07 May Speak Your Vues

FLATBUSH SHOMRIM

To the Wonderful Members of Flatbush Shomrim

Safety Patrol: To everyone who reads this, there are not

enough words to express my gratitude to you all.

On the morning of April 25,2019 you responded to a

call on East 4th Street of a missing elderly woman with

dementia. That woman was my mother. Within minutes

you quickly responded when I reached out you. You were strangers who

didn’t care of my religion or my race and knew nothing

of my family and yet, you did not hesitate and came to my help. Every time I

turned another Shomrim member was here to support, passing on information

and making every effort to find my mother. Your patience, concern and determination

reassured me she would be found. And she was. Safe and surrounded

by you all with care and compassion. What can I say, except

Thank you! I want everyone to know what a true blessing the

Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol members are for our

community. With deepest appreciation,

Teresa Gentile

Editor’s Note: Well said! We are proud of the Flatbush

Shomrim Safety Patrol and all the good they do.

 

KALIVER REBBE

Dear Editor: In 1947 Rabbi Taub, better known as the Kaliva Rebbe, migrated to Cleveland, Ohio. A little picture

of this city Cleveland: There was a major influx of Jews from Hungary, Romania,

Czechoslovakia and neighboring countries there. They came from wonderful homes and greatest yeshivos

with the biggest Roshei Yeshiva. These people came directly from the furnaces

and camps of Treblinka, Auschwitz and many more and left their whole families

and towns burned and destroyed. They themselves had totally given up their backgrounds,

religion and R”L Hashem. In Cleveland, where they ended up, they

had nothing. Just Democracy, Freedom of Religion

and free education. They built homes sending their children to the local public

school, Heights High. This public school had no school on Rosh Hashana and Yom

Kippur – that was their Jewish education! This great visionary saw

all this and he understood their language and situation. He knocked on their

doors and made a Kaliver Yeshiva in Cleveland. He brought his brother in law (his wife’s sister’s husband)

Rabbi Yehosef Schonfeld (who lives today in Kiryat Herzog near Bnei Brak as their rav) to join him in the

yeshiva. He brought another bochur from New York who was full of middos tovos

and yiras shomayim that had also come from Eastern European camps to be

a rebbi. His name is Rabbi Mordechai Seder. After Kaliver closed down, he went

to New York to help open up the Belzer Yeshiva in Williamsburg. The Kaliver Yeshiva grew

in many ways, saving souls and eventually families as they excelled in Yiddishkeit under the great Kaliver

Rebbe. This man did not lose himself and did all he could to be one of those

great giants who is responsible for today’s schools, yeshivos and Yiddishkeit on

American soil. Yehi zichro baruch.

A.K.

Editors Note: Thank you

for sharing with our readers a glimpse of this great Gadol.

 

PESACH PROGRAM DISAPPOINTMENT

Dear Editor:

THE PESACH PROGRAM that I attended was unfortunately not the wonderful experience I was

hoping it to be. From the beginning there was no one to check you in or welcome

you. My name was not in the computer. When I finally checked in there were no

programs given out to what the schedule was for the day and when finally when they

had a schedule it was sent on the phone rather then a printed copy. I had to request

that it be printed out. The food in the dining room was simple and bad.

They had buffet at 12 midnight which is very late to

eat and not appreciated. The concert with MBD made you wait so long until he

came out. I could go on and on but I will end here. I was extremely in shock for the amount of money that was

paid. How disorganized! It was overall a very disappointing experience.

Anonymous

Editors Note: I guess you win some and you lose some. Just remember staying at home is probably safest.

 

ANTISEMITISM

Dear Editor:

Will this anti Semitism ever stop? This Rasha Talib from congress blamed Israel for the Gaza crisis

claiming that Israel is oppressing the Palestinians. The last I checked the Gaza is under the Hamas rule does

that mean that Hamas is oppressing the Palestinians and Israel is being blamed as usual anti-Semitism. 

Editors note: As much as things change they stay the same and yes the democrats are a bunch of antisemites.

 

SHOOTING IN POWAY

Dear Editor:

The horrific shooting attack on the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California

has generated a variety of responses and recommendations, from tolerance education to firearms

instruction to increasing synagogue attendance as a show of defiance.

Remarkably, however, one of the most obvious possible responses to anti-Semitic violence has been

almost completely absent from the post-shooting dialogue: Aliyah. Immigration by American Jews to

Israel has never been more than a trickle — typically 2,000 to 3,000 annually, less than one-fourth of one percent of the American Jewish

community. In 2018 aliyah from the U.S. was actually down 5% from 2017.

But that’s not surprising, because there has never been an instance, throughout history, when there was

a substantial aliyah from a Jewish community that comfortable and prosperous and believed that they

were physically safe. It goes against human nature. People vote with their feet. When they like a place, they stay there.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason that there is so little discussion in America about aliyah. It seems so

utterly unrealistic to expect many American Jews to ever take the idea seriously. Another reason it’s not widely

discussed is that the very question makes many people uncomfortable.

Zionists tell themselves that they are needed here in order to promote Israel’s cause. Orthodox Jews tell

themselves that while living in Israel is Jewishly desirable, it is justified to remain in the U.S. in order to earn a living. And while those

reasons may be valid on some level, they are nonetheless unsettling. And yet… and yet… And yet there

is now another dimension to this issue that simply cannot be avoided.

