Opinion

I want to give an update on three prior columns of mine concerning Fatima Mousa Mohammed, the CUNY Law School 2023 graduation speaker who made anti-Semitic comments (see QJL 6/15, 6/29 and 7/13). The speech is available on YouTube. She also doubled down after being confronted about the speech. I mentioned that if you believe that she should not be admitted to practice as an attorney, you should write to the First and Second Department admission committees. Contact information for the First Department is Veronica Guerrero, Counsel to the Committee on Character and Fitness, Appellate Division, First Department 41 Madison Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, New York 10010; for the Second Department it is Muriel L. Gennosa, Executive Director for Attorney Matters, Committee on Character & Fitness, 335 Adams Street Suite 2404, Brooklyn, NY 11201. I just checked and saw that she has passed the bar examination. Therefore, if you want to do something, now is the time. 

Last week, I wrote about the attack by those on the left against Israel and their engagement in anti-Semitic conduct. This week, I will address those on the right whose beliefs could be dangerous. There are the white nationalists whom we are all aware of. They famously marched in Charlottesville with torches, chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” It reminded me of the Nazi marches in the 1930s. What I am more concerned about is the America First crowd, which are part of MAGA.  There have always been individuals who are against using American funds to support foreign countries. The most notable has been Senator Rand Paul. What has been slowly occurring is that it is spreading. Now a candidate for president, Vivek Ramaswamy, who has taken up this approach. I worry that funding for Israel could be at risk.

This past Shabbos, I decided to engage in a “reenactment.” It was my Bar Mitzvah parshah, and I felt that it was a special anniversary.  I did exactly what I did at my Bar Mitzvah: I read Maftir, the Haftorah, and led the davening for Musaf. However, like every reenactment, it is not the same. I am not the same as I was at my Bar Mitzvah.

Before I get to the main part of my column, I want to give an update as to how my guinea pigs, Squirrel and Squeaky, are getting along. Before Chol HaMoed Sukkos, I tried to put them together in the same cage. It didn’t work the first time since Squeaky was attacking Squirrel. But my wife wanted the second cage gone ASAP (read: before Simchas Torah) so I tried a new tactic during Chol HaMoed when I put them together again and it worked. Although they have their moments, they are getting along.

This week is the 85^th anniversary of Kristallnacht. We all thought that this was something that occurred in the past. To our shock, it is back. This past week in Austria, almost to the day, the ceremonial hall in the Jewish cemetery in Vienna was torched, as it was 85 years ago. There were Nazi symbols left on the building. As I have said in the past, the far right and the far left might not agree on much, but they do agree on hating Jews.

The pain of seeing what has happened to our Israeli brethren has not subsided. I can only imagine the pain and anguish and fear that those in Israel are going through. It feels like a mass shivah. The media, including CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, have broadcasted one horror story after another. In two instances, the person being interviewed, including the father of an eight-year-old girl, said that it was better to hear that their child was killed than taken captive by Hamas. This shocked the interviewers. I learned that the Talmud says that being held as a captive is worse than being killed.