Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community I caught up with Leah, who had just spent the last few hours running from fridge to oven, and sink to...
The number of COVID-19 cases is soaring across the country. Yet in these trying times, it is clear that there is so much more than a virus that is wrong with America.
For some of us, summer is a carefree time. As one Jew wrote, “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” There’s at least one wrinkle in the enjoyment of those long summer afternoons: The spoilsport rabbis of yore gave us 22 days of semi-mourning smack dab in the middle of them.
This past Sunday, a massive gathering of police supporters rallied in Crocheron Park in Bayside under the banner of Blue Lives Matter, a movement of police supporters countering the apparent political momentum for defunding and constraining the ability of police officers to arrest individuals.
As the promised date for annexation of Judea and Samaria draws closer, the debate in Israel is heating up. But surprisingly, even those who have advocated extending the sovereignty of Israel to Judea and Samaria for years are conflicted as to whether to take this bold step now. What is the core of the debate? Why would the much-heralded Trump Plan cause so much debate today? And lastly, will Netanyahu ultimately implement the plan?
This past week saw a massive surge in the defamation, desecration, and destruction of the history of the United States of America. The ire of the mob is no longer limited to protesting police brutality or Confederate statues – perhaps it never was. The goal of the far-left is to burn down the country and hope that from the ashes a better system somehow emerges. Few, if any, of our elected leaders seem to have the political will to stop them.
We will have to wait a while for the final results, but the main lessons from the June 23 primary are clear: The recent primaries were skirmishes in an ongoing battle. The struggle to defeat the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic forces in the Democratic Party is a fight that will go the distance. There will not be a knockout blow for either side anytime soon. There will be victories and defeats along the way, but it is a battle we must win. A strong US-Israel relationship depends on bi-partisan support – support from both political parties. Fortunately, the battle is far from lost. We will miss the leadership of longtime friends but can take heart from new ones. It is self-defeating to castigate an entire party as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, when that is far from the truth. We should reach out to the hands that have been extended to us in friendship. It is a time to build bridges, not burn them.