For the past three years, pundits, community leaders, and organizations such as the Anti-Defamation

League have been reporting that anti-Semitism has been increasing very significantly. They all vehemently

agree that it is reaching crisis proportions. The more dramatic among these commentators have

begun warning that “it” could happen in America, after all. Well, if that is the case — and if the shooting attacks on the Pittsburgh and California synagogues illustrate

that imminent danger — then shouldn’t we at least be talking about the option that Jews in imminent danger have always considered

and often undertaken emigration to Israel? During the 1930s, as the dark storm clouds gathered on the Jewish horizon, the legendary Zionist leader

Ze’ev Jabotinsky crisscrossed Eastern Europe, pleading with the Jewish masses, “Liquidate the Exile before

it liquidates you.” The Jews of Germany and Poland tried to get to Eretz Yisrael on the eve of the Holocaust, but the British

government — first under Neville Chamberlain’s leadership and later under Winston Churchill enforced

the infamous White Paper of 1939 that kept them out. America in 2019 is not comparable to Germany in 1939. A lone anti- Semitic terrorist attacking a synagogue

is not the same as an entire government — in fact, virtually an entire nation — waging a deadly war against Jews.

I am not proposing that the Jews of Beverly Hills and Boro Park should be selling their houses and buying

their plane tickets. What I am saying is that we should at least be talking about aliyah.

We should be discussing both the positive and negative reasons for moving to Israel. We should be frank about the reasons we give our

children for why we love Israel but live here. We should have a serious discussion about what traditional

Jewish sources have to say about the subject. We should consider the

implications of Pittsburgh and Poway. It’s time for aliyah to be part of the conversation.

Moshe Phillips

Editors Note: We need Moshiach ASAP.

 

IMBALANCE IN MEDIA

Dear Editor:

Please note how over the past number of years the mainstream socalled “progressive” left has intensified

its war against white men. Now

even faint general praise of white

men is deemed racist and condemnable

by the left-wing goons who

control the mainstream media and

entertainment (i.e. Hollywood). The

same racism label is automatically

applied to anyone not proving support

to any prominent non-white or

non-male of the leftist persuasion.

Editor’s Note: All minorities other

than Jews are considered to be a protected

class in this leftist mindset.

NO OBSTRUCTION

Dear Editor:

I don’t understand the outcome of

the Mueller report. Seems like there

was NO COLLUSION and dems

moved on to obstruction of justice.

So granted Trump was obviously

hiding something, he wanted Mueller

removed, etc., but if there was

no crime how can there be justice of

that crime to be obstructed?

Editors Note: U.S. prosecutors can

indict a ham sandwich — and win a

conviction — if they’re so inclined.

There are so many barely known

laws that virtually every American is

a criminal.

AN AMAZING STORY

Jeff* is a Brooklyn Jewish Xperience

(BJX) student who was raised in a

completely secular Jewish home. He

is 26 years old. Jeff began his religious

journey at BJX and slowly but

surely began to commit to Mitzvah

observance. Today, Jeff keeps Shabbos

and Kashrus and is committed to

only marrying a Jewish girl. Prior to

his religious growth, it made no difference

to Jeff whether he married

Jewish or not. Incredibly, Jeff attends

shiurim at least twice a week.

None of these changes came easy.

Each commitment was arduous,

challenging and difficult.

Jeff shared this amazing story with

me this past Shabbos: “I was at BJX

one Shabbos morning after I became

Shomer Shabbos.

Negative thoughts had been plaguing

my mind. These persistent and

relentless thoughts were dragging

me down, emotionally and spiritually.

I had not experienced this before

and was at my wits end.

I was experiencing real anguish and

turmoil from these thoughts. It was

then that I saw the person seated next

to me garbing himself in a Tallis. A

Tallis was something still foreign to

me as I had only recently began to

wear Tefillin. Something about the

man enveloping himself in the Tallis

struck me. For some inexplicable

reason, I became smitten and intrigued

by the holiness of the Tallis.

I know this may sound bizarre but

it was as if this magnetic force was

propelling me to the Tallis.

I found an extra Tallis. I felt a certain

aura from the Tallis, as if it was

a concealed light. Then I did something

totally unnatural. My previous

secular mindset would have scoffed

at the idea of putting on a Tallis. I

tried my best to imitate the way the

guy sitting next to me out on his Tallis.

I threw the Tallis over my head

and allowed it to cascade over my

body.

Just as I wrapped myself in the Tallis,

I felt different. All the negative

thoughts disappeared. I felt liberated

and free.

I motioned to the fellow next to

me that I must speak with him. I

explained to him what happened.

He said to me, it is written in the

Torah, in he Parshah of Tzitzis that

one should not allow his mind to go

astray and have bad thoughts. He

told me that is is explicitly written in

the Torah that looking at Tzitzis (and

Tallis) causes one to have an infusion

of spirituality and to think about

holiness. He said that the Talmud

mentions that wearing Tzitzis can

actually even save a person from sin.

I now do something I never dreamt

of before. I wear Tzitzis every single

day. Ever since I began wearing Tzitzis,

the negative thoughts have not

returned. I am a different person.”

A frum from birth person put on

Tallis that morning in the BJX Beis

Medrash. He’s been wearing Tzitzis

his entire life and may have grown

too accustomed to it. Little did he

realize the great impact he would

make upon a young man. It not only

brought him faith and peace of mind

but served as the catalyst for him to

begin wearing Tzitzis every day.

We have no idea of the power of

our actions and the influence that

our conduct carries. You never know

who may be observing you and be

inspired to change. You never know

who may be sitting next to you and

waiting to be ignited.