Chesed...The Gift That Keeps Giving
Dear Editor:
After many years of spending summers in day camp, my teenage grandson agreed to go to sleepaway camp for the first session. Being a ben Torah, an athlete, and having a sufficient canteen account, are enabling him to enjoy this experience.
Although he was able to make many new friends, his sensitivity caused him to be keenly aware and bothered that another camper in his bunk was not as outgoing as the others and did not feel included. He befriended this boy, spent time each day talking with him, and giving him chizuk. He wanted to ensure that the boy knew he had a friend there for him, and helped him to feel that he is part of the bunk.
Nearing the end of the first month of camp, my grandson expressed his desire to stay for the second month. As this was not planned for in advance, his parents explained that it was not possible for them to make it work out this year, but perhaps for next summer they can plan ahead for a full season in camp.
Meanwhile...the camper in his bunk who he would talk with and help out, who was supposed to stay for the full summer, had made the decision that he wanted to go home. When the boy’s father came to see his son at camp, the boy told his father all about the chesed that was done for him. His father went to speak with my grandson and thanked him personally. His son had told his father that my grandson wanted to stay for the second month but couldn’t. The boy’s father told my grandson that if he wants to stay for the second month, he will make it happen for him and speak to the camp so that he can stay in place of his son. My grandson was so appreciative and thankful for the kindness and generosity of the boy’s father. He called his parents all excited to ask them and tell them about this great offer and opportunity.
My grandson is overjoyed to be in camp for this second month. We are all so happy that although he is never looking for schar for any chesed that he does, Hashem blessed him with this special gift. What comes from the heart, touches the heart.
May we always care for each other, be there for each other, and bring light and love into our world.
Esther Mochan
Dear Editor:
If I see or hear one more idiot decry Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is 100% Hamas’ doing—and is perpetuated by the worldwide mainstream media which is force-feeding Hamas’ propaganda to the world—I’m going to hurt somebody.
You want images of a humanitarian crisis? Look at the reporting in today’s paper below in which Israeli hostage Evyatar David is being forced to dig his own grave in a tunnel as the life ebbs from his ravaged body after 666 days of torment.
THIS IS HAMAS. We saw what Hamas perpetrated on October 7, we see how they are denying Israeli humanitarian aid to Gazans and blaming that deprivation on the Israelis for their own perverse anti-Israeli propaganda purposes, and now we see how Hamas brazenly boasts of their torture of the remaining hostages.
I don’t know what else there is to be done to wake up the world to Hamas atrocities. What can be done? Even for Jewish organizations who rightfully demonize Hamas, even these groups cannot seem to resist bemoaning the failure of Israel as one of the sources of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Why? To be stylish? Why show that Israel is complicit in a crisis that it is not?
And when I go to church tomorrow, as I do every Sunday, if I once again hear a call for prayer for Israel to “end its genocide in Gaza” (this is a tragic remnant of the oh-so-misguided Pope Francis era), I’m walking out of Mass after 68 years and likely never going back.
This madness of blaming Israel for the atrocities of Hamas has to stop. Get in your elected officials’ faces and in your house of worship’s face if they buy into the Big Lie. But support people, public officials, and organizations that understand that Hamas—and only Hamas—is the problem and are willing to stand up for what’s right.
Keep score of who is where on Hamas vs. Israel regarding Gaza, etch it into your bone marrow, and never, ever forget who sold out and who stood resolute. NO passes, NO forgiveness, NO forgetting. Ever. You don’t want the sellouts governing you, having their organizations have anything to do with you, or even worshipping with you in your congregation. Find a new congregation. Cut the cord.
Councilman Jim Gennaro
The Shlepper
Dear Editor:
If you are into pocketbooks—and what woman isn’t—then you might have been reading about the evolution of the world’s most famous pocketbook—the Birkin. The original one was just sold at a Sotheby’s Paris auction for a mere $10.1 million. For that kind of gelt, you could have bought a hundred knockoffs or a thousand knockoffs in Chinatown—not that I ever would.
The story of origination is that Jane Birkin was sitting next to a Hermès executive on a plane. It seems she wanted a larger bag to shlep her stuff, and so they came up with this bag. This story got me to wondering why I can’t come up with a bag called “The Shlepper” that I can market to some well-to-do women. Unfortunately, though, I don’t sit next to any high-falutin executives of “fancy Nancy” designer companies. That could be because I sit near the bathroom in economy. The only thing I discuss with my seatmate is Jewish geography (Oh, you’re from Teaneck? Do you know Moe, Curly, or Shemp?)
However, let us imagine for a moment that I was sitting next to some Madison Avenue hotshot. I would introduce my idea of “The Shlepper” which, in addition to two brass or steel straps, would include pockets for my siddur, my Tehillim, my glasses, my contacts, my sunglasses, my 7-day pill tray, my clean tissues, my dirty tissues, my 100 credit cards, my gum, my water, and my receipts from all my shopping expeditions. Would The Shlepper be heavy? Of course, but if every Jewish woman buys it, maybe I can have someone carry it for me.
Debbie Horowitz
Dear Editor:
In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the “nuclear option” and bypassed the filibuster to confirm Obama’s progressive judge nominees. In 2016, President Obama and the upper echelon of his administration spied on the campaign of the opposing party. After President Trump was elected, the attempt to destroy his presidency continued. In 2019, when the Democrats took back control of the House, they impeached President Trump twice. In 2022, the FBI raided a former president’s home. In 2023, the DOJ attempted to imprison a former president for the first time in history.
The shift that the Democrat Party has taken since Obama became president is frightening. Just look at the corruption and the abuse of power over these last ten years! It’s quite shocking. They claim to uphold democracy and the Constitution. Their actions say differently.
The movement of the Democrat Party to Marxism is clearly playing out in our culture as well. Criminals and illegal aliens seem to have more rights than U.S. citizens. The left claims that protecting our sovereignty is now akin to Nazi Germany. Not only is that an insult to any Jew who lost a family member in the Holocaust, but it’s just not true. Everything is viewed through the lenses of race, gender, and sexual orientation. Antisemitism is a cancer that has metastasized throughout the country. Yes, there are a few on the right, but they are not the ones violently protesting in the streets of our major cities.
No other country goes out of its way to protect civilians as Israel does. The sole objective when fighting a war is to win. Minimizing civilian casualties while attempting to achieve that goal is extremely difficult. Israel is also providing aid to the civilian population in Gaza. Of course, Hamas is taking all the aid and keeping it for itself so the civilian population starves. It reminds me of the warlords in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 who grabbed all the food and aid for themselves and their families.
Now the leftist leaders of France, Great Britain, and Canada have announced that they will recognize “Palestine” as a state. This is a direct result of their open-borders policies. The Islamists have invaded their countries and now they pander to that segment of their population. To reward Hamas with its own country after the October 7, 2023 attack against Israel is outrageous. We already know that a two-state solution is a failed policy. It essentially calls for the eradication of the State of Israel. That will never happen.
Shalom Markowitz
