News

Cars Aren’t The Problem In NYC. Bicyclists Are!

Dear Editor:

Am I the only one who sees the absurdity in this?

The Perilous Hijacking of “Social Justice”

Dear Editor:

 Queens DA candidate Tiffany Cabán’s faux social justice agenda is but our local outbreak of a nationwide epidemic of virulent, reality-defying and rationality-destroying political extremism.

Dear Editor:

 Big Apple traffic congestion is a city-wide issue that has grown over time, impacting local businesses and commuters who travel by car. Consider the connection between reduction in traffic speed and its relationship to the corresponding loss in street capacity, which a recent report released by the New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg chose to ignore.

A Clarification

Dear Editor:

In my article last week titled “The 16-Percenters,” I referred to a “local Orthodox rabbi” as declaring publicly in his shul that he will not be attending the protest rally against anti-Semitism in Congress last winter. I wrote that the rabbi’s reason for not attending was that the rally may be “offensive to other ethnic groups that were not mentioned in the publicity.”

They Wouldn’t Recognize Their
Own Party

Dear Editor:

The second round of Democratic Party Presidential Primary debates between 20 officially announced candidates should give both Jewish and non-Jewish voters concern over the future of our great nation. Too many candidates on stage over two nights supported the continued expansion of government-run insurance, health care for illegal immigrants, open borders, free college tuition, forgiveness of student debt, reparations for slavery, increasing income redistribution, and guaranteed monthly income payments. Support for a mandatory Green New Deal over the coming years would result in the elimination of millions of jobs. It could easily cost tens of trillions of dollars to pay for all of the above, which Washington would have to borrow, thus increasing our national debt substantially.

They refuse to criticize fellow Democrats who equate holding facilities for illegal immigrants with the Holocaust. Six million of my Jewish ancestors did not voluntarily attempt to enter into Nazi concentration camps. They did not offer to dress in rags, be slowly starved to death, perform voluntary slave labor, and be gassed to death in crematoria.

Nothing about dealing with our $22 trillion (and growing) national debt by $1 billion per year for years to come.

Nothing about dealing with future insolvency of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Nothing about asking our NATO allies to contribute their fair share of spending for mutual defense.

Nothing about China re-indoctrination camps for several million who practice religion.

Nothing about “all lives matter” beyond just “Black Lives Matter.”

Mainstream moderate Democrats from decades ago, such as Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan (NY), Scoop Jackson (Washington), Sam Nunn (Georgia), and Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut) would not recognize their own party today.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner
Great Neck

Can We Trust Politicians and the Media?

Dear Editor:

I have a lot of appreciation for Rabbi Schonfeld sharing his views in the Queens Jewish Link, and the only way that a Jew could disagree with anything in his August 1 column is if they were to care about another ideology more than they do Judaism…which we all know tragically is widely the case.

And so on a bit of a separate note, I read during the prior week in another Jewish newspaper (the FJJ) an article about Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l regarding emunah and bitachon, specifically pertaining to an answer that the Gadol HaDor gave for this generation to not trust in people.

My presumption was that this pertained mainly to not trusting (people) primarily in government or the media. Either way, I believe that this topic would be of great interest to many Queens Jewish Link readers, and I certainly would eagerly anticipate Rabbi Schonfeld sharing his view on this subject.

Thank you again for putting out an excellent newspaper.

Sincerely,

Choni Kantor
Kew Gardens

What a Wedding!

Dear Editor:

Here we are in the middle of the Nine Days and I want to talk about a wedding!

What I actually want to talk about is achdus and how incredible it is to see it.

Recently, I attended a wedding of my friend’s daughter, a special young lady. They are Lubavitch. My friend’s husband is Sefardi (cool!) Lubavitch, and the daughter married a chasidishe boy. Oh, what a wonderful wedding!

There were so many different walks of Jewish Life. There were women is sheitels and turbans, mitpachot and hats dancing all together b’simchah, sharing in the joy of these two families uniting. And when I went over to watch the men (because, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), I was struck by what I saw: shtreimels dancing with black hats who were dancing with boys with long hair and long pei’os. There were men with kippot serugot joining in! There were men who donned yarmulkes just for that night, and there were the young men, boys really, wearing the latest suits, dancing with those wearing long pei’os with black hats. And what a dancing it was! The ruach and the joy were palpable! And I thought to myself: This is what it will look like when Mashiach finally comes! Who said that am Yisrael cannot get along? In the cholent mix of our Torah life, there is a place for everyone! Even the vegetarians!

Ora Frid

Let’s Call a Spade a Spade

Dear Editor:

I’ve read with great interest the various op-eds in response to Meira Atik’s initial article concerning the practice of some Jewish newspapers to actively refrain from publishing pictures of women. I’m grateful that the Queens Jewish Link doesn’t subscribe to this misguided practice, and I applaud Ms. Atik and her supporters for speaking out on this important issue.