 
Letters To The Editor
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By Larry Gordon
Published on Thursday, May 15, 2008 -
COMMENTS (0)
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Communal Charity Fund
Dear Editor,
I think the idea of having a communal charity fund, (Letters to the Editor, 5TJT, May 9), is a terrific one. I have also had difficulties with some of the funds we have around town. I don’t think the people who run these funds could relate to the average person. I would just like to tell these affluent people that although Hashem has given them this money, at any time He could take it away just as fast.
Sometimes we Jews are our own worst enemy. When the goyim walk on Broadway and see all those huge houses, why must we hear, “Oh, those Jews have all the money.” Is it really necessary to show off all the money you have? What about a nice house on the outside and then you could do anything you want on the inside? If you have millions of dollars to spend, spend half that amount for the house and half the amount towards tzedakah. After 120 years, I am sure it would look better for you if you are seen giving some to those in need.
By the way, this does not apply to all the affluent in the area; but to those who it does apply to, they probably know who they are—it really does not impress anyone except you. I actually am turned off by all this flashiness. I think having a community fund, run by a group of people, is a great idea. No questions asked, no mussar, just help.
To the letter writer: I would like to help this family you were talking about. Please let me know how I could go about it. I am sure there are others who would like to help as well. I think that in the meantime, anyone who could help this family or any other family they know, this is the biggest mitzvah one could do. True tzedakah—just help, no questions asked.
Judy Sokol,
Woodmere
A Positive Perspective On Israel’s 60th Birthday
Dear Editor,
For all those who can only recount the negatives of the State of Israel on its anniversary, this is my response:
The idea of returning to the land of our forefathers, the dream of our past sages, held emotional sway way before Zionism was conceived. Talmidei HaGra and the Gra himself yearned to leave the deadened shores of Europe to start anew in the spiritual Eretz Yisrael. Now, more than ever, flights are packed to the gills with Torah-observant families and individuals coming on aliyah. The annual rate of yeshiva and seminary students, b’nei Torah, newlyweds, and frum retirees arriving in Israel is rising every year. Religious Anglo communities are sprouting up in places like Modiim, Nof Ayalon, Yad Binyamin, Pisgat Zev, Raanana, Petach Tikvah, and others. Kollel families and kiruv groups are bringing Toras Hashem to outlying communities, completely changing the secular map of Eretz Yisrael. For the first time ever, S’derot, a southern immigrant city bombarded with daily missiles, has a full-fledged yeshiva and kollel avreichim, with young men on a waiting list hoping to join this makom Torah.
Yet you find it hard to offer a positive perspective on the country’s 60th anniversary? Why? To overlook the problems, negatives, hardships, anti-Torah feelings, corrupt leadership, is naiveté at its best. Nevertheless, this is only the 60th year, and the State of Israel is a work in progress. The gates of Israel are open wide for all Jews to enter, in contrast to the borders of every country that were shut tight in the 1940s. In Europe, 95 percent of Lithuanian Jewry was trapped, unsuccessful in leaving, and subsequently destroyed due to the closed (to Jews) border policy of every country.
Israel has become the undisputed world Torah study center. Today there are thousands of yeshivas filled to capacity with tens of thousands of students (male and female). Chidushim, sefarim, and halachic decisions even in the world of technology are written and explored, and solutions are incorporated, in Israel. This year there are an abundant number of farming enterprises observing the intricate halachos of Shemittah. The gemachim, chesed organizations, medical innovations, etc., are world-renowned and available for every Jew to benefit from. To some extent, this growth has been provided either directly or indirectly by the Jewish State with its support of Torah education and its teachers. It does seem as if at least a thank-you is in order, as the halachah of hakaras ha’tov teaches us.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Caren V. May
♦
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