. Do they honestly believe anyone can speed on that highway? Please!
Debbie Horowitz
Dear Editor:
When it comes to paying for promised tax reductions, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remind me of the old cartoon character Wimpy. He was fond of saying, “I’ll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today,” or in this case a series of tax cuts. Neither Harris nor Trump explain how they would balance future federal budgets with significant reductions in revenue due to tax cuts. Diogenes is still searching for an honest Presidential candidate who will explain in detail which government program spending will be reduced or frozen at current levels in coming years to pay for the goodies they are promising voters. As Wendy’s spokesperson Clara Peller asked, “Where’s the Beef?”
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck, New York
Is Trump a Friend of the Jews?
Dear Editor:
In the last issue, we were treated to an avalanche of assertions to the effect that Vice President Harris is an anti-Semite, despite the inconvenient “Second Gentleman.”
But what is the true feeling of Donald Trump towards Jews? It is amusing that Marjorie Taylor Greene (of “Jewish Space Laser” fame) accuses Trump’s BFF of the week, Lara Loomer, of being an anti-Semite. But if MTG said it was raining, I would still look out the window in search of the truth.
A better look into Trump’s mind could be had by examining an off-the-cuff insult hurled at Governor Shapiro: “an overrated Jewish governor.” Now, “overrated” was certainly intended as an insult. So, I can only conclude that when not observing sh’miras ha’lashon, the former President views “Jewish” as in insult, too.
A Guten Shabbos,
David Segal
Kew Gardens Hills, New York