18 Mar SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER
FLIGHTS
Dear Vues Master,
United Airlines has resumed flights to Israel, becoming
the first American airline to do so after suspending opera-
tions due to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The airline restart-
ed its daily service from Newark Liberty International
Airport this past weekend, with the return flight departing
Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday morning. A
second daily flight is scheduled to begin on March 29,
with departures taking place in the evening.
Before the conflict, United operated more flights to Is-
rael than any other U.S. airline, offering 14 weekly flights
from the New York area, in addition to services from Chi-
cago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The airline
had previously stated that it would monitor demand be-
fore adding more flights. JH
Vues Master’s Note: The war has resumed, and I would
not be surprised if flights get canceled again.
SCHUMER IS A PALESTINIAN
Dear Vues Master,
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s three planned
book tour events, scheduled for this past week, were
abruptly postponed this Monday due to “security con-
cerns.” It’s ironic that Schumer, of all people, wrote a
book titled Antisemitism in America: A Warning.
As a member of the Jewish community, I am deeply
disappointed by Schumer’s actions and rhetoric, which
show a disregard for the safety and well-being of Israel
and Jews worldwide. His failure to firmly oppose anti-
semitism and his support for policies that endanger our
people contradict his duty to be a Shomer Yisrael. He has
consistently prioritized political expediency over protect-
ing Jewish interests, undermining the values that should
guide any true leader of the Jewish community. His ac-
tions betray us all. AE
Vues Master’s Note: No wonder why President Trump
called Schumer a Palestinian and not Jewish.
FLATBUSH CHAMETZ GEMACH
Dear Vues Master,
The Flatbush Chametz Gemach is now entering its six-
teenth year. With your help, we have collected and dis-
tributed almost 80,000 pounds of food. Last year alone,
the Gemach distributed 8,500 pounds of food, and we are
now approaching the milestone of 100,000 pounds.
The Gemach started by accident. Before Pesach in 2010,
while running errands, I found an egg box full of un-
opened packages being discarded. As my family was
selling chametz, it struck me as odd that someone would
throw away perfectly good food. So, I took the box home
and sold it along with my own chametz. After Pesach, I
gave it away—and that turned into the Gemach.
As I emphasize every year, we will need your help.
Between Purim and Pesach, please donate non-perishable
chametz in unopened packages with visible hechshers.
The Gemach will halachically sell all chametz before
Pesach, and after Pesach, everything will be distributed
to those in need. (Please also consider donating non-food
items such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and dishwash-
ing liquid.)
After Pesach, recipients will come by for individual ap-
pointments to ensure privacy. It is not always easy to ask
for help with something as basic as food.
Unfortunately, we are unable to do pickups, so we kindly
ask that you consider the food drop-off as part of your
Pesach preparations.
Additionally, we encourage you to consider making
a monetary donation along with your food drop-off, as
families need all types of support.
Please call in advance for more information and to ar-
range drop-off times. We prefer supervised drop-offs.
Please do not leave the food outside the door, as we need
to protect it from the weather and insects. We also want
to avoid inconveniencing our neighbors in case donations
are accidentally left at the wrong house.
For more information, please call Yitzchak Relkin at 718-
377-6361 or email yitzchak@relkin.com (with “Chametz
Gemach” in the subject line). The Gemach is active be-
tween Purim and Pesach and is located at 1101 East 3rd
Street (between I/J).
The last day for donations is Tuesday, April 8.
The Gemach is l’zecher nishmas Perel Esther bas Yaakov.
Yitzchak Relkin
Vues Master’s Note: Keep up the good work! Tizku
l’mitzvot!
METER
Dear Vues Master,
I went to the bank before Purim, and as you
can imagine, there was a huge line. By the
time I returned to my car, you guessed it—I
had a ticket for not displaying a muni me-
ter parking receipt. But here’s the twist: Mi
K’amcha Yisroel—I found a paid parking
ticket on my windshield, wedged between
the parking ticket and the orange envelope!
It had the exact same start time as my park-
ing ticket—3:19! This means someone went
out of their way to buy me a muni meter
ticket so I wouldn’t be fined. How amazing
is that?
RMS
Vues Master’s Note: I think you should pass
it on and help the next person!
LOUD MUSIC
Dear Vues Master,
I just returned from a chasuna, and the noise
was insanely loud. Am I the only one who
feels this way? It seems like the volume is
getting louder and louder.
GH
Vues Master’s Note: Or could it be that your
hearing is starting to go?
WEARING COSTUMES ON PU-
RIM
Dear Vues Master,
The Lubavitcher Rebbe was once asked
what we can learn from the custom of
wearing costumes on Purim. The Rebbe
answered: On Purim, you see many people
dressed in different types of costumes—one
is a clown, one is an animal, and some you
might not even recognize by their costume.
Do you get angry or upset with them? No,
because you know it’s just a costume.
In life, we meet many people: one is im-
patient, one is angry, one is apathetic. But
this is not who they really are; it’s just a
“costume.” Deep in their hearts, they are all
warm Jews, full of purity and beauty. We
just need to interact with them with kind-
ness and tenderness, helping them take off
their “costume” and revealing the pure ne-
shama (soul) inside each one.
This is true Ahavas Yisroel!
AS
Vues Master Note: Love it!!
TZEDAKA
Dear Vues Master,
A fundraising campaign organized by the
family of Yarden Bibas, a recently released
hostage, has exceeded its goal of $1,371,086
within just one day of being launched. It has
now surpassed $1.6 million.
The goal of the campaign is to support Bi-
bas’s recovery and honor the memory of his
wife, Shiri, and their young children, Kfir
and Ariel. The family was abducted during
the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and
tragically lost their lives while in captivity.
The donations, collected through the Le-
hosheet Yad (Lend a Hand) foundation, will
help fund “professional support, mental
health assistance, and financial resources
to gradually regain a sense of normalcy,”
as outlined by Yarden’s father, Eli, on the
campaign’s English-language page.
EB
Vues Master’s Note: Let’s hope that the
funds help Yarden Bibas, his family and the
wounded soldiers, and that all hostages are
brought back safely!
REBBEIM SERVING TALMIDIM
ALCOHOL
Dear Vues Master,
My son attended a Purim party and was
shocked to see his rebbe serving alcohol to
his high school students. It is already dif-
ficult enough to keep my son from drink-
ing with his friends on Purim, but for him to
receive alcohol from his 11th-grade rebbe is
even more concerning.
Vues Master’s Note: No one should be
served alcohol on Purim if they are under-
age. We are already facing enough chal-
lenges with at-risk youth. You should defi-
nitely discuss this matter with the principal
of the yeshiva.
TRUTH BE TOLD
Dear Vues Master,
R’ Avraham Mordechai from Gur once met
another rav, who inquired about the health
of a chassid who had passed away several
days earlier. The rav, not wanting to de-
liver bad news, replied, “He is in need of
much mercy.” Shortly after parting ways,
the other rav learned that the chassid had
indeed died a few days prior. He returned to
R’ Avraham Mordechai and asked how he
could have told him something that wasn’t
true. “What isn’t true?” R’ Avraham Mor-
dechai asked. “The dead also need mercy,”
he explained. “After all, we say three times
a day, ‘He Who gives life to the dead with
much mercy.’”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: This letter is a dead
giveaway!
BEARER OF NEWS
Dear Vues Master,
The community in Brisk decided to fire
their long-serving shamash. However, no
one had the courage to be the one to tell
him. So, they decided to have Rabbi Yossi
Bar, the Av Beit Din, carry out the unpleas-
ant task. However, the rabbi refused.
“In the Parashat HaAkedah,” he explained,
“it states that it was Hashem Himself who
commanded Avraham Avinu to sacrifice
his son, Et Bincha Et Yechidcha. But when
Avraham was told Lo L’Ngoa B’Na’ar, it
was by an angel. As the pasuk says: Vayi-
kra Malach Hashem El Avraham. This
presents the question: Why didn’t Hashem
also send an angel to tell Avraham to bring
Yitzchak to the Akedah? The answer is that
each of the angels would have said, ‘Ribono
Shel Olam, it is Your will to command the
slaughter of a human being from Israel. You
go and tell him Yourself.’”
Vues Master’s Note: Wow, what a story!
CORRUPTION
Dear Vues Master:
A judge named Baruch was known to be
corrupt. On one occasion, when he ruled
against the evidence, the losing party told
him that only after he dies would people
be able to say about him, “Baruch Dayan
Emet.”
YH
Vues Master’s Note: Funny!
BIBAS DENIERS
Dear Vues Master,
There are Holocaust deniers who claim
that accounts of the Nazi genocide are a
hoax. There are October 7 deniers who
insist that Hamas did not commit any
atrocities during its 2023 invasion. Now, it
seems a new type of denier is emerging—
the Bibas deniers.
Killers and their cheerleaders often try to
obscure their crimes by drowning them in
impersonal statistics. It’s hard for the pub-
lic to identify with millions of victims. But
when the focus shifts to one or two indi-
viduals with names and faces, their suffer-
ing becomes real and immediate. This is
why the story of Anne Frank resonates so
deeply. And it’s why the murders of four-
year-old Ariel Bibas and his nine-month-
old brother, Kfir, by Palestinian Arab ter-
rorists have become such a problem for
Israel’s enemies.
“Anne Frank’s baby brothers,” as the hu-
man rights scholar Thane Rosenbaum apt-
ly described them, are no longer part of an
anonymous body count. The brutal murder
of these two little boys in Gaza has come to
symbolize the horrors of October 7, much
like Anne Frank’s story has come to sym-
bolize the Holocaust.
Israel’s enemies understand that publiciz-
ing the truth about the Bibas murders gen-
erates sympathy for Israel and undermines
the Palestinian Arab cause. That’s why
they are trying to deny or at least minimize
the Bibas killings.
The denial campaign is being led by
Hamas itself—at least in its statements to
the outside world. Hamas spokespeople
claim the boys were killed in an Israeli
airstrike. However, Israeli forensic experts
who examined the children’s bodies found
they were, in fact, murdered by the terror-
ists’ bare hands. Afterwards,
the bodies were mutilated in a
transparent attempt to disguise
what had been done.
Who to believe? On one hand,
there are medical profession-
als trained in respected institu-
tions. On the other hand, there
is an international terrorist
group that calls the Holocaust a
hoax and claims that The Proto-
cols of the Elders of Zion is real. The Pro-
tocols is even quoted in Hamas’s charter,
underscoring its commitment to falsifying
the truth.
For the emerging class of Bibas deniers,
the truth doesn’t matter. All that matters is
how to absolve the killers and harm Israel.
French politician and European Parlia-
ment member Rina Hassan tweeted that
the Bibas children were actually killed by
Israelis. She reiterated this claim in a radio
interview, adding that “Hamas has a legiti-
mate cause.”
Omar Dajani, a law professor at the Uni-
versity of the Pacific in California, recent-
ly retweeted a message asserting that it is
“unclear” whether Israel or Hamas killed
the Bibas children. That’s akin to saying it
is “unclear” whether the Nazis killed Jews
or if they died from other causes.
Another tactic to shift blame from Hamas
is the “everybody does it” approach. Zaid
Tyam, stationed in The Hague as the repre-
sentative of Fatah (the Palestinian Author-
ity’s ruling faction), said on Egyptian tele-
vision last week that Israel is in no position
to accuse Hamas of abusing hostages like
the Bibas children, because Israel itself has
“abused” the families of imprisoned terror-
ists by not releasing them sooner.
Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of
ABC’s The View, disrupted a colleague’s
comments about the Bibas children. Gold-
berg asserted that while many people say
“Hamas is the bad guy,” that is not the full
story. “But what happened to Russia?”
Goldberg asked. “Is Russia not bad with
all they’ve been doing?”
Challenged by her co-hosts, Goldberg con-
tinued, “My point is, when do we stop say-
ing it’s these folks or those folks? This is
what the enemy does to children. This is
what the enemy does to children in Africa.
This is what the enemy does to children
all over the world because they’re the en-
emy… What’s happening, y’all?”
Others try to distract attention from the
Bibas children in different ways. At the
University of Michigan, students painted
a large boulder in orange with the names
of Ariel, Kfir, and their mother, Shiri. Pro-
Hamas vandals promptly used spray paint
to cover their names with the words “Free
Palestine” and Hamas symbols.
Ironically, many average Gazans are not
denying the Bibas murders—they’ve been
celebrating them. Hamas held a public cer-
emony in the town of Khan Yunis, where
the Bibas children’s small coffins were
displayed before being handed over to Is-
rael (in exchange for the release of other
killers of Israeli children). Large, joy-
ous crowds gathered, families relaxed on
lawn chairs, played music, and sang songs.
Sweets were distributed, and hookah pipes
were smoked. Fathers lifted their children
for a better view of the coffins, in a scene
eerily reminiscent of crowds cheering the
lynchings of African-Americans in the old
South.
Like Holocaust deniers, the Bibas de-
niers come in different forms, but they are
all part of the same team: the killers, the
cheerleaders, the deniers, and the minimiz-
ers. They all share the same agenda—to
hurt the Jews.
The appropriate way to deal with Bibas de-
niers is the same way decent people deal
with Holocaust deniers: ostracize them.
The Constitution protects their right to en-
gage in hate speech, but it does not obli-
gate anyone to offer them platforms.
Dr. Rafael Medoff
Vues Master’s Note: Deniers will be de-
niers!
REMEMBER
Dear Vues Master,
The faces and names of the victims and
hostages from
October 7 are
etched in the
minds of mil-
lions, both Jews
and non-Jews.
They represent
the enduring
hatred of the
Jewish people,
a spiritual law,
and one of our
six constant
reminders. On
Pesach, we will
once again say,
“In every gen-
eration…”
What happened to “Never Again”? Before
October 7, it was easier to believe that the
past was behind us. Now, it is clear that to-
day and tomorrow are still marked by the
events of October 7.
It is our shared challenge, duty, and oppor-
tunity to keep the memory of our martyrs
and sacrifices alive. To that end, I propose
featuring these now-iconic images on
sheets of Israeli postage stamps (with the
families’ permission, of course), ensur-
ing their constant circulation and remem-
brance.
Sincerely, Anonymous
Vues Master’s Note: Remember them. Re-
member them!
MISHLOACH MANOS
Dear Vues Master,
Last week’s “Quote of the Week” by Rabbi
Moshe Meir Weiss was excellent. I took a
picture of it and sent it to all my friends.
These days, people tend to overdo it with
Mishloach Manos.
PD
Vues Master’s Note: As long as it’s in good
spirits and fun, why not go all out? We tend
to overdo it during Pesach as well!
JUDGE
Dear Vues Master,
A rabbi who traveled to a distant town
observed that the local rabbi was judging
cases on his own, cases which typically re-
quire three judges. When asked about this,
the rabbi replied, “We are three: the Ge-
mara, the Choshen Mishpat, and myself.”
The visiting rabbi responded, “Yes, but the
Sages prohibited a person from sitting in
judgment with those he does not know.”
Vues Master’s Note: He wants to be both
the judge and the jury!