47.8 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Letters to the Editor

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Dear Editor:

In the course of my email efforts I have cultivated a number of Israeli contacts who have become my “unnamed sources.” Today, one of those, a respected foreign policy expert, sent me the following message:

“The reason for the WH leak of Israel׳s operation is that Obama wanted to signal the Iranians that US was not part of the attack against Tehran’s major state proxy, Syria. The US is like a lap dog to the Iranian regime.”

Dan Friedman

Dear Editor,

In light of the fact that the anniversary of the assassination of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin falls on November 5, I thought your readers would be interested in reading the remarks made by Secretary of State John Kerry about Rabin during his current trip to Israel.

“ It’s a great privilege for me and always a sad moment to come to remember the memory of a great man, a great general, a great prime minister, a great leader, a great man of peace.  And one can hear his booming voice saying the words – the famous words – “We are destined to live together.”

Here, just moments before his life was taken and the possibilities of peace were disrupted through an act of violence, he stood up on that balcony with his friend, Shimon Peres, and together, they sang, “Don’t whisper a prayer.  Sing a song of peace in a loud voice.”  We are now 18 years since that moment, and it is clear that we need voices ready to sing a song of peace loudly, with courage, with the same determination that Prime Minister Rabin showed in his quest for peace.  He dared to take the risks for peace because he believed not just that it was important for the sake of peace, but that it was vital for the security and future of Israel, and of the region.

Eighteen years is important because I am told that 18 is important in the Proverbs – the 18th Proverb, it says that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”  Death and life in the power of the tongue.  So what we say with our voices, how we talk about peace, how we prepare the possibilities of peace are really critical to all of us.  We need to avoid incitement.  We need to sing that song that Prime Minister Rabin and President Peres embraced together.

Eighteen is also, I am told, very important in Hebrew, because the letters that write the word “eighteen” literally mean life, hayyim.  I remember shouting those words once from the top of Masada in my first visit to the Holy Land.  And we stood up there and together, as a group, we shouted across the chasm, “(In Hebrew), hayyim.”  Those words meant something to me.  And so maybe 18, maybe the word hayyim in life will have a special meaning at this particular moment.

The Proverbs also teach us L’chaim.  That’s something we now need to put into practice.  So I come here without any illusions about the difficulties, but I come here determined to work with leaders – with the Prime Minister, with the President of the Palestinian Authority – to try to find a way forward so that Israel can live the dream that President Peres and Prime Minister Rabin expressed so eloquently and beautifully in the tragedy of that day here and in many days before that.

We will continue to work, and I can promise Israelis that America will stand by the side of Israel every step of the way.  We believe this is something that is possible, that is good for all, and that it can be achieved.  And I will leave here inspired by being here with Dalia and with members of the family, most importantly by seeing the symbolism of the turbulence, the earthquake that followed that moment of violence.  It should rededicate every person in Israel with the possibility of a just and appropriate and fair peace which protects the security of Israel, guarantees that Israel’s security will be protected, but makes possible for people to live the words of the prime minister, “We are destined to live together,” I add, in peace.  Thank you.”

Fred Eisenstodt

Dear Editor,

Each year, during the first week of November, my thoughts inevitably turn to the memory of Rabbi Meir Kahane, zt’l.  In so many ways it seems like just yesterday, he was taken from us in a bloody shooting. In other ways, and most often, it feels like an eternity. His message and all that he stood for has been vanquished from our collective mindset, and to our detriment I might add. With all of the mounting problems that Jews and Israel are facing, now, more than ever, we need someone like Rabbi Kahane, to render a Torah true perspective on today’s happenings that hit us with such blinding speed.

Now that Israel is set to sit down with the Palestinians and attempt to make “peace” by allowing them their own state, I simply cannot believe that Rabbi Kahane would be sitting idly by, if he were with us.

As a woman approaching 90, I remember his passion and compassion for his people, his ability to assemble masses of people at demonstrations for Israel and for the release of Soviet Jewry. Above all I remember his true “Ahavas Yisroel” in every sense of the word.

He is sorely missed.

Esther Korenman

 

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -