Letters to the Editor
North Lawrence
Dear Editor,
I would like to cordially take umbrage with the recent actions and press campaign of the Village of Lawrence former Mayor Oliner and former Deputy Mayor Popack. For too long the anti-development activities, specifically concerning the development on the Inwood–North Lawrence–Village of Lawrence border have gone uncontested that many might think their opinions are the consensus. They are not.
As one of the only elected officials in North Lawrence I feel compelled to share an opposing viewpoint.
Sadly, the modus operandi of this community for at least the past four decades has been to oppose anything new, whether it be a mikvah (see Flowers in the Desert by R’ Mordechai Kamenetzky, page 180) shul, yeshiva, medical office, or residences, regardless of size.
The one thing all these projects have in common is that the concerns of few have been, almost always, unfounded.
These institutions and developments have only improved the quality of life and made the community a more desirable place to live.
As a resident of North Lawrence for the last twelve years, I have witnessed tremendous growth. New families are moving in almost every week. New minyanim and shuls are opening or in the process. Rambam Mesivta moved in a couple years ago. Nishmas Hatorah moved in at the beginning of the school year in Inwood. The Special Children’s Center opened recently.
Big things are happening in North Lawrence.
The addition of this new development will allow more young families to move in and take advantage of the vibrant shuls and community amenities.
The opposition will, like they always do, cite concerns about traffic, lack of infrastructure, and emergency response times.
Traffic hasn’t been great in this community for years. It’s not great in Lakewood or Monsey either. It will always be hard to get down Central Ave. on Friday afternoon. It is debatable whether this development will affect traffic as much as their studies say it will.
North Lawrence is blessed with many RL Hatzalah members to attend to any health emergency. The LCFD and IFD are well equipped to handle any fire emergency.
Schools are not overcrowded. New yeshivos and day schools are opening every year.
This development would clean up run-down Lawrence Ave. Sadly a few former politicians in their ivory towers would rather a school bus lot and a run-down Lawrence Ave. because it’s not on their side of the tracks.
Let’s not allow the former politicians to disseminate fake news and impede the progress and growth of this great community.
With G-d’s help the only thing overcrowded will be Zion Park on Shabbos afternoons.
Joel Krinsky
North Lawrence Fire Commissioner
Chairman, North Lawrence Fire District
Minneapolis
Dear Editor,
A leading liberal is blasting President Trump as invading Minneapolis because President Trump is sending government agents there to arrest criminals. Actually, it’s the liberals who took over Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots. The criminal takeover was supported by so many liberals and tolerated by others.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Eli Reit
Lakewood NJ
Crooked Chilul Hashem
Dear Editor,
We as Jews are faced daily with a rise of antisemitism from the left and now from the right. It’s inevitable that things will get worse before we can even contemplate it getting better. Which brings me to how important chilul Hashem is in this point and time. Seeing someone stealing, lying, or any other infraction while being identified as a religious person is the oxymoron of being religious and it creates antisemitism. Imagine seeing a priest, lehavdel, with a large cross cutting you off while driving or committing another infraction. Would you not be offended and say all Christians are this and that? Well same here except here you have the opportunity to remove your yarmulke prior to cutting someone off, carrying on at the airport or on a plane, or, even worse, when getting arrested. Any person engaging in thievery as well while identifying themselves as religious should remove all identity related to religion.
Reuven Guttman
Lawrence, NY
Hashgachah Pratis
Dear Editor,
A few weeks ago, as I left shul on a Friday night, I overheard two men discussing who would win a particular sporting event. One said to the other, “What’s the difference, it is bashert anyway.” To which I responded that G-d does not care who wins that game. Their response was to call me an apikorus. (I am used to being labeled a heretic, so the appellation did not bother me.)
I was reminded of this conversation by Rabbi Efrem Goldberg’s article on the same subject in the January 9 issue (“When Football Meets Faith: Does G-d Really Care Who Wins?”—Front Page). Discussing a missed field goal by the Baltimore Ravens against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a miss that cost the Ravens a playoff spot, Rabbi Goldberg addressed this very issue: Does G-d predetermine the result of a football game, to the end that the players are, while giving their best effort, essentially just role-playing, just going through the motions? Rabbi Goldberg determined that “from the perspective of emunah, Hashem decreed that at that exact second, in those exact conditions, the ball would not pass through the uprights.”
Rabbi Goldberg is at odds with the view of the Rambam, the same Rambam who is our source for the basic principles of our faith. Writing in the Moreh Nevuchim, The Guide of the Perplexed, the Rambam delineates his view of hashgachah pratis, Divine providence. The Rambam states that for one thing, G-d does not exercise specific providence over every animal and every inanimate object. G-d does not care if a leaf flutters in one direction or another. (An obvious exception would be when G-d wants a specific result for a human being. For example, G-d may cause a deer to leave a highway so that it is not hit by a car, causing injury to the occupants.)
The Rambam further states that a person receives hashgachah pratis proportionate to the amount of bitachon that he possesses. The more faith one has that G-d controls the details of his life, the more control G-d invokes. It is the rare person who has such enormous faith that every detail of his life is controlled from Above. Lest one think that the Rambam’s view is not accepted, I heard this very view expressed by one of my rebbeimover 50 years ago. It has been a guiding principle for me ever since. I should note that I never met a man with more bitachon than this particular rav, a true gadol in every sense of the word. Yet he was not afraid to attach himself to the Rambam’s opinion.
Alongside the Rambam we have the view of the Ohr HaChaim and the Alshich. In Parashas Vayeisheiv, these two giants state that Yosef’s brothers, as ba’alei bechirah (possessors of free will), could have used that bechirah to interfere with the Divine plan visualized in Yosef’s dream. In other words, while G-d wanted Yosef to reign supreme over his brothers, the realization of this plan could have been sabotaged by the brothers.
I am aware that the Lubavitcher Rebbe attempts to reconcile the Rambam’s view with the Chassidic perspective that Hashem literally controls everything in our world (except for our ability to choose to do mitzvosor to sin). However, the simple understanding of the Rambam’s words belies this reconciliation.
And so, no, Hashem does not care that the Ravens missed a game-winning field goal. While He endows players with innate talent, it is up to the players to actualize their potential. The one exception may be my New York Mets. Anyone who has watched the Mets’ spectacular failures cannot be faulted for believing that the Divine plan has ordained the team’s unsuccessful path!
Avi Goldstein
Far Rockaway
End of Love Affair
Dear Editor,
Meeting with Tucker Carlson, the self-admitted Jew hater of the right or the Julius Streicher of 2026, is the straw that broke the camel’s back, in essence as just as playing with Israel that Gaza is able to regroup and keep their weapons all in the name of obtaining his most cherished Noble Peace Prize, which now seems as something that will never be obtained. Israel was at the breakthrough of demolishing anything Gaza until this preposterous peace negotiation was allegedly obtained. Iran was at the verge of collapse as people were out in the street by direction of the president telling the people that he has their back, as literally thousands died while not going in as promised, as now Iran’s regime change looks as impossible as it did prior to the streets takeover. We need to analyze the situation at hand and either decide which political spectrum benefits the Jewish people and which does not. I foresee a future of Gen Z getting older as their left-wing ideology of Jew hatred will take prominence and the Carlson right, which may not be as dangerous in numbers, however they reach a different demographic or more of a corporate demographic and older as well. The danger from both sides has never been so obvious, which brings me to the concision that deciding where to go or turn to, whether it’s Israel or somewhere else, might be something to potentially consider over the next ten years or so.
Reuven Guttman
Lawrence, NY
