28 Nov Speak your VUES
TICKETING DRIVERS REVISITED
Dear Editor:
In response to your remarks about the police giving tickets to drivers who do not signal, I see many drivers in the left lane not signaling and turning and as such creating a very dangerous situation for both other drivers and pedestrians. Pedestrians look for drivers signaling so they know when a car is turning into the crosswalk. Also, to contradict what you said drivers in the left lane cannot always be assumed to be turning – more than a few times they are not, when the police, who yes are doing their job correctly, stop a motorist for not signaling and giving him or her a ticket, they are preventing a possible tragedy. They are not harassing drivers. The fine is high because the accident rate from not signaling is also high. It is to be a deterrent. Your publication should not be mocking legitimate efforts to make the streets safer; you should be reminding motorists to obey all traffic laws, even those the consider an inconvenience. I have lived on Ocean Parkway near Avenue M for almost forty years and have witnessed some really horrible accidents.
Lillian Kimmel
Editor’s Note: We are not mocking the officers who are trying to make the streets safe. We are expressing annoyance at the officers who sit at an intersection that has more than one turning lane and ticketing the car in the left lane. It is obvious that that driver will be turning. I challenge the writer of this letter to check how many tickets were given to people turning on Avenue M and Ocean Parkway.
MISUNDERSTOOD LETTER
Dear Editor, dear Alan Hirsch,
Sadly, it seems like you misunderstood my letter. I specifically started it stating that it was NOT about Rabbi Meir Kahane. He is not alive now, many people had worked with him in their youth and can’t let go of their past, which is fine. The JDL is not active or big in any form and the groups which thankfully are keeping us safe now around the world in the U.S. and Israel are our local police/Shomrim and the IDF. Not JDL. But anyways, that wasn’t my issue. My issue was the particular 3 page letter by Mr. Fuch which you printed in that issue of the Vues. Forgetting my issues with Rabbi Meir Kahane and the JDL for a second, the letter that was printed bashed Likud, called the entire Arab nation “cancer”, stated that Jews could have no non-Jewish ally and that Jews and goyim may never exist together. That was what I considered a chillul Hashem. Printing THAT letter. I didn’t attack anyone and am not attacking anyone or anything except for that letter, which I have not seen any Rabbi give a Hechsher to.
Again, I feel it is very important for a paper like the Vues to be careful. Some might have responded favorably to the article but they don’t represent the entire community. The Vues has been representing Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn for decades. I’d hate for anyone to get the wrong idea about this community from letters like the one from Mr. Fuchs. A Rabbi I know once told me that a frum Yid has to feel like the Ambassador of the Jewish people when in public. I don’t think an Ambassador of the Jewish people would spread such a letter, a letter bashing the Israeli government and bashing entire nations.
Have a great week.
With best regards,
Martin Samoylov.
Editor’s Note: This paper covers all views of many different topics pertaining to Orthodox Judaism. All views are welcome. Thank you for writing in to our paper.
HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Dear Editor:
The Agudah convention was live streamed this year on the internet. Seriously. I give them tons of credit for admitting that the internet ban is history. Just 5 years ago they were apart of a rally at Citifield, which was anti the internet.
Editor’s Note: I am not sure that the Agudah sanctioned the streaming. I am willing to bet that the rabbis of Agudah will still ban the internet for people who do not need to use it for business. Many youths in our community have been terribly affected by the internet. There definitely is room for monitoring and banning the internet in certain places.
CYBER MONDAY
Dear Editor:
I don’t understand the frenzy of Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Why do we need these gimmicks? If you need something, buy it. If you don’t need something, don’t buy it.
Timmy Schwab
Editor’s Note: It’s called economics and good advertising. This is another way to get people hyped up to spend money that they may not need to spend.
TORAH LAWS PROTECTS US
Dear Editor:
How wise were our Rabbis that they established rules regarding the laws between men and women. Is it a shock that almost every politician and actor is being accused of terrible things? If we keep the rules of the Torah, we will all be safe.
Moshe Weiss
Editor’s Note: Torah magina u’matzli. You can always count on the Torah to protect us.
TEFILLOS NEEDED
Dear Editor:
I am very worried that Iran has started sending soldiers to Syria and Lebanon. It is amazing how the world is blind to Iran’s ambitions. We need to daven that Hashem protect us from these Iranians. It would be more beneficial to Israel that Iran and Iraq get involved in another lengthy war.
Jack Hirshman
Editor’s Note: As we’ve written many times, Lev Melachim V’sarim B’yad Hashem. We need to do our part with Tefilla and leave the rest in Hashem’s hands.